Sharara is a Muslim garment, but it has achieved popularity among North Indian woman
as well. Ghararas or shararas are originated in the city of Lucknow during the periods of Nawabs. In Muslim Nikah ceremony or wedding the bride wears beautiful Sharara while Groom wears Sherwani or sometimes he wears three-piece suit.
Sharara – Is a three pieces garment. Long flowing pants like a divided skirt which hung up at waist, a long blouse or choli. It has a heavy stole or chunni which is embellished with lot of work. The unique feature of the Sharara dress is the skirt which has less flow than lehenga. It is like a loose pant fitted till the knee, with a big flare from the knee onwards. The knee area, called the goat in Urdu, is often detailed embroidered in zari and zardozi work. Each leg of a traditional gharara is made from over 12 meters of fabric. The fabric is genrelly made up of silk brocade.
For a bride most common color is red as red color is considered auspicious. But now a day’s even golden, silver, shades of red, pink and orange are gaining popularity. The Sharara suit is heavily embellished with mirror, sequence work, zari, gotta work.
Earlier it was popular only on weddings and marriage functions but now a days they are gaining importance on occasions like various festivals, birthdays, parties, etc.
Different types of fabrics are used for sharara like rich tissue materials such as crepe, satin, Chiffon, Georgette and Silk.
Young girls are very fond of sharara and they buy expensive designer sharara suits. Few popular designs are golden zardosi, resham work, crush tissue and sharara with mirror work. This garment represents one of the richest style, design and patterns of art and tradition.
