The word Saree is derived from sanskrit sati which means ‘strip of cloth’. Subsequently it became “Sadi” in the ancient Prakrit dialogue and then “Sari” in Hindi, “Shari” in Bengali, “Saddhii” in Oriya, “Sari” in Malayalam and Marathi. The earliest known depiction of the sari in the Indian subcontinent is the statue of an Indus Valley priest wearing a drape in a not although fully similar but somewhat resembling outfit.

The way a sari can be worn and the way it is adorned is different according to the cultural background and regional belongingness of the woman to geographical domain.

1 .Nivi style(especially for wedding purpose) by women of A.Pradesh.

2 .Bengali & Oriya style by women of Bengal & Orissa respectively.

3 .Dravidian style by Tamil Nadu.

4 .Kastha style by Maharashtra which is also simplified as Maharashtriyan style.

The sari is worn by women throughout Bangladesh.The Dhakai saree of Bangladesh is very famous & extremely popular throughout the world. In Pakistan, saris are less commonly worn than the Salwar Kameez which is worn throughout the country.It is mainly worn by Hindu women who resides there.

Sri Lankan women wear saris in many styles. However, two ways of draping the sari are popular and tend to dominate; the Indian style (classic nivi drape) and the Kandyan style (or osaria’ in Sinhalese). The Kandyan style is considered the national dress of Sinhalese women. It is the uniform of the air hostesses of Sri Lankan Airlines.

In Nepal, a special style of draping is used in a sari called haku patasihh. The sari is draped around the waist and a shawl is worn covering the upper half of the sari, which is used in place of a pallu.

Simple hand-woven villagers’ saris are often decorated with checks or stripes woven into the cloth. Inexpensive saris were also decorated with block printing using carved wooden blocks and vegetable dyes, ortie hand-dyeing, known in India as bhandani work.

More expensive saris had elaborate geometric, floral, or figurative ornaments or brocades created on the loom, as part of the fabric. Sometimes warp and weft threads were tie-dyed and then woven, creating ikat patterns. Sometimes threads of different colors were woven into the base fabric in patterns; an ornamented border, an elaborate pallu, and often, small repeated accents in the cloth itself. These accents are called buttis or bhuttis (spellingsvary). For fancy saris, these patterns could be woven with gold or silver threat, which is called zari work.

Sometimes the sarees were further decorated, after weaving, with various sorts of embroidery. Resham work is embroidery done with colored silk thread. Zardozi embroidery uses gold and silver thread, and sometimes pearls and precious stones. Cheap modern versions of zardozi use synthetic metallic thread and imitation stones , such as fake pearls and Swarovski crystals.

In modern times, saris are increasingly woven on mechanical looms and made of artificial fibers, such as polyester, nylon, or rayon, which do not require starching or ironing. They are printed by machine, or woven in simple patterns made with floats across the back of the sari. This can create an elaborate appearance on the front, while looking ugly on the back. The punchra work is imitated with inexpensive machine-made tassel trim.