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印度民族服装。从古代印度雕塑和壁画的神像上看，古代的纱丽原为饰有宝石的宽大腰带，围束时露肚脐。现代的纱丽已成为南亚大陆妇女的主要外衣。
纱丽是成幅的绸缎或棉布，宽约1m，长4.5～9m不等，色彩鲜艳明亮，通常绣花，或镶花边、嵌亮片等。常与开襟短袖的紧身上衣乔丽、宽松的长衬裙卡格配套穿用。穿着纱丽的方法是，先将其一部分裹住腰身、折出数个褶饰，再将上端塞入裙腰间固定（可与乔丽之间裸露一段腰身），余下的部分则经胸部披向左肩或头部，然后挂于左背或搭于左臂垂下。印度女孩12岁起普遍穿纱丽，新娘按传统习惯穿绿乔丽、红纱丽。
Just as elegant Indian women are looking for dressy clothes that edge away from the traditional sari, European designers have turned to draping for inspiration. Swathes of fabric, in silk, satin or jersey, are designed to caress the body in a way more familiar to Asian cultures than the cut and sew of the West.
From Donatella Versace to the iconoclastic Dutch design duo Viktor & Rolf, the idea of wrapping and lapping was the look of the season. At Balenciaga, designer Nicolas Ghesquière was inspired by a visit to India to switch from sci-fi futurism to the sari drapes.
But the designer admits that it was not just viewing the saris of today in Rajasthan that made him interested in a new technique.
"I was amazed when I looked at the archives to see how often Cristobal Balenciaga was inspired by draped shapes," Mr. Ghesquière said, referring to the haute couture styles from the Spanish-born designer, who made his name in Paris in the glory days of high fashion.
Designers like Yves Saint Laurent and Emanuel Ungaro, schooled in the skills of haute couture, also made drapes part of their work, because it takes a master to make the fabric appear to run liquid down the body, while, in fact, being carefully tucked and stitched.
For Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, the inspiration of their show this month went back to another world of drapes: ancient Rome. Sharing a catwalk with copies of statues from the earliest civilizations, the models, their faces whitened to look like marble, wore outfits where the fold was at the heart of each design.
Could any of these Western outfits, however stylish, ever compete with the sari, its origins dating back to the Indus valley to 2000 B.C.?
It seems that most designers don't want to be seen as tampering with such a venerable object. While Indian designers, with their fundamental knowledge of the traditional sari, explore variations on a theme, creative Western minds like to think of the sari as an unchanging value.
"It's a beautiful example of a sustainable style," says Mr. Horsting. "I think saris are also subject to trends — very subtle trends, probably. But it's beautiful because it's so authentic and it's very much part of the country. We would hate for a country like India, with its emerging economy, to all of a sudden switch to jeans, T-shirts and high heels — God forbid!"