"When I was 17 and leaving India to go to college in the United States, I packed two suitcases with DKNY sweaters, blue jeans, and a Michael Kors backpack with gold buckles-everything I imagined would allow me to fit right in. Some 20 years later, I packed considerably more suitcases and cartons to move from India to London, to take up a promotion at work."
"At my first Wimbledon, which I attended as a guest of Rolex, I wore an ivory handwoven Chanderi sari with green motifs over a white T-shirt-style Zara crop top, as a nod to the sport. To a lunch at the House of Lords, I wore a handwoven navy, black, and silver sari under a slim-fit blue blazer with gold buttons, and added a beloved black Chanel bag to match."
"I love the versatility of a sari: how you can drape it in hundreds of different ways, and style it according to your mood or the season. I've always found the sari to be the most elegant and graceful garment in the world; it is impossible when wearing one to not stand a bit straighter, a bit taller, to walk with a little swagger."
Divia Thani moved from India to study in the United States at 17 and later relocated to London for work, choosing to pack saris to remain true to her cultural identity. She regularly wears saris in London, adapting them to different occasions—pairing a Chanderi sari with a crop top at Wimbledon and a handwoven navy and silver sari under a blazer at the House of Lords. She values the sari's versatility, elegance, and universal fit, and highlights Delhi-based Raw Mango's focus on slow, handmade fashion that draws on India's rich textile heritage. Rising anti-immigration rhetoric has strengthened her determination to wear saris.
Read at Conde Nast Traveler
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