Drape Therapy: A self-love movement for Brown girls

Sarees, an ethnic outfit often worn in India and across South Asia, have a rich culture behind them. With a reputation for being difficult to wear thanks to the intricate pleats and vast array of draping styles, it can be daunting to put one on.

Perhaps more nerve-wracking, for me at least, is the thought of wearing one in public in England. However, Indian TikTokers like @jhumkagirl, @milan.mathew, and @natashathasan are highlighting the space for ethnic culture in the West through everyday fashion and styling.

Natasha Thasan, a Toronto-based Non-Resident Indian (NRI) originally from Tamil Nadu, has gained a following of over 588K followers on TikTok for the innovative ways that she drapes sarees. She has brought old draping styles back to the surface and finds new ways to wear sarees in her everyday life. She effortlessly proves that ethnic wear doesn’t just have to be for that distant relative’s wedding.

Natasha shows her followers how to drape a saree, and often in under a minute. She tells her followers that it does take practice and emphasises how important it is to build muscle memory.

Natasha also owns her own brand, Drape Therapy, which is the ultimate guide to saree draping, offering a series of online tutorials. Although this is a business, #drapetherapy has over 213 million views on TikTok as users document their draping process.

As I scroll through the top search results, I can see daughters helping their mums drape their sarees or checking to see if their bindi is straight. These small moments fill me with nostalgia and highlight the significance they can have on our day-to-day lives.

I think back to when my mum would call on a friend to help drape her saree for an event, and I’m inspired to learn how to drape so that I can be that friend. As more Brown fashion and beauty creators gain larger followings, a community looking to celebrate and explore their heritage has emerged.

As Natasha continues to host informative cultural webinars and ‘drip-and-drape’ events, Drape Therapy continues to spread. Natasha also explores the history of draping and draws inspiration from the British Colonial era for some of her designs. She’ll often try out wearing the six-yard fabric without a blouse or petticoat, which feels like a rebellion against the British Raj who added these elements to the popular garment.

Sarees are considered one of the oldest garments in the world, and Natasha finds a way to situate her outfits in a contemporary world while still holding onto tradition. When she films herself wearing one while shopping for groceries, for example, I can see that these two ‘worlds’ are not all that far from each other.

Indian fashion, although it has inspired many designers, struggles to get overt recognition in mainstream media. However, now designers such as Gaurav Gupta have become incredibly popular, with celebrities from Deepika Padukone to Beyonce wearing his sculptural designs that highlight the fluidity of sarees with their swooping fabrics.

After watching countless TikToks and seeing Joy Crookes’ drape by Natasha, I decided I wanted in on this. As a (mostly) retired fast fashion consumer, I turned to Vinted for my saree purchase. For £8, and with nowhere specific in mind to wear it, I wore it around the house for an evening.

I was so excited to resolve the envy I felt over Natasha’s confidence and expression of our shared culture, and I’ve had a lot of fun learning to drape. Although this elation was temporarily dialled down when my saree blouse arrived in need of fixing up with my sewing skills, Natasha luckily has ways to drape blouseless!

After seeing Thasan show her viewers a great number of ways to drape a saree, I’ve been inspired when deciding how best to wear mine. Coming from a mixed background, I always worried I wasn’t embracing my culture correctly. I was concerned that no matter how hard I tried, I’d be faking my way in. But I didn’t have to pretend with this, it was all up to me. And the best part? Natasha taught me how to do it all in under a minute.