Saloni sarees,a big hit...article!!

The trek from the small screen to the retail racks has never been shorter. A case in shopping point: the butterfly sari, worn by Saloni in Saat Phere, that is now a rage.

"Yes, that is a bestseller this season," confirms Kuldeep Kumar Khaitan of Shagun Wedding Mall. The speciality marriage mall on Shakespeare Sarani is raided by women desperately seeking the latest trends sparked by TV serials.

If Saloni's sari, with its readymade pallu and embellishments over the length to give it a butterfly effect, is hot, keeping it company are the ones draped by GeneratioNext characters like Bani in Kasamh Se or Anjali in Kavyanjali.

"It feels good to know that everyone is wearing Saloni saris, but it is the popularity of the Zee TV serial that has made the saris I wear such a rage. Also, the fact that the saris are so simple that everybody can wear them," Rajshree Thakur, the actress who plays Saloni, told Metro from Mumbai.

Clearly, there is nothing as 'today' as the way television characters drape their saris, especially when it comes to being seen at a party or a wedding bash.

"Women these days wear and carry the sari well; they have made the outfit wearable for every kind of occasion," feels designer Jyoti Khaitan. "Tulsi and Parvati — the ideal bahus — initiated this trend, but it is the younger characters on television that have given sari the modern trendy look."

If the K-series and other family sagas on television have made the sari a fashionable outfit, it's not just about draping it like the ideal bahu any more. The negative character of Kaveri in Saat Phere wears net saris with corsets instead of regular blouses, and Tara in the same serial drapes them on shoulder-less blouses, with reverse pallu. These are often as much worth flaunting as the straitjacketed Saloni style.

And if surfing the channels brings you a blur of bright georgettes, nets, crepes and what not, so do the wedding season racks. "Sari embroidered in kasap aari work —fine zari lining in gold and white all over — is a popular pick for the trousseau, while sequins, metal embellishment and applique find favour when it comes to fancy wear," says Nitesh Saraff, of Avinandan Fashions, on Park Street.