Made FOR ME

By having memory, moodboards & personal taste stitched together, a new generation of Indian women is returning to tailoring, finds

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There's a certain intimacy to having your clothes made for you. A saree blouse stitched by the same tailor who did your mother's. A kurta cut to a silhouette that no ready-made rack could ever get right. In India, the ritual of tailoring has always existed, but it was reserved for special occasions: A lehenga for your cousin's wedding. An anarkali for Eid. Even men, for whom tailoring was once an everyday habit, have largely migrated to the convenience of fast fashion.

But quietly, and with striking intention, a new sartorial movement is taking root. Women in their 20s—raised on ZARA hauls and Instagram stores-are now heading to their neighbourhood tailors, not for a sharara, but for a black dress. A linen shirt. A bustier in Mashru silk. They're testing their appetite for risk while trading in disappointments that come with mass-produced homogeneity, size charts that rarely serve, and the hollow churn of trend cycles.

The sites for experimentation still shine as vestiges from the past-fluorescent-lit cubicles behind the clothing shops in Jaipur’s Bapu Bazaar, the faded upholstery of masterji chairs lined along Bengaluru’s Commercial Street, between a pan shop and a textile wholesaler in Mumbai’s Manish Market, or in the back alleys of Nehru Place and Colaba Causeway. The clatter of sewing machines cuts through the thrum of rickshaws and bargaining. But this time it isn’t about bridal fittings or last-minute blouse adjustments.