Suniti, the Maharani of Cooch Behar -  So elegant in white, but she is wearing mourning. This formal portrait was made in 1929 when she was about 65 years old.

Her son Jit was one of the most devastatingly handsome men I’ve ever seen in photographs. Jit’s daughter, her granddaughter, was the exquisitely beautiful Gayatri Devi of Jaipur. But all those good looks don’t matter when your husband and sons die young. Suniti’s sense of style was highly fashionable early on, and even here her utter calm and unique way of wearing an absolutely plain white saree over a long-sleeved blouse, are striking and timeless.

This young Parsi lady posing for a studio portrait wears a western dress bodice as a blouse – highly fashionable mid-to-late 1870s style – just what the English women were wearing then.  She makes the combination work, though, with the head covering, jewellery and western shoes, and looks thoroughly elegant.  The large cuffs and sleeve trimmings are a hallmark of the 1870s.

Delightful collection of outfits here – listed as Parsi and Brahmin girls in Bombay, probably the 1880s.  Photographed outdoors, the group exhibits a variety of styles in sarees plus the striped tunic and trousers on the smallest Parsi girl. While the girl on the chair wears a dark saree with fancy narrow borders (like the 1870s image above), the one at the left has a beautiful saree of high-contrast leaves or flowers woven in close formation.

The little girl on the ground wears a  traditional choli with her subtle saree, but the three older cmpanions have long sleeved western-style blouses, small prints on white or light coloured cotton that reach just below their waists. Tiny spots fill the saree with the broad-banded pallu, an early style still woven in a few parts of India today.