How the Sari Came To Define New York

"Lalitha Krishnan wore a sari on the plane from the south Indian state of Kerala to New York, where she was traveling to study for a Ph.D on a full scholarship. Krishnan would go on to do pioneering work developing pharmaceutical drugs that combat multi-drug resistant infections. When Dr. Krishnan finally received an award for her work in 1991-as a rare woman of color in her field, often witnessing others take credit for her research-once again, she wore a sari."

"The sari, one of the oldest documented forms of garment, is a long, unstitched piece of fabric that's traditionally five to nine yards long; its expanse holds the stories of female empowerment, political rebellion, and global movement. Historically, the stories of South Asian immigration are often dominated by male protagonists, and this exhibit hopes to spotlight South Asian stories from the perspective of women using the garment."

"The sari, says Krishnan, is also a piece of clothing that can authentically tell the stories of women in the diaspora who traveled to new cities and places, like New York, where they remade their lives from scratch. The exhibition celebrates the many grandmothers and aunties Krishnan met on his campaign trails and keeps meeting in his constituency in Queens, who did just that. These are women, like his mother, for whom the sari is "a reminder of a home that is 10,000 miles away.""

Lalitha Krishnan traveled from Kerala to New York in a sari to pursue a Ph.D on a full scholarship and later developed pharmaceutical drugs against multi-drug resistant infections. She continued to wear a sari when she received an award in 1991 as a rare woman of color in her field. Her yellow zari-lined silk is now part of The New York Sari exhibit at the New York Historical Society, an idea initiated by S. Mitra Kalita and Shekar Krishnan. The sari, an unstitched five-to-nine-yard garment, embodies stories of female empowerment, political rebellion, migration, and the sacrifices of South Asian women who remade lives in the diaspora.

Read at Vogue