In Indian wardrobes, sarees live very different lives from our everyday clothes. They’re not bought on impulse or worn once and forgotten. They come with stories. A wedding day. A milestone birthday. A festival that mattered. And very often, they come from someone else’s cupboard before they reach ours.
Which is why how we store them matters just as much as how we wear them.
Celebrity saree draper Dolly Jain, the woman trusted to drape everyone from Alia Bhatt to Nita Ambani, recently shared a piece of advice that feels obvious once you hear it, but is surprisingly easy to ignore. In a conversation with fashion entrepreneur Pernia Qureshi, Dolly spoke about what actually ruins expensive sarees over time. And no, it’s not age. It’s how we put them away.
Her biggest warning was simple: stop folding your heavy, precious sarees.
Kanjeevarams, real zari pieces, old Banarasis, these are fabrics with weight, structure and intricate weaving. When you fold them sharply and leave them like that for months or years, the creases don’t just disappear. They settle in. Especially on zari-heavy sections, those lines can become permanent.
And once that happens, most people reach for the iron.
That’s where the real damage begins. Repeated heat, especially on silk and zari, slowly weakens the fabric. The shine dulls. The weave loses strength. And suddenly, a saree meant to last generations starts looking tired far too soon.
Dolly’s solution isn’t complicated or fancy. She suggests rolling your sarees instead of folding them. Roll them gently, without forcing the fabric, and then wrap them in a soft muslin cloth before storing them away. That’s it.
It’s a method that avoids sharp crease lines and protects the saree from dust and friction at the same time. Most importantly, it reduces the need for heavy ironing later, which means less heat and a longer life for the fabric.
What really stands out in Dolly’s advice is how practical it is. She makes a fair point: if you’re investing serious money in a saree or even holding on to something priceless for emotional reasons, then subjecting it to unnecessary heat every few months defeats the purpose. Over time, that saree won’t be something you enjoy wearing, and it certainly won’t be something you can pass on.
Sarees are meant to age gracefully. But they need help doing that.
A little extra care while storing them can mean the difference between a saree that looks stunning even after twenty years, and one that stays buried in a cupboard because it’s lost its magic. And when you think about it, preserving a saree properly is really about preserving memory, the kind that deserves to be worn again, not locked away.
Sometimes, the most valuable fashion advice isn’t about trends or styling. It’s about respect for the craft. And this one is worth following.
