Married to Mangalsutra
Marriages may bloom or break, but the Mangalsutra as the symbol of holy matrimony will live on forever. Pooja Hiremath checks out the latest in this department The Mangalsutra according to Bollywood melodramas and TV soaps is a mandatory item which dramatises the suffering heroine's marital status and perseverance.

The sari clad damsel in distress when faced with a marital strife, usually hangs on to her 'sacred' Mangalsutra. An act which serves to prove her undying dedication and devotion to her husband, truant or otherwise.

That's the Mangalsutra in reel life. In real life however, it has moved away from being an overt symbol of one's marital status to a fashion statement. "Wearing the Mangalsutra is no longer a necessity, but a trend," says jewellery designer Poonam Soni.

Gone are the days when Mangalsutras didn't go beyond the boring black beads and golden pendant. "Women are now opting for semi precious stones like aquamarine with diamonds as part of the Mangalsutra design," adds Soni.

Design sutra
"The piece should be different yet wearable," says Soni of the Mangalsutra. To make her designs different she uses links of chains, geometrical patterns, floral designs and her signature wire mesh design, which is thin threads of gold, woven to give the mesh look. "These are then punctuated with black beads," she says, to give it that traditional touch. Soni also uses temple motifs and various designs of god's heads to construct the exotic, Indo-Western look. According to her, "When you do anything as a trend, there is more scope for experimentation in design."

Functionality is what pushes indo-western influences in jewellery design. Citing an example of a bride-to-be ordering earrings to match her very modern Mangalsutra, Soni says, "She can now wear it in the evenings as a very trendy, designer piece of jewellery." Keeping up with this trend is another local designer, Sheila Jhaveri, who has been designing for the last 20 years, "Indian women living abroad usually opt for different designs," she says, describing a Mangalsutra pendant made of rose cut diamonds to resemble a flower, with two small diamond balls and two black beads on either side of the flower. "The black beads are for shagun," she says, pointing out that the piece strung in a white gold chain now becomes a necklace that could be worn at any time and with anything.

This growing trend can be attributed to the Indian woman who has adopted a different style of dress. "Trends are changing and women are becoming more modern in their approach," says Jhaveri. She thinks it's hard to match a traditional neckpiece with a western or an Indo-Western outfit.

Jhaveri has also designed her daughter's Mangalsutra with an old Arabic coin set as its neckpiece. The piece also has diamonds and baguettes that form an integral part of the design. The chain too is a step away from the conventional design: one half comprises a gold ball chain and the other half black beads.

"Other options could be a solitaire, round or drop-shaped, strung in either black beads or then a simple gold chain," says Jhaveri. These could be set alone or with two smaller diamonds on the top.

Changing times
"I like to have functionality in everything," says Bansri Mehta, 24, who recently tied the knot. "For the Mangalsutra I wanted a design I could wear with western clothes, as I do not wear Indian clothes often," she says. Mehta opted for a detachable diamond pendant on a black and gold traditional beaded chain that can also be worn with a plain gold chain.

The pendant is a three-tier diamond piece and each of these three tiers are detachable. "I wear the small diamond drop on a slim gold chain to give it a solitaire look and the second and third tier give it a more formal and elongated look. I can also wear the centrepiece as a maang tikka. I wear the same piece in several different ways, and that's what I like about it!" says Mehta.

New Avatars
Taking another step away from conventional patterns is Roopa Vohra, who specialises in Thewa and Nakashi work. "The look of the Mangalsutra is very different," says Vohra, who brings in a lot of colour in her work. "I use a lot of beads; coloured stones are cut in the form of beads," she explains. Some of the Mangalsutras that Vohra has worked on have been rather "radical" as she describes it: some brides-to-be have opted for a Thewa or Nakashi piece to be worn with a black thread. "The black thread is radical, as it is not traditionally associated with a Mangalsutra," she says. "All in all, the shapes have changed radically."

Market Scene
Catering to these contemporary tastes is the range of Mangalsutras launched by D'damas. "Gold Mangalsutras are very traditional," says Arun Bhatnagar, President, marketing for D'damas pointing to the consumer trend of owning diamond jewellery. This line of Mangalsutras does abide to the traditional designs and motifs but has a strong diamond look to it.

The current trend is also the right blend of contemporary with tradition. Catering to this is the Shubh Mangalam Collection launched by Trendsmith, a branch of TBZ Nirmal Zaveri that gives traditional designs a contemporary touch. "However modern a woman is, she is deep rooted in certain traditional values and customs," says Dharmesh Sodah, President, Trendsmith.