Midriff school's student planner and handbook which includes "clothing that reveals the midriff". In 2004, the Board of Education of Meriden, Connecticut, brought a dress code that banned shirts, blouses that expose the top of the shoulders, haltertops, spaghetti tops, and any clothing that exposed the waist, midriff or hips. Indian women have traditionally worn saris that bare the midriff, especially South Indian women. The gap on the midriff between sari and the choli presented the elegance of a woman's graceful sway of her gait. A possible cultural justification is that in ancient Indian tradition, the navel of the God Vishnu
Sari be hanging freely, tucked in at the waist, used to cover the head, or used to cover the neck, by draping it across the right shoulder as well. Some nivi styles are worn with the "pallu" draped from the back towards the front, coming from the back over the right shoulder with one corner tucked by the left hip, covering the torso/waist. The nivi sari was popularised through the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma. In one of his paintings, the Indian subcontinent was shown as a mother wearing a flowing nivi sari. The ornaments generally accepted by the Hindu culture