Background
She was a daughter of the Raja of Kashipur, a zamindari. At age 13, she married Karamjit Singh, a younger son of the Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala.
She was a daughter of the Raja of Kashipur, a zamindari. At age 13, she married Karamjit Singh, a younger son of the Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala.
She was fluent in several European languages and was considered to have a strong sense of style. She was a muse for several photographers from Cecil Beaton to Manitoba Ray. The Rani’s preferred couturier was Mainbocher, who designed the wedding dress for Wallis Simpson"s nuptials with the Duke of Windsor.
Sita Devi wore chiffon saris and fur coats, designed by Mainbocher.
She was widely followed by the society columns as a trendsetter. As a popular society figure of the 1930s, she was the inspiration for one of Ira Gershwin"s production numbers for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1936.
When she was 19 years old, Vogue Magazine anointed her the latest “secular goddess.” Three years later Look named her one of the five best dressed women on earth. The couturier Elsa Schiaparelli was so dazzled by Princess Karam, that the gowns of the designer’s 1935 collection were constructed like Indian saris.
In early 1939, at Lady Mendl"s tea in honor of the Hollywood Dietitian, Doctor Gayelord Hauser, Sita Devi was listed among the twelve most glamorous women in the world.
lieutenant had a flowing knee-length cape gracefully attached at the shoulders. At the end of the summer in 1939, Elsie de Wolfe threw a party in honor of the Kapurthalan Princess. The entertainment included an entourage of trained elephants.
As in the Indian tradition, she was dripping in jewels for all occasions.
Her husband, Maharajkumar Karam, had spectacular jewelry created for her by Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and among other notable jewelers. She is the grandmother of contemporary jewelry designer Hanut Singh.
