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{{Use Indian English|date=May 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}

'''Maharajkumarani Sita Devi Sahiba'''{{cn|date=August 2020}} ([[Nainital]], 30 September 1915 − [[New Delhi]], 2002), also known as Princess Karam, was widely regarded as one of the most glamorous women of her day.<ref name="Maharajas pages 113, 116">Made for Maharajas: a design diary of princely India / by Amin Jaffer; pages 113, 116-117. New York: Vendome Press, 2006. {{ISBN|0-86565-174-4}} {{ISBN|978-0-86565-174-6}}</ref>

== Life ==
Sita Devi was the daughter of Raja Uday Raj Singh of [[Kashipur, Uttarakhand|Kashipur]] by his wife.{{cn|date=August 2020}} At age 13, she married Karamjit Singh, a younger son of Maharaja [[Jagatjit Singh]] of [[Kapurthala State|Kapurthala]]. She was fluent in several European languages and was considered to have a strong sense of style.<ref name="Maharajas pages 113, 116" /> She was a muse for several photographers, from [[Cecil Beaton]] to [[Man Ray]].<ref name="Maharajas pages 113, 116" /> Her preferred couturier was [[Mainbocher]], who designed the wedding dress for [[Wallis Simpson]]'s nuptials with the [[Duke of Windsor]].<ref>[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20061210/spectrum/main1.htm] Sunday, 10 December 2006</ref> Sita Devi wore chiffon saris and fur coats designed by Mainbocher.<ref name="Maharajas pages 113, 116" /> She was widely followed by the society columns as a 'trend-setter'.

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.<ref name="karam kapurthala.html">[http://www.paperdollywood.com/articles/princess karam kapurthala.html]{{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Paperdollywood</ref> When she was 19 years old, [[Vogue Magazine]] anointed her the latest "secular goddess." Three years later, [[Look (American magazine)|Look]] named her one of the five best dressed women on Earth. The couturier [[Elsa Schiaparelli]] was so dazzled by Sita Devi 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, Dr. [[Gayelord Hauser]], Sita Devi was listed among the twelve most glamorous women in the world.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121103030547/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,771512,00.html?promoid=googlep ''Time'' 13 February 1939]</ref>

At the end of the summer in 1939, [[Elsie de Wolfe]] threw a party in her honour.<ref>[http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/09/27/040927crat_atlarge?currentPage=3] A Life in Good Taste by Ruth Franklin ''New Yorker'' 9 September 2004</ref> The entertainment included an entourage of trained elephants. Her husband had spectacular jewelry created for her by [[Cartier SA|Cartier]], [[Van Cleef & Arpels]] and among other notable jewelers.

She was the grandmother of contemporary jewelry designer, ''Kanwar Shri'' Hanut Singh (b. 1973 in New Delhi).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hanutsingh.com/AboutHanut.aspx |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2013-08-06 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130924053644/http://hanutsingh.com/AboutHanut.aspx |archivedate=24 September 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

== Honours ==
* [[Kaisar-i-Hind Medal]] [in Silver] (1 January 1944).

==References==

{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sita Devi Of Kapurthala}}
[[Category:1915 births]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian princesses]]
[[Category:Indian socialites]]
[[Category:History of Punjab, India]]
[[Category:People from Kapurthala]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian people]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal]]

Sita Devi (Maharani of Kapurthala) - Revision history

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