Puri Sarees
THE BEST TRADITIONS OF CLASSICIM COMBINE WITH CONTEMPORARY DESIGNS, MOTIFS AND COLORS TO PRODUCE YARDS OF FOLLOWING GRACE, YES, THIS IS THE MAGIC OF THE SAREE A DRESS THAT HAS NEVER GONE OUT OF FASHION, ATTIRE THAT FITS ANY OCCASION.
The Indian women has the gift of a garment whose classical appeal, grace and purity of line have endured through centuries of unbroken tradition. This garment is the saree. Now recognized as the most flowing form in the fashion world, the saree never goes out of styje. “A saree”, opines Krishna Aroop of L’affaire, “will remain a special dress for us (Indians) always”.
Every thing sells, say those who are in the business of selling sarees. And “everything” includes an astoundigly vast range: from cotton and synthetic for daily wear to cottons and silks for evening occasion. From ‘village cottons”, available for less than Rs. 1,000 to Venkatgiri cottons, priced Rs. 5-6,000. Among traditional favorites are the Kanjeevarams from south India, Bomkais from Orissa. Paithanis from Maharashtra, Ghar-cholas from Gujarat, Jamevars and Tanchois from Varanasi, Katan and Kora silks again from Varanasi, Tangails and Balucharis from West Bengal, Patoals from Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
Where there is plenty of choice, some saris, as expected, is more in demand, some sell only in the season, some all through the year, and some down the years like embroided chiffons. Says Rajeev of Ushank Mal Mool Chand in South Extentions, “Chiffon with embroidery has been a fashion for the last 50 years.”
ETERNAL APPEAL
Woven saris are like classics; they might fade away for a while but they can never be forgotten. Therefore, mot large establishments like to deal with wavers directly. Most have their chosen few. Ravi Nanda of Heritage draws in interesting comparison between the art of creting sarees and that of preparing tea. When New Delhi makes tea, one has to ensure the right quantity of sugar, milk, tealeaves, the temperature as well as the time at which the beverage is served in order to get “that perfect cup”. Similarly, the length of the sari, the quality of the yearn, colors, designs, price and the time of delivery are all important.
SAY IT WITH FLOWERS
Now there is another way of saying it with flowers: you can choose from an entire range of fashion garments - from saris and lehengas to dupattas and blouse. Ruchika Modi’s collection includes clothes “embroidered” with fresh flowers. What better way to dress up for a special occasion! Says the designer, “Not two pieces are exactly the same.” There might be similarities in design and even in the type of flowers used, the final garment is designed after the flowers have been “woven” together. The first person Ruchika designed a fresh flower outfit for felt “Pamperede”. This is exactly the kind of feeling she had visualized when she first thought of fresh flowers nestling between thread emobroidery or holding their own on cloth.
A bridal duptta, designed recently used five kilograms of white jasmine buds. They were stitched together with only a half inch gap between each bud so as to give the wearer the feeling of being dressed in nothing but flowers. In order to maintain this feeling only transparent or transluent fabrics are used. Hence, net, organza or tissues are preferred as opposed to cotton: “cotton would kill the richness of the piece”.
If the choice of fabric is important, it is equally, if not more important to maintain the freshness of the flowers. There is not much point in using wilted flowers.
Once delivered, the flowers are kept in iceboxes. Even while they are being sewn together, they have to be handled extremely gently. So, only a few are taken out, the “fabric” made and the whole immediately put back in the icebox. The work is labour intensive and requires hands as well as great care. Once the “jaali” or net of flowers has been made, Ruchika then cuts it into the required size and tacks it onto the garment for which it has been made. The tacking is done only a couple of hours before the function or the entire effect would be ruined.
According to Ruchika, a fresh flower outfit is best suited for a two or three hour function. Fresh flowers have a short shelf life but the same is not true for the cloth they are “embroidered” on. The sari for instance, can always be deyed or its plainness enhanced by sequines or threadwork but its fragrant memory stays with you for a lifetime. Considerations, which contribute to the appeal of the sari. Hence shops choose their wavers with these parameters in mind. In addition to buying from craftsmen working all over the country, large stores have their own units for embroidery and printing. Heritage for instance, showcases exclusive printed and emboridered Kerala cottons. It just takes a little imagination to convert the off-white, bordered Kerala cotton or the plain Kerala sari with zari lines into designer exclusives. Block prints all over, threadwork on the border, touches of paint on the body and viola! The Kerala cotton is transformed. Almost like the ugly ducking turning into a swam.
Change is the name of the game. If gold embroidery for instance has been the “in” thing for the last couple of months, then switching to silver would be refreshing. Similarly, if, for the last season, the colours of the embroidery have been just a shade darker than the colours of the sari, then contrasts would be a welcome change. Like Kashmiri work on a crepe de chine which enhances the texture, of the plain fabric so as to make the sari eye-catching.
Fancy saris are “in” one season, out the next. Like net saris, Currnetly they can be seen all over the place. “For us net is out,” asserts the proprietor of Ushnak Mal. “We are already thinking of an alternative.” Innovation is the key world, believes Rajiv. And he should know. He comes from a family, which started its first shop in Lahore about 200 years ago.
Vichitra another family concern, has been in the business for a long time. While their showroom in South Extensin is comparatively new, people have known Uttam’s their original sari shop in Connaught Place, for years. Vichitra started off with block prints on skills. Now they are mostly into screen-printing. Block printing is labour intensive and at present consist of less than 10 percent of their entire range of prints. They also sell hand-painted saris, as well as embroidered crepes, satins and chiffons, But, says Geta Uttam, “People come here for prints. That is what makes a ‘Vichitra’ women”.
Today’s woman, however, is on the lookout for practical and comfortable clothes, “Therefore,” says Ravi Nanda, “she doesn’t want to wear saris all the time.” However, sine the grace of a sari remains unmatched , it is ideal for formal wear. This change, Nanda feels has been slow. From 1968, when Heritage started, to 1989, the shop used to sell a lot of simple cottons, which women wore during the day. Then, along with the increase in competition, there came about another change - women, as well as girls began to opt increasingly for salwar-kurtas followed by Western outfits. Hence, the shift to an exclusive collection.
EXCLUSIVE COLLECTIONS
Talking about exclusive collections, Deepama, a landmark store in Banglore showcases a wide variety of silk saris ranging from Kajeevarms and patolas to Valkalams and Koras. Apart from these the store has an exclusive bridal wear range. Saboos, which has branches in Delhi and Banglore, has a wide variety of exclusive bridal saris. Besides maintaining an impeccable collection of saris, L’affire lays emphaiss on organizing special exhibitions: Kudrati Rang, as the name suggests, was a collection of Oriya Ikat silks in natural dyes while a cashmere was a collection of embroidered work from Kashmir. A great deal of planning and hard work goes into such shows. It took about a year and a half for instance, to get an exhibition together on tie-and-dye saris from Orissa. But such effort is extremely rewarding says Krishna Aroop. And it also gives his customers a peep into the sage of the sari.
From the silk worm to the silk sari the journey is long and the contributors are plenty - right from the pupae, to the leaves of the mulberry tree, the fingers of the weaver, the colour of the flowers dyes from the vegetables. It takes all that and much more to keep the tradition alive.
