Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Photo: Satish. H

Season special Saris and shawls

What sets the Kashmiri Pashminas apart from the Amritsari Pashminas are that these shawls are hand woven and it can take up to a year to weave each shawl. The Amritsari pashminas are machine woven, faster to make and therefore you see a noticeable price difference in the two types. The Kashmiri hand-woven shawls are priced from Rs. 10000 onwards and can go up to Rs. 3 lakh. Nasir and his family from Kashmir who make these shawls as part of the family business have brought down 300 shawls. There is a shawl with hand embroidery and needle work, while another one has needle work on both sides of the shawl, making it wearable either ways. This particular shawl took three years to weave! You can ask for a shawl in almost any colour and they’ll probably dig it out of the pile for you. If shawls are not for you, there are mufflers as well.

The shawls for men are in sober colours and prints, making them wearable with almost anything.

The Benarasi saris have been designed by two up-and-coming designers from Kolkata. The sari styles and patterns have been designed and then sent to karigars who weave and do the gota work, pure zari and resham work on them.

Some of the colour combinations and textures give these traditional saris a contemporary look, making them suitable for all ages.

The heavy wedding wear saris have work all over and are priced a little higher than the others, but what makes them worth the price is that unlike synthetic zari, pure zari doesn’t tarnish or blacken.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail