One of the oldest living centres of brocade manufacture in India, Benaras, offers an astounding repertoire of decorative designs ranging from the geometric to the highly stylized floral and faunal representations spanning over centuries of Indian history.
Emboldened by royal patronage over the centuries, the textiles of Banaras have been showcasing the impeccable sophistication of ancient craft skills of India. This craft is also well known as the Jaamdaani, gossamer patterned cottons with their pristine white on white design woven during the 18th and 19th century. This skill among others, have gradually been rendered obsolete owing to the bulk production that assumed prominence during the post-colonial industrialization period. Today, it is the last part of the world that does brocade in silver and gold on silk, making it an endangered art of handloom weaving.
The Revivalist collection 2016, presents these legendary threads and textiles of Benaras adorned with gold booti motifs giving the fabrics a subtle metallic sheen, indisputably differentiated from the contemporary designs today that seem to suffer from an ethos of over-designing in the fabrics with a profusion of metallic yarns.
The Benaras Line 2016 showcases a repertoire of design lexicon of the highest skill points of India’s textiles, brought into modern context with kurta’s, jackets, shirts and palazzos. Embellished with the richness of precious skills, this line is designed to make you modern patrons of this ancient craft and give a fresh lease of life to our handloom industry.
In Hyderabad available at:
Ritu Kumar store, 476, Milestone Road No 10,Banjara Hills, Hyderabad call 040-23350506/66130506
