Designer Mayyur Girotra’s new collection marks the revival of Jamawar. He spoke to Iknoor Kaur
Whenever you talk of Jamawar, the common perception in your mind is of fancy shawls that define fine craftsmanship. But what if the same technique was used on garmentsIJ This wedding season designer Mayyur Girotra decided to prepare the perfect attire for the uber bride. He recently showcased his Jamawar collection at Ramola Bachchan’s Runway Rising where actress Sunny leone and her co-star in the movie Jackpot, Sachin Joshi, walked the ramp for him.
“Jamawar is usually used on shawls. But I use the same technique on garments as well. We started doing saris out of it first. We used to make Pashmina saris, too. Basically, whatever designs and prints I have on my Jamawars, I try and trace them on my garments,” said Girotra while talking about his collection. He added, “The focus was more on resham and Jamawar embroidery and I have used Persian embroidery where the thread used for the embroidery is the same as the one used for Persian carpets. It’s a revival of karigiri done 250 years ago.”
Apart from that “a lot of my concepts and styles have been taken from the Victorian era. The embroidery is all in resham, zari, gota and mirror work. All the men in the collection wore Pashmina Jamawar shawl, which is my forte, with traditional bandhgalas,” he shared.
Girotra has the maximum antiques of Jamawar, because of his family collections. “Our family has been collecting it for decades. My father and great grandfather used to collect Jamawar religiously. They used to buy it from royalty as well. That is why I decided to revive the technique into a form now. I use a lot of pure silk threads and do Jamawar patterns on Pashmina. Then the same designs and patterns I trace on my garments. My garments are regal and Mughal inspired,” he elaborated.
The artisans and craftsmen who work in his factory are well skilled in traditional karigiri. Girotra shared, “We have people from lucknow who do our mukaish work, but most of our karigars are Muslims from villages since they know the art form very well.” Girotra has used a lot of velvet in this couture collection. According to him, it is the best for this season.
“It is winters and the bridal season is on. Velvet is a very rich fabric and thick embroidery really comes out well on it,” he summed up.