At the ongoing Rajasthan Heritage Week, designers are twisting, turning and presenting traditional handloom fabrics like kota doria, leheriya and khadi and giving it a new look. The end results are classy and chic pieces which are not only desirable but more saleable. Shrabasti Mallik reports from Jaipur
From the outside, Hotel Clark Amer in Jaipur looked like a quaint, serene getaway from the cacophony of city life but one step inside and it was chaos and mayhem. Models decked up in resplendent khadi sarees, leheriya shirts and kota dorai dresses, scurried from their make up counters to their designers to borrow a pin or to set the garment straight. We came across Bibi Russell, calm and composed, making last minute adjustments to the garland of one of her models who opened the first ever Rajasthan Heritage Week.
Bibi Russell is no stranger to Rajasthan and the handloom here because she has spent her entire life working with handcrafted handlooms. “And Rajasthan is close to my heart,” she said. Her collection displayed some mesmerising (for the lack of a more apt adjective) sarees, kurtas, Nehru jackets, kurtas and pajamas. They were bright, edgy and changed the perception that only a matured look can be paired with handloom and khadi. “The essence of handloom is that it is for everybody. I have used no other material in he collection and have tried to keep it as natural as I can,” said the ace designer.
She let us know that the entire collection was stitched by one tailor and that she had no fitting sessions with the models. “I look at a model and I just know,” she laughed, sitting with us at the poolside in a black kurta and a pair of funky wayfarers. Chunky bangles, metal rings and a big nose ring was a given. She did not get fitting blouses for her models. Instead she had them tied at the back. “None of the models I dressed except for draping the saree because I let them be. I am not that fussy,” she pointed out with a smile. like the chunky bangles, metal rings and the big nose ring that she wore, the accessories that complimented the collection was unique, just as her. “A few of them were recycled. And also I sat with the craftsmen to make me pieces of laquered bangles for the collection and they were very sweet in making them at a short notice,” said Russell, who spends much of her time in the villages, among weavers, artisans and craftsmen, trying to learn their art and their work.
At present, Russell is working with the master weavers of Kota dorai in an intervention project which will develop new interpretations of this iconic fabric.
Not just that, National award winning weavers from the state is also showcasing their work at the three day extravaganza. This is perhaps for the first time that weavers have been given a platform to showcase their designs, sans any celebrated designers. Sabir Bhai, master weaver from Kaithoon in Kota district, showcased a priceless collection of kota sarees done in leheriya.
We come to know from him that kota used to come in cotton but later was developed with silk and tusser. Over the years, designers have put in a lot of effort on this material. “In 2003 Ritu Kumar took a step forward to revive the leheriya which was almost on the verge of being dying. The craft of making leheriya requires a lot of effort. Designers worked in it for four years before it came into fashion but even then it barely generated profits,” he said.
Sabir is the fourth generation of weaver in his family and is pleased to see the traditional fabrics of leheriya and khadi find its way into modern fashion. “Bandhni and leheriya earlier was used mostly for making sarees but designers are using their creativity and using them in garments and everyday clothes,” he added.
Jason and Anshu’s collection was more casual wear in various silhouettes but the designer duo did not get to work directly with the craftsmen and weavers. Their line showcased formal dresses in cotton, khadi and wool. “The idea was to mix the fabrics and give it a common language rather than working on a particular one. It was interesting and cohesive and through this we want to show how handlooms can be incorporated in casual wear, too,” said Jason who used subtle shades of pink, red, yellow and blue in the collection.
Designers play a limited role in showing what fabrics can do. So, for those who are watching, it has an influence. “They do not necessarily have to be buyers but they get an idea of how to go about sporting handloom,” he said. Moreover, if one does not open up new avenues for the craft to expand and grow, then it becomes static. “You have to have an intervention. If there is no newness or new energy put into it then things can remain very stale,” Jason pointed out.
If you thought khadi was meant for older and somber looking politicians to wear on a day in the parliament, Sri lankan designer Ajai Vir Singh’s collection would have corrected that image. His was the only collection made all for the man of today. And boy did the models rock the look (mostly in shirts and trousers)! like most, Vur was also under the impression that not much can be done with khadi, until he was approached to design for the heritage week.
“Khadi was the inspiration for the collection and I have never worked with khadi before. The only thing that I have ever heard is that you cannot do much with khadi so it was bit of a challenge. They gave me a couple of things to look for and when I picked up, they did not have those things. So I asked them to send me whatever they had. And I worked backwards. Normally, you have the design first; fabrics come in much later in a collection planning. There were certain boundaries that I had to work with so it was good fun I had to break boundaries while being in the boundary,” said the designer.
The collection was quite retro with a contemporary take. So while there were simple trousers, they had pleats and were ballooned around the waist. “But they are not Jodhpuris,” he pointed out and explained, “Thigh onwards they were very skinny and there were like two inch turn ups from the bottom. They had side buckles but no place for he belt which is very 1920s.”
Designer Pallavi Jaipur brought the curtains down with a splendid collection which celebrated the colours of Rajasthan in one single show. Her collection titled, Handloom, handmade and hand done showcased five segments - sweth (shade of white, which depicted that moment in the Thar Desert with its antiquity, serenity and sand storms), haldi (bright nostalgic hues of yellows, pinks and oranges, inspired from the gulabi joys and colourful festivities of the place), Moreo (inspired by the royal colours of the peacock), sunehri raat (black collection inspired by the nights at Amer Fort when it is lit up at night) and Sindoor in red, to celebrate everything that is new in Rajasthan. “The magnificence and magnanimity of the Amer Fort when it was lit at night fascinates me. The yellow lights with the black backdrop are the basic philosophy of that line,” said the designer.
Pallavi’s collection used handloom fabrics like SF khadi, which is only spun in Bikaner, monga doria and suta doria, or muslin fabric. She has actually worked with the weavers for her designs and explained to us the fine difference between moonga doria and kota doria. “They both come from the same loom but the works are finer in moonga doria. You will see that the checks in kota doria are more closer while moonga doria has finer checks, which gives a modern geometrical look to the garment,” she elaborated.
Photos: Sanjeev Kumar