Textile exhibition Nayaab hopes to revive Indian weaves

A textile exhibition will showcase works by leading Indian designers in an effort to celebrate the country's vast handloom heritage

Come Diwali and one’s Instagram feed is flooded with celebrities flaunting designer wear at sundry parties. What was refreshing this year was that weaves such as Kanjeevaram, Banarsi and ikkat found a prominent place right beside the usual chiffons, georgettes and New Delhi’s favourite wedding fabric — net. Till very recently, Kanjeevarams and the likes were the domain of “older” celebrities, be it Rekha, Vidya Balan or Jaya Bachchan. Recently, though, the younger crop of actors have been boldly embracing traditional weaves. For instance, actor Alia Bhatt wears both a Manish Malhotra creation and a Sanjay Garg lehenga with equal elan.

Giving traditional Indian textiles the space they deserve in the world of fashion, curators Rupa Sood and Sharan Apparao will bring “Nayaab”, an exhibition celebrating the best of Indian weaves, to New Delhi.

Apparao, a gallerist from Chennai, explains how the exhibition is an outcome of the various other endeavours towards the uplift of textiles in the country. “We hold a talk every month in Chennai and Delhi. Nayaab will take that forward and get producers and manufacturers to interact with real customers and explain how much effort goes behind each intricate weave,” she says. In many cases, the intricacy of a particular weave makes it expensive and buyers don’t understand the reason behind it, she adds.

Coats by Kotwara feature kalamkari

Meera Ali, who co-owns the label Kotwara with husband Muzaffar Ali, adds there is a growing sensitivity to woven fabric and people are realising that “well-crafted brocades and silks breathe on the body”. “As a film maker too, Muzaffar believes that a natural fabric looks much more photogenic than any artificial fabric. Hand-embroidered clothes stand out even from a distance,” she says. Kotwara will be showcasing an eclectic range of apparel that uses kalamkari as the base. Besides coats that use kalamkari collages, the collection will also include woolen carpets with an ikkat concept.

Textile aficionados can also look forward to designs from Rayomand Manickshaw, who works with the traditional gara weave. Popular among Parsis, the gara sarees use a weave that is influenced by 19th-century Chinese motifs. Raw Mango, designer Garg’s label, will showcase its traditional handloom designs, which the label believes are Indian but not “kitschy”.

The show-stopper for Hyderabad-based designer Gaurang Shah’s collection will be sarees from the Kalpavriksha, or tree of life, series. Each saree took up to 14 months to be completed. “Every saree has different textures — be it Moga cotton or duplon. The design is drawn on paper and given to the weaver, in the traditional jamdani weave of the Andhra region,” he says.

But the challenge, adds Shah, is to make the sarees contemporary and traditional in equal parts. “The younger generation now understands that an outfit made with hand-woven textiles will set them apart from those wearing mill-made lehengas.”

While Meera believes that steps towards making Indian textiles popular are not currently adequate, the onus, she says, is on designers to promote a “passion for such fabrics”. Shah, though, believes that textiles are beginning to make a comeback of sorts, especially because of their price point.

Apparao, however, cautions that a lot of work still needs to be done. “The idea is to give a sense of authorship to artisans so that they don’t give up their precious craft,” she says.

Nayaab will be held at The Lodhi, New Delhi, between December 11 and 13, 10.30 am to 8 pm