Wrap around a luxurious weave

Designer Tanira Sethi's cashmere saris add the right amount of warmth to the winter party wardrobe

Delhi winters are legendary. And if you live in the city, you know your calendar is going to be chock-a-block with weddings. It was one such wedding that gave Tanira Sethi the inspiration for her graduation project at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). “One sees women wear beautiful saris and then team them with unappealing sweaters. I wondered if one could do seven-metre shawls, then why not saris,” she says. This is what led to the maiden collection for Taani, the 23-year-old’s recently launched fashion line.

After the project at NIFT, Sethi, daughter of designer and Fashion Design Council of India President Sunil Sethi, exhibited a few saris at the Be Open exhibition in 2014. The response, to her surprise, was startlingly good. But it was after she completed her post-graduation that Sethi began creating designs specific to the cashmere weave. The current collection has three categories —woven cashmere, hand-painted cashmere saris and cashmere lace saris —each with a different ideology. “The toughest and the most unique is the cashmere lace, which is the first-ever lace to be produced with the cashmere thread.” This lace is created on special machinery in France, while the rest of the collection is woven in various parts of India. 

Currently retailing at Patine in DLF Emporio in New Delhi, Taani’s saris stand out at the store for the muted tones and subtle drape. While Pashmina has long been a fabric used for saris, particularly with Kashmiri embroidery, the weave tends to be slightly more textured, and, as a result, not as fluid for the perfect drape. The cashmere saris, on the other hand, have a naturally flexible quality and one thinks the ever-important sari pleats would fall perfectly. While the designs themselves are not particularly striking — the colour-palette and template is similar to that of other designers offering woven winter saris, certain pieces do manage to hold one’s attention. For instance, a bright yellow cashmere sari looks perfect for a Sunday brunch with sparkling wine.

The saris that truly stand out are the ones in lace, created in pastel, ombré shades. Ombré seems to be all the rage with hair, makeup and fashion trends and Sethi utilises this trend with a certain understated elegance in her collection. But what these saris are not are blingy. “The ideology behind each piece is minimalism and even for my future pieces I will not be focussing on embellishment,” explains Sethi. But before these saris are written off from the wedding wardrobe, a striking red lace sari can fit right into the party scene with the right blouse and accessories. Though currently out of stock at the store, the lace line also has a few pieces with cashmere embroidery. “In fact, a lot of these saris leave enough room to dish out those beautiful statement pieces and add just the right amount of bling.”

Sethi is now in the process of developing a summer line of saris, working with soft, light silk in brighter hues. But while winter lasts, the luxurious cashmere sari can add just the right amount of warmth to a chilly evening.
 

Cashmere saris from Taani are available at Patine, DLF Emporio, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi and are priced upwards of Rs 84,000