Handmade Indian sarees shopping today

Premium Bengal cotton sarees online shop: Women traditionally wore various types of regional handloom saris made of silk, cotton, ikat, block-print, embroidery and tie-dye textiles. Most sought after brocade silk sarees are Banarasi, Kanchipuram, Gadwal, Paithani, Mysore, Uppada, Bhagalpuri, Balchuri, Maheshwari, Chanderi, Mekhela, Ghicha, Narayan pet and Eri etc. Years later with the advent of foreigners, the rich Indian women started asking the artisans to use expensive stones, gold threads to make exclusive saris for the strata, which could make them stand out clearly. But sari did remain unbiased as a garment and was adapted by each stratum, in their own way. That was the beauty of the garment, that still remains. Read extra info at https://silkpetalss.com/product-category/sarees/.

Kanjeevaram silk saris originate from Kanchipuram, a temple town in Tamil Nadu, and use a special weaving technique that makes the sari last for generations. The saris have contrasting bright colours with designs of the border and the pallu being different from the body of the sari. The sari has golden weaves and bold, colourful motifs like flowers, peacocks and elephants, says 71-year-old Deepa Sharma from Delhi, who owns Arankri, a 30-year-old establishment that curates handcrafted saris. The Baluchari saris from West Bengal incorporate designs based on mythological stories from the great Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

Some women, particularly in rural areas, still wrap and fold themselves into lengths of cotton, linen, or other fabrics for everyday work. “You’re more likely to see saris on older women, the aunties and grandmas in some regions. They might wear one all the time,” says Cristin McKnight Sethi, a South Asian textile expert and professor of art history at George Washington University’s Corcoran School of the Arts and Design. Younger women and city dwellers, she says, might opt for Western clothing or a salwar (tunic and pants suit) most days but a vibrant sari for a wedding or other party. The textile is a symbolic rite of passage for young Hindu girls, who wear a sari or half-length sari for a Ritu Kala Samskara coming-of-age ceremony. The garment has even been wielded as a political prop.

Hegemony and its many deleterious aspects include the shackling of thought processes. Thought processes are so sacred that they deny the colony the right to free thinking. Colonization has taken away our right to think in the context so innate and sacred to individuals—the right to express ourselves through the art of wearing. Therefore, there remains an urgent need to reverse this thinking through decolonization. Decolonization entails removing oppressive behaviors while assisting Indigenous peoples in reclaiming land, culture, language, community, family, history, and traditions that were taken away through the colonial process.

Silk Petalss was born from a career Investment Professional’s love for the rich heritage of Indian handcrafted textiles and artefacts. Her admiration for the beautiful heritage weaves and products saw her travelling widely through interior villages and towns of India, interacting with the weaving community and understanding their perspective and concerns. Awareness about their issues, specifically post Covid19, the need to protect the community and our rich heritage led to Silk Petalss being created. Read extra information at https://silkpetalss.com/.

That a long, unstitched rectangular garment used to drape the female form for 5,000 years and worn every day by hundreds of millions of women from the Indian subcontinent flourishes as a fashion choice of the 21st century woman makes the story of the sari a fascinating one. The earliest records of a garment similar to the sari can be traced back to the Indus Valley Civilisation that flourished between 2800 and 1800BC in what is today northwest India. The word sari is believed to be derived from a Sanskrit word meaning strip of cloth.