Indian fashion industry welcomes handlooms

Award-winning textile designer Gaurang Shah is more than happy that the Indian fashion industry has welcomed handlooms. The designer said that one must acknowledge the passion and intense amount of production hours every weaver at the looms puts to bring out timeless pieces of handlooms.

The Indian fashion industry has embraced handlooms with lot of admiration and helped revive their ancient traditions of weaving art, like the jamdani weaves, that they use in creating their fashion pieces, Shah said who has given a luxurious twist to the dying art of weaving and popularised the use of Khadi.

At Lakme’s Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2017, Shah showcased his latest collection of 40 garments titled Muslin. His anthology for the gala was inspired by romance of nature.

Giving details about his range, he said that the collection incorporates weaves and techniques from West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The amazing all-in-whites collections integrate gorgeous Mughal motifs and geometric patterns on Khadi, chikankari embroidery and Parsi gara.

The designer’s collection involved 50 weavers working relentlessly for over six months. Shah, whose handloom creation made its way to the 69th Cannes Film Festival when Deepshikha Deshmukh, producer of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan starrer “Sarbjit”, stepped out in an ensemble featuring Paithani and Kanjeevaram details, says that handlooms are a glorious heritage of India and it is important to preserve and help the artists’ community grow.

Shah began his journey in the textile world with just two weavers and today the label works with 700 weavers, and the number is still growing. The biggest contribution as a designer, can make is to keep their artisans motivated and also help them gain confidence that it is a highly profitable profession. The designer has styled the stars like Vidya Balan, Sonam Kapoor and Kirron Kher.

The designer added that following the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and persistent effort and motivation from his label has pushed Indian handlooms to higher level of acceptance.