Blessed with a rich artistic and cultural heritage, Chhattisgarh has the distinction of producing unique art forms and textiles. This slice of heritage needs some serious attention to not only help the younger generation continue the practices but to link the products to a viable market.
The Chhattisgarh Apex Handloom Federation (CAHF), in an attempt to preserve and popularise the art and craft of the State, collaborated with the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) to display a wide assortment of traditional and formal costumes at a fashion extravaganza at the ongoing Surajkund International Crafts Mela. The colourful garments were an amalgamation of tribal culture and Western styling.
In this mutually beneficial partnership, the traditional weavers of the State created hand woven fabric which was further improvised by the NIFT students and faculty to make the garments look contemporary, chic and classy.
This collaborative venture also entailed the project coordinator Anu Jain, Associate Professor — NIFT, travelling to the State to get a first hand experience of the work done by the indigenous communities and understanding how Chhattisgarh plans to incorporate its rich artistic traditions into modern wear and then working closely with the students for three months.
The fashion show “Amber-Mandaar: Vastra from Divine Land” was presented at the Mela intermittently punctuated by tribal dance forms and music from Chhattisgarh, the theme State of this year. Every year, the theme State presents a fashion show at the Haryana Tourism event.
According to Anu, the aim behind hosting the extravaganza was to project textiles in a manner that it boost the career of the weavers and block printers and encourage children to follow in the footsteps of their forefathers.
“We travelled to Raipur and Champa, a town belonging to the Devangan weaving community. The interaction with the weavers was pretty useful and brainstorming. It helped the team at NIFT to understand their perspective. We procured fabric from them to get a feel of the cloth and design outfits accordingly,” said Anu.
Explaining the reason behind presenting Kosa silk in different avatars, Shruti Singh, MD, CAHF, pointed out that “It has unique geometric patterns in weaving.”
“So Kosa, reared from a wild variety of silk worm, is being promoted and propagated by us. Tribal motifs indicating human figures and animals could be seen in the accessories worn by models during the show. We gave the NIFT complete freedom to design the outfits but stressed the need to promote textiles. Two students from the textile design department and four from the fashion design department were selected from the kind of work they have done. Two fashion design alumni were selected,” Singh said.
Noting that the fashion show was conceived in a manner to attract more tourists into the State, Santosh Misra, Managing Director Chhattisgarh Tourism Board, said the celebration of clothes “has always been an integral part of the Surajkund Mela.”
“Through this show, we also made an attempt to revive art forms like the Godhna prints. Instead of making them on the walls, some creative people are now making them on saris. Then there is traditional jewelleries Kardhani and Hansuli, tribal ornament worn around the neck,” Misra added.
The show began with models sporting trendy attire, a blend of Western minimalism and hand woven craftsmanship of the State.
With a touch of class and craft, the Kosa silk sari was presented at the show. Two kinds of original tribal headgear were worn by models to make people aware of the rich cultural heritage of the State.
Used as a prop, the headgear gave the curator an opportunity to create drama on the rostrum.
