It sounded unrehearsed and genuine when Kirron Kher gushed over designer Gaurang Shah’s limited edition heritage collection and stated she’d like to bring out a new line of saris in partnership with the designer in future. The actress has been Gaurang Shah’s muse and showstopper at Lakme Fashion Week in the past and takes pride in wearing hand-woven saris.
The actress was in Hyderabad to unveil the heritage summer collection of the troika Gaurang Shah, Mira Sagar and Bappaditya, which included a range of organzas, Maheshwari and Chanderi cottons.
Gaurang proudly shows off an off-white sari with contrasting fuchsia and green borders with colourful floral jamdhani motifs and says, “This was done on a three-shuttle loom in the traditional style followed by weavers in Kanchi. We wanted to develop a line of saris that are lighter but have the lustre of silk. The result was this mix of organza and silk, which ensures easy drape.” These limited edition saris can cost the buyer a neat sum of Rs.50,000 or more.
But not every sari showcased as part of the heritage collection creates a dent in the buyer’s wallet. Gaurang’s summer range includes Jaipur batiks, ikats and ajrakhs on cotton and organza, priced mostly within Rs. 15,000.
Mira Sagar, having worked for years with clusters of weavers in Maheshwar, brings to town a range of cotton kurta materials in solid hues offset by floral block print dupattas and priced around Rs. 1200 to 1500.
Bappaditya Biswas has displayed a range of hand-woven Bengal silks and cottons as part of his label ‘Bilou’, which enjoys the patronage of personalities like Priyanka Gandhi and filmmaker Aparna Sen. The basic range of cotton saris ‘abir’ are priced at Rs. 750 and a higher range of silk-cotton blends in bright, summer colour palette come at Rs. 4000 to 6000.
To complement the ethnic weaves, Mira Sagar’s daughter Sasha displayed a line of antique silver jewellery.
