Peacocks, parrots, butterflies, dragon flies, summer vines and flowers come alive on canvases of cotton and gold. The colours in the fashion palette of the season are white, cream and gold. With just a week left for Onam, boutiques in the city are decked in the Onam colours. The range is rich and varied as the cream and gold background lends itself to myriad designs in multiple hues.
Designs for Onam at Czarina boutique
The plain cream material edged with gold, silver or coloured weaves, is enriched with embroidery, cut-work, printed borders, painted motifs, block prints and woven add-ons. Though there are designers who feel that the colours and designs of the traditional Kerala sari are sacrosanct and any add-ons and changes would spoil the feel of the drape, traditional arts like Madhubani, mural art and Kalamkari, and weaves have been used to fashion a new line in Kerala saris.
“The colour combination of white/cream and gold suits most people and so we have a range to appeal to shoppers of all ages. We want youngsters to wear our designs and this time the colours are warm and summery with youthful motifs. Embroidered and hand-painted saris with bright and jaunty borders are for the young and the young at heart. Ribbon work, applique and mirrors should catch the eye of fashionistas looking for something different,” says Sheila James, whose boutique Czarina, the oldest in the city, is in Onam mode.
Top (pamparam) embroidery on Kerala sari by Weavers village
The celebrations are no less in Weavers Village where the designs evoke nostalgia with their new collection called ‘Kalipaattam’ (toys). Old-world tops ( pambaram ), toys made of coconut fronds and ruby red seeds of manjadi are embroidered in gold or coloured threads on the ivory background of the sari. “But our top seller must be a bespoke one we created for actor-dancer Asha Sharath, which was woven around the ghunghroo. It had small bells embroidered on the sari. It became a huge hit and we made similar ones for many customers....musical saris that tinkle gently as you move around,” says Shobha Aswin, creative head and founder of the design house.
Kuruthola design on Kerala sari by Weavers Village
Tissue saris in colour coordinated themes of Onam and saris with unusually broad gold borders are also up for grabs at Weavers Village. Moreover, while many of the saris that pass off as Kerala handlooms are powered by mechanical looms, Shobha makes it a point to source genuine handloom ( kaithari) saris from the hearths of skilled weavers in the far-flung rural areas of the district with a long legacy of weaving traditions.
Madhubani work on Kerala sari at Ethnic Weaves
Kunjumol Cyriac, head of designs at Ethnic Weaves, swears by ethnic designs. What is new in her collection is Madhubani block prints on Kerala saris. She also has an interesting collection of saris embellished with embroidery, cut work and Kalamkari work.
Sonia Srikumar of Katha likes to be traditional with a trendy twist. So there are Kerala saris with printed motifs, tissue saris adorned with embroidery and cut work. However, her favourites saris have Kalamkari work gracing the traditional Kerala cotton sari. “There are saris with Kalamkari prints and applique work on them, some quite bold, such as peacock motifs,” says Sonia.
Kerala sari by Vedhika
This year Maithri Srikant Anand of Vedhika boutique has designed a collection of Onam weaves, ‘Kili vathil,’ which she calls “a window into a colourful, new world of possibilities.” She’s got traditional Kerala handloom saris, set-mundus, ready-to-wear kurtis and so on, with a variety of traditional motifs. Parrots and peacocks, thumbis (dragonflies), butterflies and so on flit among flowers and in and out of birdcages throughout the six yards, while in others the seven swaras of Carnatic music roam along the borders and pallus. “Our weavers in Balaramapuram have created a special kara, inspired by S.H.Raza’s Bindu, which has sliver polka dots embossed on plain gold borders,” she explains.
In the meantime, weavers in and around Balaramapuram have weaves in multiple designs to suit every purse.
