Is that powder pink? Or onion pink? Baby pink perhaps? Not quite. The people at Tulsi Silks thoughtfully crease their brows, tug at their chins and try to come to a conclusion. Finally we have an answer — it’s pink with a dash of lavender! “We just added a bit of lavender during the dyeing process and came up with this result — the perks of having an end-to-end product line,” says Santosh Parekh, who started the store with his brother Suresh in 1993.
Over the last 23 years, this brand has archived a collection of more than 2,000 vintage saris, 1,00,000 swatches of Kanjeevaram borders and motifs, and has worked with weavers from Kanchipuram, creating some exquisite pieces of traditional drapes. Now, it’s finally time for them to showcase their creations at the ongoing Lakmé Fashion Week Winter Festive 2016.
“This is the first time we are part of a fashion week,” says Parekh. The schedule for the final day of the show, August 28, lists Tulsi Silks along with Sabyasachi and Kunal Rawal. At the store in Mylapore, there’s excitement and a bit of nervous energy. “Designer Vivek Karunakaran came to source something from our store. When he saw our collection, he said we should be part of a fashion week and put us in touch with the officials at LFW,” he says. Initially, the team at LFW was concerned about this brand being just a retail store, but after they flew down and took a look at what’s designed and created in-house they were convinced. “Since 1999, we’ve been buying yarn from Sidlaghattain Karnataka, but everything else is done here,” he says.
It’s taken them 60 days to put together this collection of saris and lehengas. They claim it’s the first time someone is making Kanjeevaram lehengas. At the fashion week, Tulsi Silks will showcase 33 garments across five segments. The Pastel Story, as the name suggests, has pastel shades with silver zari work. There’s an unusual shade of yellow brightened with a hint of hot pink and it looks every bit like a delectable popsicle; perfect for the sweltering heat.
Meanwhile, music lovers can delight in the Musical Story that has Carnatic music staples like nadaswaram, veena, flute, tabla and sitar (all in zari of course) featuring prominently in their designs. The Animal Story has elephants, horses, birds and the yali (a mythical creature with the head of an elephant and body of a lion) sprawled across the length of the sari, in different poses.
A flash of gold and all things shimmery find themselves incorporated in the Gold Story, a bridal line that’s accentuated with contrasting borders.
With a lot of the brand’s emphasis on revival, it is hardly a surprise that there’s an entire range of revived saris. These are remakes of pieces that date back 40 to 80 years. Titled The Bright Story, these delicate drapes are made using the traditional korvai weave that Kanchipuram prides itself in. “While in essence each piece is in a classic style, there are a few innovations,” he says, holding up a black sari that has borders woven across its body.
Since their work revolves around Kanjeevaram silks, and they work with the weaving communities, their set for the fashion week too will resemble a village from the district. The models will walk to the beats of live Carnatic music and Dia Mirza will be the show stopper.
