At first glance the two exhibition galleries at Urban Spice look cluttered, with customers and consignments of unstitched and ready-to-wear Indian and western dresses mostly in pure cotton displayed by the Brindavan-based Hands of India (HOI). This is a mid-week morning and within the first three hours of opening the exhibition, the cash tills are ringing.
Madurai welcomed the new fusion in designs with a high footfall and Ramya Rangacharya, one of the founders of HOI, couldn’t have been happier. “Having come all the way, we are well stocked,” she says, “as we don’t want any customer to return disappointed.”
Not just the quality of fabric, the choice of colours and the charm of handwoven embroidery and patterns on every piece but also the facility of providing on-the-spot alterations and portable trial rooms has ensured that anyone who enters the exhibition leaves only after a purchase and not dejected about not having found a suitable piece.
And then of course it is the competitive pricing of the clothing that is attracting walk-ins. Ramya assures for the quality she is giving, one can mix and match and pick up four to five items for Rs.5,000 in comparison to say two of any brand name.
Ramya, who took retirement from the Air Force in 2003 while she was working as Air Traffic Controller, started HOI in 2010 along with her sister Malyada Goverdhan. “We wanted to work with weavers and hand-embroidery groups from all over India to create contemporary women's apparels,” says Ramya. It took the duo seven years to travel around the country to identify small tailoring units, the traditional weavers and village women who knew different kinds of stitching and embroidery but had no knowledge of selling their skills or how the market works. The sisters ended up establishing the enterprise which now provides employment to people in villages and small towns and focuses strictly on handlooms and hand-embroidery.
“Look at this chanderi sari with single nali bootis,” Ramya picks up the gorgeous piece in dark blue. “It took the weaver 20 days to create it and you can both see and feel the work done,” she says, holding the most expensive item at the exhibition, priced at Rs.13,000.
But the clamour as I see is for the Western wear. The HOI’s target group is working women and most of the customers who walked in made a beeline for the short tops, kurtis, pants and long flowing, short and wrap-around skirts in multiple designs, contemporary patterns and myriad colours. “What works the best and the most are the fusions,” says Ramya as she eyes a customer enquiring about the Kashmiri Ari hand-embroidery done on a beautiful pink kurta stitched in Andhra cotton.
Likewise the combination of Bandhini and Kantha embroidery on Bengal Cotton, the Sujani embroidery of Bihar (which looks like Bengal’s Kantha) on cotton sourced from Madhya Pradesh, the Daabka Ajrakh kurtas, the Aligarh patti work and the single stitch Kasuti embroidery from Karnataka along with Punjab’s phulkari, Lucknow’s Chikankari, Kashmir’s Sozni are all eye-appealing.
What struck was the huge variety in cuts and patterns in Kalamkari and Ikal dresses, the Bandhani pants, tops and culottes. They looked extremely chic and smart. The hand printed tunics or the hand made trousers in various lengths and flares, wide or narrow-legged and waist sizes either fixed or elasticated, the tasselled dupattas and saris, all ushered in a new definition of styling. A double sided jacket with kalamkari print on one side and a ajrak work on the other was particularly attractive but hid itself in the literally over-crowded racks.
Each handcrafted apparel, Ramya assures, is made from the finest handmade cotton procured from Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. When most manufacturers in fashion world have shifted to power looms and machine prints for the volume, we are offering the traditional and best hand embroidery on the finest handloom. “It is our way to respect both the artisan and the art,” she adds.
The HOI now works with 50 artisan groups across the country that has over 1500 artisans and employs about 80 people in its stitching and marketing department based out of Brindavan, UP. It also retails online through its website www.handsofindia.com .
The kurtas start from Rs.900, the western tops from Rs.800 and saris from Rs.1200 to name a few. Go once to check out the big collection from plain essentials to structured and customised dresses. And you won’t regret it. The exhibition is on till February 4th.
