Bold, subtle, earthy, and bright shades of pure Kanjeevaram saris lined up in a stall instantly attract the visitors.
‘INA Chennai’ reads the name displayed atop the stall.
“IN’ stands for ‘interesting’ and ‘A’ for ‘attire,” says Indira Lavanya, flashing a warm smile.
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“I have an exclusive collection of only handlooms, no synthetics. There are pure Kanjeevarams, designer Benaras saris, a range of georgettes, and pure handloom cottons,” she says pointing to the ageless beauties.
The woman from Chennai was in the city with her collection as part of ‘Styles and Weaves’, a three-day exhibition kicked off at Sesha Sai Kalyana Vedika on Saturday.
The event has brought in 70-odd weavers, artisans, and designers from different States across the country under one roof. The venue has acquired a splash of colour with retailers carting in their best collections to lure the locals.
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The sprawling auditorium is bursting at the seams with saris, suits, kurtis, leggings, designer footwear, jewellery, fancy items, accessories, and other knick-knacks.
Anand Prakash from Jaipur is the first timer. Pointing to the shimmering collection of precious and semi-precious stones, he says the speciality of his stall — Rajwada Jewels — is that it could tailor stylish strings of beads and stones in a ‘mix and match’ fashion in a jiffy. Not very happy with the initial lukewarm response, he hopes to find a good number of buyers for his stuff in the next two days.
S.A. Yatoo is a bloke from Kashmir who deals with Kashmiri saris, suits, tops, and Pashmina shawls. He is keeping his fingers crossed in anticipation of good business at the weekend.
Unlike Prakash and Yatoo, Samiksha from Kolkata is full of cheer, happily and swiftly catering to the choices of her customers.
“We have timed the event with the ensuing festivals such as Dasara and Deepavali. This is the season for shopping and I know that people of this city are good shoppers,” says Manjulatha, the event manager.