How Ritu Kumar walked her talk

Indias senior most designers Varanasi collection at Lakme Fashion Week spoke for the arguments she makes on craft revival issues

643

Subscribe to our newsletter.

Shefalee Vasudev

Ritu Kumar showed her collection called Varanasi Weaves on the handloom and textile day
of Lakme Fashion Weeks (LFW) Winter/Festive 2015.
Indias Save our textiles era, the one that we are in the midst of will slowly open towards draconian questions asking what did we
actually save. When it does, designer and textile conservationist Ritu Kumars reiterations will gain serious significance. For those
who track fashion, textile history and its many complex and current movements, this is one designer we may want to listen to. While
a number of experienced crafts experts are trying hard to convince an earnest Ministry of Textiles that fashion is certainly not the
first way to change the fortunes of weavers in impoverished handloom sectors of India which have their own specific needs, Kumar,
because she is a designer was able to recently show exactly what this means.
On the handloom and textile day of Lakme Fashion Weeks (LFW) Winter/Festive 2015 edition last week in Mumbai, Kumar
showed a collection called Varanasi Weaves. A capsule of white on white Banarasi cutwork on the one hand and some classical
looking but newly woven saris that walked the ramp made devoted followers of textile interpretations sit up. The intrinsic beauty
and styling of these garments was fabulous. But lets say that you can expect that much from the matriarch of Indian fashion

anyway. Even so, what was extraordinary was her attempt at bringing back what she calls the lost weaves in the Varanasi
vocabulary: rich, opulent, dexterously layered with weaving attention on pattern and colour.

Creations from Varanasi WeavesI was in the audience and while much of the day had been spent watching fashion collections
inspired by Varanasi and listening to opinions on them and other related issues, Kumars collection was a lesson I had long waited
for. Earlier when Kumar had emphasized that it took her one full year to get about six to eight saris from weavers that could be
called something close to what has lapsed in Varanasis revival noise, I wasnt exactly sure what she meant. But when you see a
sari that you have only perhaps seen in books or imagined via textile theory, the penny drops in the mind.
At a panel discussion that day, Kumar had made some firm and calm observations, directed at the audience at large but primarily at
Alok Kumar, the Development Commissioner of Handlooms from the Ministry of Textiles. I moderated that discussion and found
Kumars advice that the government should certainly not get into branding of textile fabrics or get into designing for which it had no
expertise very valid. Kumar, who was decorated with a Padma Shri a couple of years back later told me that it was too late in life to
mince words and she wanted to call a spade a spade. She meant that if work had to be done with the largesse, intensity, texture,
breadth and bandwidth of the Vishvakarma exhibitions of Indian Handlooms in the 80s that had revitalized pathways needed to stay
in consonance with indigenous artisans and their creations, this was not the way forward. Bringing back livelihood to the weavers
requires serious work by senior experts on the field. Otherwise we are just engaging with a popular idea. Whatever resources we
have we must use them effectively, she said adding that it just looked like a lot of work is being done.
Kumars view is shared by a number of crafts and textile veterans who seem to be looking at the governments frenzy around
Varanasi both with amusement and dismay.

For a story that I reported on the Banaras conundrum last week for Mint Lounge, Kumar had made one another point on pricing
that may help many of Indias textile brigade understand why quick, trendy products created from Varanasi as modern pret and
global fashion are so antithetical to what the weavers of that city are known for. It should be priced like couture, she said simply.
Varanasi brocades were never meant for common consumption, they always were created as a response for higher patronage for
them, she said.
This argument may be a great and timely clue for those on the bandwagon. It will help elevate Varanasi above seasonal creations
and give it the status it deserves. So that the commercial gains of promotional storms are in tandem. I am keeping my fingers
crossed but believe me I am seriously worried that it is going to be difficult to save Varanasis authenticity, says Kumar.
Wise words especially as the drums around Varanasi will beat soon again at Amazon India Fashion Week in October. A select list of
designers has been asked to make four garments each inspired by Varanasi for the finale.
How many new clothes would The Emperor really need?
Shefalee Vasudev

TOPICS: RITU KUMARVARANASI WEAVESHANDLOOM INDUSTRYVARANASIWEAVERS