Attention, pleats!

Kashmiri motifs on capes, kanjivaram in linen, kalamkari on wool. Two design houses are giving tradition a chic spin

- Tanisha Saxena and Sneha Krishnan

Indian handicrafts always make the news. But two design houses have been getting the fashion world excited for different reasons. One has been working out new ways to make traditional crafts look sexy. The other is putting traditional weaves on the sexiest celebrities. Here's how they do it.

Amritsar-based label Taroob, founded by designers Sanchit Anand, Neeraj Singhania and Shubha Jain in 2020, started off with exporting handcrafted scarves, shawls, ponchos and capes to brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Esprit, Banana Republic and Ann Taylor. Many of the designs use kalamkari, a multistep hand-painting technique on cotton that is so labour intensive, few artisans have been able to make a living from it in recent times. On wool, the technique is tougher still.

Anand says their collections offer artisans a chance to work with a complex but threatened art form and make a stable income from it. "Although the kalamkari prints and Kashmiri embroidery are multicoloured, the base colours are beige, white, olive, mustard and black, on cashmere, pashmina, silk and linen," says Anand. They were a quick hit with Western shoppers looking for skilled handiwork, but garments that were neutral enough to blend into their existing wardrobe.

Turns out upmarket Indian buyers have been seeking much the same thing. Singer Shilpa Rao wore a Taroob cape, featuring Kashmiri embroidery flamingos and crystals, to a performance recently.