weaving LIFE

At this school in Mumbai, women from different walks of  life learn the art and heritage of thousand-year-old textiles.

- BEA VALDES

MUMBAI IS A CITY THAT INSISTS ON DENSITIES. Horns beep incessantly and the cawing of crows and mynas fill the sky. Lush bougainvillea hedges jostle above the sidewalks, fenced in by iron grillwork that slip into curlicues. Indo-Saracenic buildings flaunt their obsession with handsome moldings and eclectic flourishes. At almost every corner, onion domes peek through.

Here, courtyards unfold into another, with doorways and archways collapsing into the next, ushering an infinity of Mughal patterns. Sentinel Banyan trees tower over the tide of townsfolk. An urban patchwork of faded glory, Mumbai will not let you forget its history.

It is history in the remaking we see at the visit to the Chanakya School of Craft in Mumbai. Traditionally, men are the artisans who engaged in the Indian arts of embroidery. But, at the Chanakya foundation, Indian women from varied economic classes are given the opportunity to learn various heritage textile arts, some of which are over a millennia old.

Maria Grazia Chiuri, womenswear creative director at Christian Dior, has always been a champion of feminism and fashion. But beyond logos and catchphrases stenciled on Tees, she has shown how the seeds of her working relationship with Karishma Swali and the teams at Chanakya ateliers has blossomed into a revolution. They demonstrate, with practical, magical realism, what women’s empowerment through fashion can mean for a generation.