Priyanka Chopra was a sight to behold in her Sabyasachi lehenga, as she married Nick Jonas. An illustration inspired by the couple’s wedding look by Ukraine-based artist Martha Oborska. The look was custom-made by Indian fashion designer, Sabyasachi, and took 110 embroiderers from Calcutta, India, 3,720 hours to create the hand-cut organza flowers, French knots in silk floss.
Kalamkari is an ancient style of hand painting done on cotton or silk fabric with a tamarind pen, using natural dyes. The word Kalamkari is derived from a Persian word where ‘kalam‘ means pen and ‘kari‘ refers to craftsmanship. This art involves 23 tedious steps of dyeing, bleaching, hand painting, block printing, starching, cleaning and more. Motifs drawn in Kalamkari spans from flowers, peacock, paisleys to divine characters of Hindu epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana. Nowadays, this art is primarily done to create Kalamkari sarees.
History
Centuries ago, folk singers and painters used to wander from one village to other, narrating stories of Hindu mythology to the village people. But with course of time, the process of telling tales transformed into canvas painting and that’s when Kalamkari art first saw the light of day. This colorful art dates back to more than 3000 B.C. According to the historians, fabric samples depicting Kalamkari art was found at the archeological sites of Mohenjo-daro.
But, it was during the Mughal era when this style of painting got recognition. Mughals promoted this art in the Golconda and Coromandel province where skillful craftsmen (known as Qualamkars) used to practice this art, that’s how this art and the word Kalamkari evolved. Under the Golconda sultanate, this art flourished at Machilipatnam in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh and further was promoted during the 18th century, as a decorative design on clothing by Britishers in India.
Till today, many families in Andhra Pradesh continue to practice this art and this has served as the prime source of livelihood for them, over the generations.
Process Flow of Making Kalamkari (Image Courtesy: Behance)
The Making
The process of making Kalamkari involves 23 steps. From natural process of bleaching the fabric, softening it, sun drying, preparing natural dyes, hand painting, to the processes of air drying and washing, the entire procedure is a process which requires precision and an eye for detailing.
Cotton fabric used for Kalamkari is first treated with a solution of cow dung and bleach. After keeping the fabric in this solution for hours, the fabric gets a uniform off-white color. After this, the cotton fabric is immersed in a mixture of buffalo milk and Myrobalans. This avoids smudging of dyes in the fabric when it is painted with natural dyes. Later, the fabric is washed under running water to get rid of the odor of buffalo milk. The fabric likewise, is washed twenty times and dried under the sun. Once the fabric is ready for painting, artists sketch motifs and designs on the fabric. Post this, the Kalamkari artists prepare dyes using natural sources to fill colors within the drawings.
Incorporating minute details, the Kalamkars use ‘tamarind twig’ as pen, to sketch beautiful motifs of Krishna Raas-Leela, Indian god and goddesses like Parvati, Vishnu, Shri Jaganath; designs of peacock, lotus; and scenes from the Hindu epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana.
Colors of Kalamkari
Kalamkari art primarily use earthy colors like indigo, mustard, rust, black and green. Natural dyes used to paint colors in Kalamkari art is extracted for natural sources with no use of chemicals and artificial matter. For instance, craftsmen extract black color by blending jaggery, water and iron fillings which they essentially use for outlining the sketches. While mustard or yellow is derived by boiling pomegranate peels, red hues are created from bark of madder or algirin. Likewise, blue is obtained from indigo and green is derived by mixing yellow and blue together.
Types of Kalamkari
There are two identifiable styles of Kalamkari art in India – Srikalahasti style and Machilipatnam style. In the Machilipatnam style of Kalamkari, motifs are essentially printed with hand-carved traditional blocks with intricate detailing painted by hands. On the other hand, Srikalahasti style of painting draws inspiration from the Hindu mythology describing scenes from the epics and folklore. This style holds a strong religious connect because of its origin in the temples.
In recent times, two other types of Kalamkari patterns have also emerged, based on the states where it is created. Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh are two prime states in India, where two different types of Kalamkari patterns are done. The Andhra Kalamkari borrows design inspiration from forts, palaces and temples of India, along with motifs of animals and birds. While the Gujarat Kalamkari depict motifs of mythological characters like Krishna-Arjuna from Mahabharata, lord Krishna, lord Ganesha, lord Buddha etc.
Kalamkari Kurti on Indian Runway (Image Courtesy: Lakme Fashion Week)
Present Day Scenario
From the first representation of Kalamkari art as religious paintings, depicting Indian gods and goddesses to the process of gaining recognition during the reign of Mughal dynasty, and till today when Andhra Pradesh is the largest producer of Kalamkari; this art has come a long way.
In the past decade, due to the tedious technique involved in its making, Kalamkari art was losing its shine. The emergence of high on technology machine looms and printed textiles also escalated the extinction process of this art. But it was the fashion designers of the Indian fashion industry who came together to revive this art and helped artisans practicing this art in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Creative minds like Gaurang Shah beautifully portrayed Kalamkari sarees on the fashion runways which brought back this immortal art back in the limelight.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGpCww-dxO8[/youtube]
Reference
Categories: Motifs & Embroideries
Sabyasachi Mukherjee is an Indian fashion designer, jewellery designer, and couturier. He is one of the youngest board members of the National Museum of Indian Cinema.
Wiki/Biography
Sabyasachi Mukherjee was born on Saturday, 23 February 1974 (age 46 years; as in 2020) in Kolkata. His zodiac sign is Pisces. Sabyasachi grew up in Maniktala, West Bengal. He did his schooling from Kolkata’s Sri Aurobindo Vidyamandir and went to St. Xavier’s College to pursue his graduation. When he was 15 years old, his father lost his job. While in college, Sabyasachi wanted to become a fashion designer, but his parents were not happy with his decision, instead they wanted him to become a doctor. So, he sold his books and paid for the admission form. Mukherjee passed the exam and pursued a fashion course from NIFT.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 8″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family & Caste
Sabyasachi Mukherjee belongs to a Bengali Brahmin Family. His father’s name is Sukumar Mukherjee. His mother, Sondhya Mukherjee, used to work at Kolkata’s Government Art College. He has a sister, Shingini Mukherjee (Payal) who operates the business of his fashion label.
Sabyasachi Lehenga Sketches Pictures
Sabyasachi Mukherjee with his family
Sabyasachi Wedding
Marital Status: Unmarried
Career
After graduating from NIFT, Sabyasachi opened a small workshop and started his label “Sabyasachi” (1999) with a workforce of just three people. After working hard for two years, in 2001, he won the Femina British Council’s “The Most Outstanding and Young Designer of India Award.” Later, he went to London for an internship with ‘Georgina von Etzdorf’, an eclectic designer based in Salisbury. Subsequently, he made his first international runway with the “Grand Winner Award” (2003) at the Mercedes Benz New Asia Fashion week in Singapore. Later, he opened a workshop in Paris by ‘Jean Paul Gaultier’ and ‘Azzedine Alaia.’ In 2006, Sabyasachi launched his “Spring Summer collection 07” at New York Fashion Week. It earned him critical acclaim, and his label started selling worldwide. Sabyasachi has designed the looks for many Bollywood movies, including “Black,” “Baabul,” “Laaga Chunari Mein Daag,” “Raavan,” “Guzaarish,” “Paa,” and “English Vinglish.” His celebrity clientele includes Rani Mukerji, Sridevi, Tabu, Shabana Azmi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anushka Sharma, and Deepika Padukone among others. Besides outfits, he has also opened his jewellery line. Sabyasachi has recently started his kids collection, “Chota Sabya.”
Sabyasachi’s Lehenga collection
Awards
- MTV Lycra Style Award for Best Designer of Hindustan
- Society Achievers Award for the Best New Indian Designer
- Listed as one of the ten most influential Indians in Asia by Asia Inc. (a Singapore-based business magazine)
- Only Indian Fashion Designer to be requested to showcase his work at Italy’s Milan Fashion Week (2004)
Favourite Things
Sabyasachi Lehenga Sketches Youtube
- Food: Fish Curry & Rice, Upma
- Colour(s): Gold, Silver, Pink
Facts/Trivia
- His hobbies include travelling and painting.
- Sabyasachi is a food buff and wishes to host a food based show one day.
- Mukherjee is greatly inspired for his designs from the gypsies, antique textiles, and cultural traditions of his hometown Kolkata.
- His fashion label has its flagship stores in Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. His exclusive outfits are also available at selected stores in various parts of India, and a few international retailers in California, Atlanta, London, and Dubai.
- Sabyasachi loves using Banarasi fabric in his designer collection.
- He has also promoted the Indian fabric “Khadi” on international platforms.
- Sabhayasachi is the youngest board member of the National Museum of the Indian Cinema.
- Most of Sabyasachi’s creations have distinct geometrical patterns and colours.
- All the business of his fashion label is managed by his sister.
- His family and friends fondly call him Pepsi and Sabya.
- He is an active philantrophist. Sabyasachi started a project “Save the Saree” through which he retailed hand-woven sarees on a non-profit basis. The sarees were priced at Rs. 3500, and the entire amount went to the weavers of Murshidabad.
- The actress, Deepika Padukone is so obsessed with Sabyasachi outfits that she had earlier revealed that whenever she would get married, she would love to become a Sabyasachi bride.
- Sabyasachi appeared on a chat show with his close fried Rani Mukerji and disclosed many aspects about his personal life.
- Sabyasachi designed Rani Mukerji’s bridal outfit in just 3 hours.
- He was one of the first few persons to have known about Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma‘s wedding before it became public. He revealed during an interview that his team used codes while working on Anushka’s bridal costume, so that the secret stayed intact.