BANGALORE: Sanjay Garg, known for giving a contemporary twist to the traditional chanderi, brings his famed weaves to the Garden City. His collection of sarees, dupattas and stoles, retailed under the label Raw Mango, will be exhibited at Raintree on November 26 and 27.
Arundhati Roy loves to drape herself in six yard of the chanderi weave that’s designed by National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) graduate Sanjay Garg. Even Shabana Azmi and Renuka Chaudhary are fans of his minimalist yet creative chanderi lines.
Garg weaves the chanderi with an unusual combination of yarns such as imported merino wool and silk, converting the traditional cotton and silk fabric into sophisticated winter attire. Stepping on to the textile trail, the 29-year-old is reviving chanderi as contemporary in spirit and feel.
Garg, whose label Raw Mango was born in 2008, has been recently awarded ‘Best Designer’ by the Ministry of Textiles.
Garg retails from his studio in Vasant Kunj and designer store, L’Affaire in the Capital, Delhi, along with stores like Good Earth in Delhi and Mumbai, and Amethyst in Chennai. His production unit comprising of 120 looms operates entirely out of Madhya Pradesh, where the craft of chanderi originated.
Urban appeal
“The urban working woman is not against the saree but she wears it sparingly and wants it to fall well,” says Garg. So, he always uses de-gummed silk (removing the silkworm saliva which makes the fabric stiff), to produce a softening effect. Garg has also brought a modern design element to the craft, by focusing on inlay weaving techniques like Jamdani and double ikat -- a traditional Orissa weave -- in pure silk.
His stoles and dupattas use the extra weft technique and are used as casual wear. Unlike stiff handwoven accessories, they’re soft with interesting finishes like crinkling.
In quest of ‘new’
The designer launches fresh collections every season and his latest range titled ‘Mughal returns to Chanderi,’ is replete with Mughal motifs like cypress trees, lilies and marigold. Depending on the complexity of technique, his sarees could take a week to one month in the making.
Exploring right
Garg’s forte lies in designing sarees, stoles and dupattas, where he mixes various fibres such as khadi and silk, khadi and tissue as well as merino wool and silk and even experiments with new fibres in traditional chanderi-like aeri silk from Assam.
While zari fibres have always been manufactured with only gold and silver metals, Garg has introduced copper to add variety to his repertoire.
Watch out for...
His chanderi cache has a few beauties. A bright fuchsia silk and cotton sari with a slim aubergine border and mute Jamdani detailing stands out. Lotus motifs on the pallu lend it an elegant quality. Another attention grabber is a startling lime green sari in pure silk, which has a darker tone of green and zari to embellish its border.
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