The Fabric of India exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum in London will showcase over 200 handmade textiles, celebrating the tradition, ceremonies and innovation of India’s textile industry. Co-curated by Rosemary Crill and Divia Patel of the V&A’s Asian Department, the expansive collection spans from the third century to the present day. These include sacred temple hangings to a tent used by Tipu Sultan besides various forms of historic costumes. Printing techniques using natural dyes such as pomegranate and indigo along with block-printing, weaving and embroidery across the ages will also be revealed.
Works by contemporary fashion designers like Abraham and Thakore, Aneeth Arora, Rahul Mishra and Kallol Datta will be showcased. Interestingly, Good Earth, the country’s leading design house, will sponsor this show at the V&A. This year, the luxury home décor store celebrates its 20th year in the business. The company’s designs will also be on sale at the museum. According to the press release, the exhibit will explore the ‘range, opulence, scale and splendour of objects handmade for the rich and powerful courts of the 17th centuries’.It starts on October 3, 2015, and will go on till January 10, 2016.