Classic stripes of the Jamakkalam make fashion strides
Travelling back to the hinterlands through the muddy, rutted roads on any vehicle that takes her to the destination, feeling every bit of the rustic life, is like reliving old days in her village, Vandavasi, for Vino Supraja. When she visits the weavers in the villages, she feels like “going back to her roots”. For this sustainable fashion designer, her business travels in India are quite personal, an experience very close to her heart. She sums up, “I feel grounded every time I come back with a heart filled with joy and happiness.”
This Dubai-based designer has made a conscious choice to steer off the path to sustainable fashion, which she says is a lifelong commitment. After spending the initial years of her career in fashion in Detroit, while she was pursuing Fashion Marketing in Dubai, she had a life-changing experience. When a teacher made her watch a documentary, ‘The True Cost’, she was exposed to the “dark side of fashion”, something that she was unfamiliar with. “I came to know about how the garment workers are being treated in tiny factories, and how their wages are compromised. It was really hard-hitting. We are only focused on buying cheap products, but we don’t think about how it is given for such a low price. For someone who has grown up in a small village, seeing people who toil in the scorching sun and beat the harsh cold, it was a turning point, an unforgettable insight,” she shares.
Taking local to global
The commitment that she wanted to bring the stories of people remained unshaken. Nothing was intentional, nothing was planned; her travels to the rural pockets and her fascination with traditional fabrics drove her forward. After being recognised as a Global Sustainable Fashion Trailblazer in the British Parliament House of Commons for showcasing Therukuthu at London Fashion Week in 2023, the invitation from the London Fashion Week and the display of Bhavani jamakkalam on September 21 came unexpectedly to her.
“My first trip to Bhavani [in Erode] was just as a tourist to see how jamakkalam is made. I saw a few striking visuals. All the weavers were old. No youngsters were seen. Secondly, there were a lot of looms covered with cobwebs, not in use,” she recalls. The sight of very few weavers spinning in a room, with rows of 40-50 looms, and their words, “The next generation is not interested in doing this because they feel they can’t earn much,” were etched in Vino’s mind.
There is a reason why such weaving rooms are sparsely occupied. Vino says, “They tell me that the demand has really gone down.” Bhavani jamakkalam used to be the rug that we spread on the floor during any occasion in our homes. But now we have stopped sitting on the floor, and chosen fancy chairs instead.
A new identity
While the ways of celebrations are changing and evolving, such handwoven textiles are on the verge of vanishing. Vino set her sights on giving a new form to this textile. The stripes, she says, are the signature identity of jamakkalam, and the colour blocking has a notable symmetry. “They look modern with the stripes. The first thing that I could reimagine was to make handbags out of them,” Vino says.
There were certain aspects that made it look premium. “It involved a lot of research and Development (R&D) to make the product prototype, because people have moved away from the old ways of dyeing the yarn.” But the unique process of dyeing demanded old techniques. Finding someone who could do that — bring the logo zipper and all the accessories in the same shade of gold — was one of the challenges she faced. “In Bhavani jamakkalam, the warp is white yarn; only the rest is coloured. But in the end product, one can only see coloured lines. The longitudinal lines are completely hidden with a technique called surukku thalluthal. The concern was blending the textile in such a way that the white yarn isn’t seen.”
It took them almost a year to bring out the J Collection, which they are selling in Dubai and Singapore. While she was working with this product development and with the weavers of Bhavani, the opportunity to showcase at the London Fashion Week came again, and she knew that jamakkalam had the potential to go global. Throughout the project, her focus was to shift the limelight to the weavers. “The minute a heritage craft goes onto the mood board, it is the duty of the designer or the brand to give credits; the people who carry the craft forward for generations deserve the limelight,” Vino says, admitting that she has just reimagined the craft.
When Vino presented her latest sustainable collection, WEAVE: A Bhavani Tribute, the man behind the craft, Sakthivel Periyasamy, one of the senior-most members of the weavers community in Bhavani, walked on to the stage of the Fashion Week. Vino ensured that the representation of the village and their craft had to be in the most authentic way. She didn’t want to depict the weavers as vulnerable, nor did she want to convey the message that it’s a sinking business. Rather, she presented this handloom, spun with the magic spells of the weavers of Bhavani, with pride.
Vino describes the room as “swooning with many emotions” as Sakthivel walked with her on the ramp, clad in a veshti, white shirt, and angavasthram around his shoulder, holding a charka. The orchestration of the background music was a way of honouring the ancient rhythms of folklore, giving a final stroke to the runway walk. Paul Jacob composed a unique track with the ancient Tamil instruments — Kombu, thaarai, pambai, urumi, jimla melam, and periya melam — melded with a rap in English, inspired by Bharatiyar’s poem, and sung by Blaaze. This rendition was woven intricately with the vocals by Chinnaponnu and Anthony Dasan.
With the powerful music reverberating across the crowd, the weavers of Bhavani were applauded with tears of joy in London. Filled with joy, she says, “The village is happy.” Her journey of sustainability continues. She has travelled globally. But, “At the end of the day, I want to hold the manja pai (a yellow cloth bag from Tamil Nadu) close.”