Gaurang Shah is known for beautiful textile details and bold colors. This year at the Lakme Fashion Week, Mr. Shah brought us the world of Gujarati textiles, known as patola.
Patola is a type of double ikat textiles woven in geometric patterns in bright colors. They originate in Patan, Gujarat, of which only three families now work in this closely guarded industry.
It is a real treat to see patola saris and lengha appear on the runway. They can each take six months to one year to weave. Patience is a virtue!
Mr. Shah's collection was nothing short of bold, primary colors, reds, yellows, and blues. Actress and dancer Kiron Kher walked the ramped and dazzled us. She said the navratna saree was so inspiring and beautiful, it prompted her to stun the audience with a dance piece! Her stunning navratna Patola sari and dupatta teamed up with antique. silver necklace.
For women's wear, Gaurang created anarkalis, lehengas, shararas, ghagras, saris and khadi dupattas. His line was based on ‘streedhan’ representing Gujarat. He did include some new colors like pink, and fused traditional designs with parsi embroidery and zardosi work.
For the men's collection, Gaurang created four looks. The men wore traditional outfits with Patan patola sherwani, dhoti, kurta and even a turban (pagadi).
Gaurang summarizes his collection:
“Amalgamating this exotic fabric with my signature fabric- Khadi, I wanted to give a whole new dimension to the patolu. Accentuated with parsi embroidery, kanjeevaram borders, gota’s and fabric textures...It is a revival of the motifs with which patolu was begun centuries ago taking inspiration from the ‘rani-ki-vav’ like rattan chok bhat, nari kunjar bhat, fulvadi bhat, pan bhat, chabadi bhat, popat kunjar bhat are not just motifs woven but stories and emotions.”
The best way to describe this collection, from a Gujarati saying, “padi patole bhat, faatey pan phite nahin” meaning, "the design laid in the patola may be torn, but it shall never fade."
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