Designer fraternity joins hands to revive Banarasi weaves

Organisers of the Lakme Fashion Week, along with designer-politician Shaina N C, recently launched an initiative called ‘Reinvent Banaras’, to revive Banaras handlooms. She was joined by Krishna Mehta, Shruti Sancheti and textile designer Hemang Agrawal. Ace designer Ritu Kumar, who has been working with Indian artisans to revive traditional weaves, unveiled some of her significant looks from ‘Varanasi Weaves’ collection, which will be showcased at the Indian Handlooms and Textiles Day at the Lakme Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2015, on August 27.

The Indian Handloom and Textile Day at the fashion gala celebrates the rich heritage of hand-woven luxury every season. Shaina N C will curate a special exhibition at Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai for the Lakme Fashion Week. The exhibition will showcase the works of fashion designers like Ritu Kumar, Anita Dongre, Ritu Beri, Gaurav Gupta, Varun Bahl, Rina Dhaka and Krishna Mehta, on a single platform.

The initiative, to be promoted under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign will assist and boost talented craftsmen and weavers by promoting their art on a global scale. After working with the Banarasi sari weavers, the designers will work with traditional weaves like the Paithini saris from Maharashtra. The designers will adopt clusters and work with the weavers.

Even designers, who are already working with artisans from different clusters, would get a chance to implement government’s schemes, which in turn would help them streamline their own fashion label.