I am someone who travels all over the world, in my capacity of a fashion blogger – I get to see first-hand how the fashion world is changing and evolving and what are the new trends that are emerging. I see new designers bringing about new ideas and designs to the forefront, and then I also see the big established fashion houses trying to better what they have already created. But the one thing that I always notice is that some trends always tend to linger around, and no matter what the dissidents might say, there are certain trends that are here to stay. Embroidery happens to be one of them – while there are those who would say that embroidery is old fashioned, those in the fashion know-how will tell you that this intricate hand work will be around for a really long time.
In order to understand why embroidery is still so loved in the fashion world, I tried to trace to history of this ancient craft. What surprised me the most is that the origins of embroidery can be traced all the way back to 30,000BC, because during archaeological excavations, several clothes, including footwear and hats were found, which had heavy embroidery done on them. Similarly, I read articles about how during an excavation in Siberia, shells were found with embroidery on them and these were dated to around 5000 BC. Pictures from ancient China depicted embroidery that was done using silk thread and precious stones. However, the embroidery in the manner that we recognise it in today, evolved in the Middle East and perhaps China and what had probably started as a decorative method to join animal hides, eventually evolved into something incredibly artistic. There are several evidences that show people from the past wearing clothes and accessories that had been embroidered.
Hand embroidery design graduated to the next level during the 1100s when beads and pearls were used and started to spread all over Europe. Eventually, bead and pearl embroidery as well as intricate designs became common place. As a matter of fact, the elaboration on the embroidery became a symbol of opulence and several cultures including those in Persia, India, China and the Byzantium empires, embroidery had arrived. Embroidery thrived in India and the Indian sub-continent and several variations of the form emerged – from those which used cotton thread to those which used silk, from pearl and precious stones being used to mirror work.
With the change in times, embroidery saw a dip – people no longer considered embroidery as stylish. In the Indian sub-continent, embroidery was deigned as something traditional and was used only for outfits that would be used for traditional occasions. However, the arts continued to flourish in certain areas – such as phulkari in Punjab and chikan in Lucknow. While these works were still recognised in these regions, the takers for these intricate arts were dwindling.
The renaissance for embroidery arrived a few decades when maverick designers from not only India, but around the world started recognising what an intricate art embroidery is and how it can be used even on the most modern of outfits. Very soon, embroidery was making a comeback on the international fashion scene and all of a sudden, more and more people were looking for hand embroidery designs for lehenga online and asking their local tailors whether they could get it done.
These days, everything from sarees to jeans are being embroidered and people are embracing embroidery with open hands and hearts. Recently, I was asked to do a piece on Indian brides and how they were looking for methods by which they could stay modern, yet have a touch with the traditional. For this piece, I spoke to several brides to be as well as recent brides from all over India and I even got to chat with a few brides who were born and brought up outside India, but were still going for the ‘big fat Indian wedding’. Each of these brides was different – while some were entrepreneurs others were working for multinationals, there were those who had just completed their studies and there were some who were specialised professionals.
However, what was common to all these brides was the fact that all of them wanted to look like the traditional Indian bride on their special day. Several of them spoke about how they had been researching lehenga embroidery work online and were trying to zero in on the perfect design for their wedding lehenga. There were those who had been spending hours with their designers, trying to work out the ideal pattern for their wedding attire. I even spoke to one bride, who actually travelled to several small towns and villages to understand the intricacy of the work she had imagined. She even had photographs to detail her travels and how she had captured the embroidery being done. With the help of these photos, she had been able to have her dream outfit created with exactly the type of embroidery she had envisioned.
There are also several people who are now looking at handwork lehenga online, because they are realising that some arts, such as embroidery, are truly timeless and will always look special. What is heartening to see is that modern day designers have transformed the once ancient art into something a lot more contemporary and a growing number of people are now recognising how wonderful the world of embroidery is.
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