Two women at an event wearing Premaasi silk shibori pieces — a Tussar silk stitched shibori jacket and a silk shibori scarf in indigo blue

Silk Shibori Style: "We Both Wore Premaasi Without Conferring!"

A customer sent me this photograph with the message that made me smile: 

"We both wore Premaasi without conferring!" 

Two women at an event wearing Premaasi silk shibori pieces — a Tussar silk stitched shibori jacke

She and a friend attended an event together. Neither knew what the other was planning to wear. 

And yet, each chose Premaasi. Different pieces of course. Both one-of-a-kind.

I love that.

It is particularly satisfying for me. And the kind of reward that keeps me going. 

I spend a lot of time looking at textiles.

When I'm in India, I'm looking at the fabric, the colors, the techniques, the details. I'm looking at how something was made and whether the work has that certain quality that makes me stop and look twice.

Sometimes it's the intricacy of the handwork. Sometimes it's the way a particular textile has been woven or dyed. Sometimes it's something I can't quite put into words. I just know that I want to see it again.

Then I bring those pieces home to Premaasi.

And eventually, they leave me.

That's where the part of the story I don't usually get to see begins.

I have looked at this photo about forty times since it came in. Not because these two people wore my things on the same evening (though I'll take that!). 

But because I love knowing that two pieces I chose in India ended up with two women who independently picked them for an event! 

This is one of the lovely things about selling textiles. I get to choose the pieces, but I don't always get to know where they go and what fun occasions they become part of. 

Until a customer sends me a photo like this. 

I'm particularly fond of the fact that the pieces are one-of-a-kind. There was no possibility of them accidentally buying the same scarf and arriving in matching outfits.

Each found her piece.

And apparently, they have very good taste in common.

The Provenance Of the Silk Shibori Scarf and The Tussar Silk Stitched Shibori Jacket 

The SiIk Shibori Scarf 

The silk shibori scarf was dyed by SIDR Craft in Kuchchh, India. They're a world-renowned brand, and have earned the UNESCO Seal of Excellence. SIDR Craft is owned and run by two brothers, Abdullah And Jabbar Khatri, who come from a long line of "bandhani" artisans. Bandhani is "Indian tie-dye", but really, it is so much more. The brothers employ the largest number of women in the region who do the "tying", offering them a way to earn a living from home, where they can do the work in between chores. In recent years, the brothers have become experts in the itajime, or "clamp-dyeing" process of shibori, a Japanese resist-dyeing process.

One thing the photograph captures beautifully: a silk shibori scarf is one of the easiest ways to transform a simple outfit. Throw it over a black dress, cream silk blouse or another neutral ensemble and it does all the work. The colors and the texture speak for themselves.

See their clamp-dyed scarves in my shibori collection.

The Tussar Silk Stitched Shibori Jacket


The jacket has a more interesting story. It began as a stitched shibori scarf or shawl made by DISHA, an organization founded by a woman, Amrita.

DISHA was founded with a clear purpose: to give marginalized women — many of them survivors of domestic violence — a skill and an income. The stitched shibori technique requires patience and precision; each piece of fabric is folded, pleated, and machine-stitched in careful patterns before being immersed in the dye bath. The dye is natural indigo, a veritable "king of dyes".  The stitching resists the dye, creating the intricate design you see in the finished piece. It is painstaking work, and it shows.

I gave the shawl DISHA created to James Ferreira in Mumbai and asked him to cut it into one of his signature jacket/overlay designs, resized to fit what the fabric allowed. There was one shawl, so there is one jacket.

James Ferreira is a well-known Mumbai-based designer and has designed for models and celebrities in India from way back in the 1980s. Very much a craft-focused designer, he lives in "Kotachi Wadi", an enclave of old East Indian homes that go back centuries. He is an activist too, and is responsible for Kotachi Wadi's revival in recent years. Kotachi Wadi has evolved into an art hub in the heart of Mumbai, and James's home and workshop is now a destinataion for cruise ships visiting Mumbai. 

If You Own a Premaasi Piece, Tell Me Where You Wore It, and Send Me A Photo! 


If you own a piece, send me a photo! I would rather see it on you than on a hanger.

I'm grateful to my customer for sending me this photograph and letting me share it. It's a lovely reminder of what happens after the textiles leave my hands and become part of someone else's life.

That's one of the things I love about Premaasi.

I get to find the pieces. You get to decide where they go.

As a reminder, a silk shibori scarf is one of the easiest ways to transform a simple outfit. Here's my favorite from the collection. If this doesn't speak to you, there are others that might. 

Red shibori scarf cropped landscape

 

If this story resonated with you, chances are you'll love what's in the shibori collection. These are pieces with provenance — made by artisans, dyed by hand, and chosen because they stopped me in my tracks. Come take a look.

Explore My Shibori Collection
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