Cashmere Trends to Watch in 2024

 

In the ever-evolving tapestry of fashion, certain elements stand the test of time. They perfectly weave themselves into the fabric of luxury and elegance. Among these enduring threads, Cashmere reigns supreme - a symbol of opulence, softness, and timeless allure. As we step into the threshold of 2024, the world of Cashmere unfolds. It promises innovation, style, and the continuation of its status as a coveted luxury.

2024 - a year where fashion will be a dynamic dance of trends and styles. Yet amidst the ever-changing rhythm, Cashmere will stand tall, an unwavering emblem of sophistication. It will beckon us into a realm where each thread tells a story of craftsmanship, warmth, and unparalleled comfort. The allure of Cashmere will continue to transcend seasons. So, as we delve into the realms of anticipated trends, the intrigue deepens, promising a journey through the very heart of fashion's evolution.

In the ever-evolving world of fleeting fashion fads, one fabric stands as a symbol of enduring elegance - Cashmere. Cashmere has proven itself as a timeless companion in the world of textiles. As we look ahead to 2024, several reasons affirm that Cashmere will not only maintain its reign but will continue to be a coveted choice for those who seek sophistication and comfort in their wardrobe.

In the same landscape of Cashmere fashion, designers are pushing the boundaries of creativity, giving rise to a new era of innovation. Designers have re imagined traditional patterns and metamorphosized many classic styles. One notable trend is the infusion of contemporary art into Cashmere designs. From abstract brushstrokes to avant-garde geometric shapes, garments are becoming canvases for artistic expression.

Texture experimentation is another frontier that designers explored. Beyond the traditional plushness, Cashmere is being treated to create varied textures. These innovations not only add a tactile dimension to the garments but also redefine the way we perceive and interact with Cashmere. The marriage of luxurious softness with avant-garde design elements is creating pieces that are not just clothing but wearable art.

GIFT recommends all to reach out to www.pashmina.com for stepping into the magnificent world of pashmina. Its worth it.

 

Sunglasses which banned the sun...

Its quite natural for us today to grab our shades before stepping out in the sun. It is not that we dont like the sun, we ofcourse love the source of life but sometmes the rays are a bit too much to see properly. So, a pair of sunglasses are a common solution as well as a fashion statement today.

That brings GIFT to a very interesting story – a story of a brand which took up a challenge for a brave cause.

In 1929, US Army Air Corps Colonel John A. Macready worked with Bausch & Lomb, a Rochester, New York–based medical equipment manufacturer, to create aviation sunglasses that would reduce the distraction for pilots caused by the intense blue and white hues of the sky.

Specifically, MacCready was concerned that pilots' goggles would fog up, greatly reducing visibility at high altitude. The prototype, created in 1936 and known as "Anti-Glare", had plastic frames and green lenses that could cut out the glare without obscuring vision. The name "Ray-Ban" was hence derived from the ability of these glasses to limit the ingress of either ultra-violet or infra-red rays of light. Impact-resistant lenses were added in 1938.

The sunglasses were redesigned with a metal frame the following year and patented as the Ray-Ban Aviator. According to the BBC, the glasses used "Kalichrome lenses designed to sharpen details and minimise haze by filtering out blue light, making them ideal for misty conditions."

Ray-Ban's most popular sunglasses are the Wayfarer, Erika, and Aviator models. During the 1950s, Ray-Ban released the Echelon (Caravan), which had a squarer frame. In 1965, the Olympian I and II were introduced; they became popular when Peter Fonda wore them in the 1969 film Easy Rider.

The company has also produced special edition lines, such as The General in 1987, bearing similarity to the original aviators worn by General Douglas MacArthur during the Second World War.

In the 1980s the Ray-Ban Clubmaster was added to the model line. The Clubmaster has a browline frame and went on to become the third best selling sunglasses style of the 1980s, behind the Wayfarer and Aviator.

In 2007, Luxottica Group launched Ray-Ban Youth, a collection of prescription eyewear aimed at children ages eight through twelve. Modeled after popular adult Ray-Bans styles, these hypoallergenic titanium frames featured both neutral and bold colorways as well as sturdy flex hinges.

Today, Ray-Ban is very much part of the luxury lifestyle of millions across the globe. Although they are facing more peddling counterfeit products from fake makers than ever, looks like the brand which did not give up challenging the sun – will not kneel before the fraudsters anyway.

As consumers, we should support the brand which did all the hard work by purchasing only the genuine products from the authorised channels. This will be a great support and appreciation for this iconic brand.

Uniforms of the Indian President's Bodyguards

 

The President's Bodyguard (PBG), as it is known today, was raised in 1773 at Benares, by then Governor General Warren Hastings, with a strength of 50 picked troopers and horses. After Independence, in keeping with its high traditions, the PBG rendered yeoman service in 1947 and around the capital in the upheaval during the aftermath of partition.

The traditional uniform and accoutrements today, date back to 1890 and comprise a blue and gold ceremonial turban with a distinctive fan, a red or white long coat with gold girdles white buckskin gauntlets, white breeches and Napoleon boots with spurs. The PBG's special 10'9" long bamboo cavalry lances, carried in stirrup lance buckets are adorned with the red and white cavalry pennant.

A sheathed cavalry sabre is carried at the side of the saddle of each trooper. The wings of a trained combat parachutist, in gold, adorn the breast of each member of the PBG, in symmetry with full medals. The officers and Junior facings, on heavily embroidered tunics with gold aiguillettes. Officers carry cavalry sabred on parade with scabbards supported in a scarlet and gold sabretache.

There are a number of painting available which describe the uniforms of the President's bdyguards. The painting of Maj. Lovett shows a sowar of GBG, Madras wearing a red Alkhalak with 1.5 inches of gold coloured lace round the neck & chest. Blue coloured pagri (also referred as Lungi by British authors) with red coloured stripes on gold and is worn round the red coloured Kullah.

White Gauntlet gloves, white breeches, black Napoleon boots with Blue coloured Kammarband with stripes in red, yellow & white colour complete the uniform.

Another painting by Chater Paul Chater provides more accurate detail of the uniform of the sowar. It shows the same uniform as shown by Lovett but the Pugri is blue coloured with gold, blue & white stripes. Army Dress regulations, 1901 gives almost similar information of the dress of the Native Officer of the unit.

To get more of such fascinating details , one can go on indiandefencereview.com to find a very interesting article written by Sumit Walia, an IT Specialist. He is also a Military History buff who continues to Explore & Research various facets of the Indian Military History in his spare time.

The Great Indian Fashion Town has found this article of great impoartance and worthy to be shared with its audience.

Why Yellow colour is so important for us?

Yellow has always been a very important color in the world of apparels – dating back to the evolution of human race. It is very mesmerizing to know that yellow fabric has earned such an important space in Hinduism – so much so that it is worn by the Almighty God !

 

Certainly yellow colour has a lot to do with our belief systems & spiritual evolution. In ancient religions, yellow was a sacred color. Yellow, like gold, was seen as eternal, imperishable and indestructible. Many religions worshipped the sun, and the sun gods were depicted wearing yellow.

Yellow is considered an auspicious colour in Hinduism. Lord Vishnu (also in his incarnation as Lord Rama & Lord Krishna) is depicted in wearing divine yellow silk fabric – called the pitaambar. It has special significance during Vasant Panchami or Saraswati Puja. Yellow is linked with the goddess Saraswati since it is her favourite colour.

Yellow is seen as a happy, optimistic color because it’s associated with sunlight and summertime. Yellow is also associated with spontaneity and celebration, so stage performers often wear yellow costumes. When yellow is paired with black, it looks like wasps’ coloring, bringing about feelings of alertness and cautiousness. Yellow can increase metabolism. Although, too much of the color can be overwhelming and cause eye fatigue.

Yellow is the colour of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, all of which are linked with the goddess. It is also believed to represent the colour of spring, which is when the celebration takes place. As a mark of their devotion, people in various regions of India wear yellow apparel, adorn their homes with yellow flowers, and present yellow fruits and sweets to the goddess.

During the puja, devotees bring yellow flowers to the goddess, such as marigold, which are thought to signify the rising sun and the advent of knowledge and wisdom.

Yellow is one of the oldest colors in history, seen in cave paintings over 17,000 years old. The yellow pigment from ochre was readily available in prehistoric times and one of the first pigments used in cave art. Yellow is also a common color in paintings from Ancient Rome and Egypt, where it was used to depict skin color.

The Ancient Egyptians believed the gods had gold skin and bones and used yellow for their skin tone in art. Yellow is also an important color in Buddhism, signifying humility. Renaissance and Medieval artists used “Indian yellow” — a pigment obtained when a cow eats only mango leaves. This color was used to show a person as an outsider, especially Judas Iscariot from the Bible. The yellow colour also denotes turmeric, which is believed auspicious in Hinduism.

 

Who took Indian fashion to Paris in 1964?

Mohanjeet Grewal, who introduced Indian high fashion to Paris in the 1960s and to the world thereafter, is held in high regard among fashion pundits. Yet, she is largely unknown in her country of origin.

She recalls an incident while working for the UN agency. One day, she was in the US, dressed in a saree, which she regularly used to wear to the office. Someone looked at her attire and asked, ‘Are you from Israel?’ It was then that she realised that no one outside of Unesco knew about India and what it has to offer.

That was the trigger.

 -(creation by Mohanjeet Grewal)-

“All I wanted was to showcase and sell India’s craftsmanship to the world. I came back to rediscover India, and I was so excited by the vibrant colours of Rajasthan, the brightness and spark all around, which was in complete contrast to the blacks and the greys of the West. Even if one were to come with a mission to find something ugly in India, they would not be able to find it,” says Mohanjeet.

The first few things she designed for the fashionable French were red coolie shirts and pocketed vests in menswear. Later, she went on to sell white chikankari kurtas from Lucknow and khadi kurtas in different colours. Then she created the bold mini-sari with the hemline above the knee in 1967 and later gold-rimmed dhotis styled as wraparounds, which put her creations on the pages of top French fashion magazines. What put her in the top league was the freewheeling bohemian chic style, which she introduced to Paris in the Sixties. It made her so popular that at one point in time, she was running seven stores in the fashion capital, with even the French designers imitating her style.

Her influence began showing in the wardrobes of prominent clients including actresses Catherine Deneuve, Jane Fonda and Brigitte Bardot, and even Princess Caroline of Monaco and the famous designer, Yves Saint Laurent. Not just her clothes, her clients loved being served cardamom and clove tea when they visited the store.

“Yonks back, I remember when I had done a show in Paris, I was walking near Saint Honoré Street (a legendary Parisian address and a temple to haute couture) and I saw this beautiful shop of Mohanjeet who clearly ruled the Paris fashion scene in the 1970s,” says well-known fashion designer Rina Dhaka, adding that the nonagenarian is “known for many innovative ideas, and clearly did it before everyone else”.

Grewal spread her wings further and expanded her offerings to Spain, Monaco and the US. She sold her designs to retail chains such as Ann Taylor and Bloomingdales, and went on to have a presence on the prominent Fifth Avenue in New York. She even had her fuchsia pink ghagra displayed on the opening pages of the US edition of Vogue magazine. However, all of this was not without ups and downs. Grewal herself admits to having made many mistakes as business, she says, is her Achilles heel; but her survival instincts have kept her going.

Her sense of fashion, Grewal says, resembles her life: unrestrained and free. “I never followed any rules of fashion. I made sarees that I wore with collared shirts. Even when I was young, I would have different socks on each foot, visible under cuffed salwars; [I] wore abstract geometric prints and even Sikh karas instead of glass bangles,” she says.

Grewal believes that what she creates is ultra-luxurious and is in no way inferior to French creations. She worked with rare, authentic and exclusive fabrics, and showcased a variety that could hardly be found in one small store in Paris and so she never had any discounts or sales.

Story tribute to Mohanjeet Grewal courtesy Business Today.

Story of Taneira

 

 

 

Sarees- history, heritage, heirloom; also a creative canvas with endless possibilities, an impressionable style statement and often a profound means of expression. A saree is not just six yards of fabric, for millions of Indians for thousands of years, saree is a way of life!

 

Conceived in 2017, Taneira, the ethnic wear brand from the House of Tata, was established with a vision to bring to life a symphonic medley of the old and new- an eclectic selection of contemporary designs on authentic, handwoven fibres from over hundred craft clusters across the country.

Our journey has been defined by the discovery and revival of lost art forms, development of weaving clusters and artisan community and delivering on the promise of India Under One Roof backed by the inimitable Tata trust. 

 Choose from rich, celebratory weaves in Kanjeevaram and Banarasi for regal events or pick innovative variants such as Organza Kanchi and Tissue Kanchi or Banarasi weaves on Organza and Tissue fabrics for the perfect combination between sophisticated and sheer for your summer celebrations. 

You can also delve in the diversity of lightweight cottons and cotton silks such as Jamdanis, Murshidabad Silks, Chanderis, Maheshwaris and many more in vibrant colour palettes, with motley motifs and intricate embroidery. 

In 2021, we also introduced ready-to-wear kurtas, steeped in rich crafts from block prints to ethnic embellishments- an ode to India’s heritage of dressing eloquently.

To create an effective marketplace for our designs and curations, we have been ramping up our retail presence to bring a unique browsing experience and focussed storytelling to our consumers in each of our 40+ stores across 22 cities in the country.

 

The sashay of grace

 Article contribution : Dr.Rugmani V.

The Jaunsari lehenga is an abode of tradition, grace, health and functionality, says Rugmani V. The Jaunsaris, an agro pastoral community inhabit the Jaunsar Bhawar area, Western Garhwal region of Uttarakhand. Their oral history reveals their migration from Ajmer (formerly called Shakambari), Rajasthan, in order to escape conversion to Islam during the Mughal rule.

Cultural traditions are integral to migrating people as a representation of group identity & heritage. Undoubtedly the most tangible & palpable symbol of culture is dress. Women continued the practice of wearing the lehenga/ghaghra as per traditional Rajasthani custom, with variations to cope up with the altered geography and climate. The Jaunsari lehenga/ghaghra is truly spectacular and is characterized by multiple knife pleats at the waist, comprising of 8 to 10 yards of fabric. This is teamed with a full sleeved kurti and a red headscarf scarf called Dhatu. 

 

Today, the salwar kameez is a staple with both young and middle age women while senior elders don the traditional Jaunsari ensemble on a daily basis, while farming, travelling or during their household chores. When the author attended a festivity at Hanol village, she noted that it was a practice for women to perform a dance on the grounds of the Mahasu Devta temple during occasions as a gesture of sublime devotion. Prior to the dance, she heard an announcement made by the temple authorities urging the women to change into their Jaunsari lehengas, as a mandatory requirement for the ceremonial dance. Women returned in their vibrant lehengas and rendered an incredible performance, vying with the rhythm of melodious folk songs and their unique musical instruments. 

The sashay of the voluminous skirts in all their vibrancy heightened the visual treat. Local women conversed with the author, asserting the significance of the traditional skirts for all important ceremonies and occasions. From this she gleaned that the lehenga occupied a place in Jaunsari culture as the purest garment, it being a living repository of their tradition.

As Rugmani herself wore the lehenga at the best of her new Jaunsari friends, she experienced its effects as a health aid. Form has always followed function in indigenous costume, the Jaunsari lehenga being a living example of the same. The multiple pleats at the waistline are instrumental in regulating body temperature by keeping the waist, and mid regions like the stomach and the backbone warm. This enables one to carry out one’s duties efficiently without falling sick due to extreme weather fluctuations in the hills. Health has always remained a key factor in the hills as all agricultural work must be completed in the seasons conducive to farming. Hence this lehenga plays a vital role as an instrument of adaptation to the surroundings.

The enrapturing saga of indigenous costumes is never ending and will always unravel new stories and perspectives. Documentation of the same is a must lest these are swallowed by modernity and cease to be.