Pashmina… The very name evokes a sense of beauty, luxury, and exquisiteness. It is, after all, the finest quality cashmere, from the heavenly land of frozen raindrops and chinar trees, Kashmir. Pashmina literally translates to “soft gold” in Kashmiri. Everyone knows of pashmina shawls. But, do you know that pashm thread is used in the Kashida embroidery work on salwar kammez? Such beautiful pashmina suits can add a new edge to your wardrobe, and only true connoisseurs of luxury have developed a taste for them. Pashmina is made from the underfleece of the Changthangi goat of Kashmir. This fleece grows in winter, and sheds off in spring. You’ll be amazed to know that the fiber of the Pashmina goat is procured by combing the animal, unlike in case of other types of fine wool which are gathered by shearing. This is then cleaned to remove impurities, and the process of handcrafting begins. So, you can see that the exorbitant price of this special cashmere is not just its goodwill value. It takes skilful and experienced fingers to work with Pashmina threads. The artisans who work with them are aged, and they want to keep the magic in their fingers alive. As they put their heart, soul and imagination into their work, it becomes a piece of art, one that can be handed down from one generation to another in the form of a family legacy. And, while Kashida essentially employs crystal threads, the use of the finest variant of cashmere makes it special. The embroidery themes are inspired by the nature of Kashmir, with motifs of birds, flowers, chinar leaves, creepers, ghobi, etc. finding new life with the exquisite pashm. While classic forms of such embroidery were in white or off-white, salwar kameez with Kashida works in beautiful shades like blue, brown, blue, maroon, pink, etc. have gained popularity quite steadily. The colours are actually inspired by local flowers. Yes, everything that involves pashmina has a reflection of the beauty of the land where it comes from. And when these intricate works of thread find a place on a piece of cloth, it is something worth looking at. It’s true that pashmina as a fabric is used mostly to make shawls which are truly precious, because it’s really expensive. It’s also true that the rarity of Kashmiri embroidery with pashmina threads is almost of equal magnitude.
Yes, pure pashmina suits are hard to find, and it is easy to get duped. Aside from picking yourself a couture piece, you can find pashmina suits online, but only from a few chosen and trusted sites that import products from the best pashmina suits wholesale markets of the world. The rest just offer woolen suits, or at best generic cashmere kameez, playing fast and loose with the name, pashmina. But, once you find yourself the perfect piece with intricate threadwork, you’ll feel what Swanand Kirkire meant when he wrote of dreams being woven with the threads of Pashmina. It is that ethereal.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorRima is a passionate fashion writer with profound eyes on glamour world. Being an energetic soul her interest lies in travelling,books sports and gardening. Find her blogs at Sareez.com. ArchivesCategories
All
|