Kalamkari Cotton | Silk Nehru,قطن كالامكاري | سيلك نهرو

A simple but sophisticated shirt dress, named for the slim nehru collar. The slightly-fitted silhouette can be worn open, or given further shape with the cloth belt.

• Center front placket with hand beaten brass buttons
• Full length sleeves close with button cuff
• Side seam pockets
• Falls to just below the knee, with side slits and curved hem includes self-fabric sash
  Model is 5'9" and is wearing S/M.

SIZE DETAILS

S / M - Length centre front 45 ½” Cross-body chest 20” Cross-body waist 20” Cross-body hip 21 ½” Armhole circumference 20” Cuff circumference 7”

M / L - Length centre front 46 ½” Cross-body chest 21 ½” Cross-body waist 21 ½” Cross-body hip 23” Armhole circumference 22” Cuff circumference 8”

Story Behind the Textile

Creeping vines, blossoming flowers, dancing fish & exotic birds: The Kalamkari Collection draws deeply from nature for both materials & motifs. Local surroundings inspire the artists' imagination, while the pigments & mordants that create the colour on cloth are drawn entirely from the natural world.

​Kalam (meaning pen) kari (meaning craftsmanship) is an art form developed in Andhra Pradesh around the 13th century. Originally used to create religious paintings on cloth to aid the acts of wandering minstrels & later used in Hindu temples, it then flourished as an art-form under the Golconda Sultanate, the Moghuls & later under the British where it became known as chintz.

HOWS has partnered with Dwaraka, a not-for-profit organisation that trains & supports women artisans in Sri Kalahasthi to create the most beautiful kalamkari art work; using a kalam pen & exclusively natural mordants, dyes & resists, the artisan hand draws every line across the surface of the cloth.

​A temple town deep in India's South, Sri Kalahasthi is the historical centre of the kalamkari textile tradition. Its style of kalamkari is unique, involving 17 steps from start to completion, and has received a Geographical Indication (GI) tag.