Reviving the Culture

Art is everywhere our vision could reach. India is home to diversity and versatility. Our history cherished different art forms and manoeuvred those forms in fashion to grace our daily lives and occasions. Design textile is one of the most prevalent types of art, it defines our culture and moulds it into beautiful form of clothing and garments. If one thoroughly analyses this art form they would be amazed by the vastness and facts it consists. The textile design mirrors the splendid history of India; epics such as Mahabharata and Ramayana. These epics also portraits the widespread and versatility of the fabrics used in ancient India. Moreover, it reflects the requirements of the present-times. This invaluable art form has been threatened to be diluted by the superiority given to foreign art after British commencement. The invasion and evolution in our culture has incapacitated the true intent our ancestors embedded in textile. However, for fashion enthusiasts this art form has survived through the cultural invasion. There is a huge mass acknowledging the importance of textile design in our culture, whereas the rest take it for granted. No matter how profited our culture is by textile, there is a forthcoming fear for it to lose its value in our society.

A fact not commonly known is that the textile field is still ubiquitous at numerous places in our society. The only quandary is to make people aware and realise of how this textile is circulating in our society and keeping the culture alive. Places such as Banaras are still known for their textiles such as Banarasi Silk. Banarasi Sarees are also known as a strong style statement. Similarly, Mysore Silk from Mysore Karnataka are moulded into beautiful sarees, Kanchipuram from Tamil Nadu into clothing, Kesh Fabric from West Bengal and Patan Patola from Gujarat, are being used to in our festivals and celebrations. The defined textures and lithography on the smooth surface of silk shrieks the beauty stored within the clothing’s textile. Moreover, these are being exported to different corners of not only India, but around the globe.

Travelling being at the best interest to my heart has made me visit places out and within India itself. Witnessing the imprint fashion has been leaving on the society and the coming generation makes one stand in awe. From visiting cities to villages, I have seen people unaware of the importance of textile despite of the rich cultural history it holds. I myself was untold about the depth of this art form and considered it inconsequential as it has been taken for granted mostly. It was saddening to notice how villages are the mostly the places preserving the gracefully-appealing art, while the cities had adapted modern art such as graphics, fashion design, industrial design and many more.

While visiting Bagru, which has plenitude connection to the original roots of Indian art of deign textile, it was amusing to see their gratitude towards people who supported this art form. Reigning their trade game with textiles such as Jute, Cotton and Silk, Bagru express their sorrow as to people’s inconsiderate behaviour towards our Indian history with crafts and fabrics. An art for as bright as the fierce morning Sun is being kept out of people’s sight. Apart from the cultural aspect, the textile industry is economically friendly and empowers the skilled labours to start working from their comfort zone. The employment given off by the industry supports professional and non-professionals as its basic need is creativity and uniqueness.

Even with the popularity and marketability the ‘current’ era of textile has, the originality of the art is at stake. While the current generation talks about fashion; the core essence of this art should not wander in the mere conjecture about everything foreign being superior. Fusing modern art with traditional Indian textile is appreciable but simultaneously changing the true meaning of the art. The art deserves people acknowledging and reviving the sense of its significance with every new generation in our society. To do the same, a greater population should be educated made aware about textile designing as it is lucrative and embodies the strength it holds to give our culture a much brighter future in fashion.