Thread lightly

Fine bandhani, modern jamawar, new weaves from the North East, elevated ajrakh. Here's the simplest guide to buying your very first Indian textile treasure

- Reem Khokhar

It’s happening already, isn’t it? We’re borrowing grandma’s Kanjeevaram or uncle’s chikan kurta for special occasions. We don’t want to return mum’s luminous Banarsi stole or dad’s dapper achkan, and are hoping they won’t notice. And we’re starting to think about building our own collection of handloom finds.

Here’s where it gets complicated. More weavers are collaborating with big stores. Handloom fairs sell light weaves we’ll actually wear. There’s more to buy than the five regional styles our families knew about. And online and off it, there are more ways to be duped, or just confused.

So, we asked handloom-revival experts, indigenous textile advocates, and designers for hacks for first-time buyers of traditional textiles. Here’s everything they know, plus a few frills.

The wrap for all seasons

Jamawar shawls

Virat Kohli tosses his over kurtas and athleisure. Kareena Kapoor Khan uses them with gowns and on holidays in Swiss towns.

Jamawar pashmina shawls are woven so fine, they add warmth, but never bulk. And they feature paisley and floral motifs in an intricate, labour-intensive tapestry technique called kanni. In the loom, small wooden spools represent each knot in the weave. The artisan follows a colour-coded design, slowly building patterns in silk, muslin or wool. A single shawl might take anywhere between a few months to a few years to complete.

Most stores will stock one of two kinds of the weave. The Kashmiri style looks much like inlay work; the motifs lie flat against the fabric. The Banarasi version has an embossed finish, and the Tanchoi riff within it simply uses fewer colours.