Mesmerising parsi work dresses

The parsi work is also known as Gara embroidery. There are Persian, Chinese British and Indian influence in the involvement of this traditional embroidery or fine art. There are different depicted motifs of flowers like lily,lotus,chrysanthemum, trees like the willow, pine, cherry brids like swan peacock, scenes of nature and everyday objects figuring in the works. The themes are choosen to support the nature and significance of life. Parsi embroidery is generally dull-coloured to contrast the bright clothes which it adorns. The satin stitch largely used. French knots and the khakha are an alternative, though the latter is nowadays rarely used for the complexity involved.

It’s an antique silk parsi Gara salwar kameez made in China, probably around the end of the 19th or early 20th century. On their travels to China, Parsi tradesmen from Gujarat fell in love with traditional Chinese embroidery and began to have saree and salwar kameez embroidered there. They brought them back and sold them to wealthy Parsi women. This trade stopped after the Chinese revolution, and there have been no true Parsi Gara salwar kameez made since about 1950.

There are few wholesale salwar kameez left and most of those are family heirlooms. Traditional designs included scenes from Chinese life, pagodas, figures, birds, flowers, trees etc. The embroidery is so fine that it’s hard to tell the difference between the right and wrong sides. It’s also almost three dimensional in appearance because of the different angles of the stitches. Because these embroidered dress material took so long to embroider they were extremely expensive and craftsmen in Surat began to copy them. The border of the chunni is an example (this type of French knot work was not done in China). The stitches are tiny (for scale, the border is less than 2"wide).

Gara motifs are drawn from the rich heritage of traditional Chinese textile motifs, the smaller ones are selected for Gara embroidery, rather than larger more dramatic motifs such as the dragon. Some motifs are linked to the trade patterns depicted on textiles exported from China and India to Europe. The peacock with a trailing tail appears an Indian motif adopted by Chinese embroiderers for gara-embroidery. Bamboos, birds, butterflies, blossoms fill in space and divide scenes. Some of the dress materials are so profusely embroidered that the birds and animals seem concealed in the meandering and flowering or fruiting vines that cover the field of the textile, and the details- slowly and delightfully-reveal themselves.

Gara motifs were generally embroidered in satin stitch, long and short stitch, and the tiny kha-kha or seed-pearl stitch akin to a minute French knot. The Kha-kha stitch forms a delicate texture area –as if the cloth covered with beads, and was worked for complete motifs or the centres of flowers. Being a small stitch, the kha-kha proved to be a strain on the eyes, and satin stitch was more frequently worked. The slant of stitch was consciously worked to infuse fluidity and movement in the motif from the feathers of a parakeet in flight, a butterfuly moving over a flower, or flowers bobbing in the breeze- thus giving the entire composition a lyrical beauty.

Prachi.L She is a freelancer long associated with ethnic fabrics, known for her special leaning towards ethnic sarees. She enjoys the privilege of being a part-time consultant to Unnati Silks. S.E-mail her at unnatikaro@gmail.com.