Introducing the colorful beauty of Gujarati culture, this cotton long skirt has everything that will enhance your elegance and ethnic fashion style. It is a typical Kutch ghagra or long skirt woven on bright pastel colored cotton fabric. The weaver has given it a voluminous style, controlled beautifully by multiple pleats starting slightly below the belt and continues till the end. It is designed with multicolored thread embroidery at the waist and at the bottom forming thick rectangular strips and a temple design above it. This embroidery is channelled in beautiful diamond shaped patterns having mirrors studded in-between. The first glance to this skirt takes us through the Gujarati fashion art and the expert weavers weaving such masterpieces.
Exotic India provides you with ample bright colored variations of orange, yellow, blue, green, dark blue, black, pink, red and white. Every color has its own magnificent beauty and can be teamed up with a short top for a cool indo western look or a long kurti with contrasting shade for a typical ethnic outfit. Wear it with heels for a party look and to carry it with flats for a casual boho style chic rule.
Clearly she is the daughter of a landowning aristocrat. She is dressed in a sumptuous silk lehenga coated with ample gold brocade. A necklace of rubies and emeralds graces her smooth neck and gorgeous glass bangles jingle at her delicate wrists. An expression of pure bliss characterises her plump, youthful face. Her thick black tresses are let loose against the ardour of the breeze she so loves.
The hills in the background feature a diverse yet natural colour palette, probably owing to the perennial fog that descends on the Western Ghats. Note how the pale, barely-there infusion of colour in the skies betrays the dawn.
It is a standing figure of Lord Hanuman, His palms joined together in namaskaram. He stands on a richly engraved green and yellow pedestal. The complexion of His body is a bright, rugged tan. It befits the yogic musculature of His form, as revealed rather than concealed by the ornamental loincloth that reaches mid-thigh. A number of blue and green sashes descend laterally from His tall, erect form. Kusuma-kundalas and a multi-tiered crown completes the Lord’s shringar. Note how the face has been done with a rudimentary attention to detail, given that it is not an icon but a temple sculpture.
The most unique aspect of this composition is His tail. He is swishing it behind His back, high above His head, forming an aureole-like curve around His haloed head.
The almost monotone colour palette is dominated by an enchanting shade of Prussian purple colour. Along the frontal edges of this button-down jacket are thick panels of lush embroidery, best zoomed in on. The same has been done by hand by local artisans, for weeks, even months, at a stretch. Finally, the homegrown silk of the valley lends this number a glamorous sheen that no other fabric could give to your ensemble. This jacket would be an unusual pick for warm family gatherings over the winter.
The more said about the great Lord Shiva Mahadeva, lesser is the justice done to His divine stature. He is the indubitable Adinatha, the paramaguru of the Natha sampradaya responsible for the exposition and dissemination of classical yoga. It is said that the Devi Uma, His wife and daughter of the mountains, was the first yogashishya, to whom He imparted complete knowledge. In this portrayal of the Lord, He is captured in the midst of a great samadhi.
In this kalamkari composition, the beloved cowherd and protector has stopped under a tree and pulled out His flute. It is well into dusk - note the deep, solid red of the backdrop. One of His flock keeps Him company. The innocent pashu (animal) tongues His divine feet as the music envelops her. A bunch of parrots have gathered in the branches of the tree above, having been drawn in by the sound of His music. It is a luscious tree surrounded by flowering shrubs, as pretty as the tassels that dangle from His flute.
Kalamkari paintings are fine examples of pen-based workmanship, which has been perfected in Andhra Pradesh over centuries now. The pen in question is a rudimentary one fashioned from locally available twigs, which explains the thick curves that define this composition. The devotional theme and limited colour palette (ochre and sindoori pigments) are characteristic of this style of Indian folk art.
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