Handloom saris have been making a sartorial bang on Indian trend in a colossal way. Over the last few years, there has been a faction to perk up handloom fabrics and one brand that has been upping its cool factor is Raw Mango.
Raw Mango may have started off as a hand-woven textiles brand, which sought to renovate the chanderi sari with lively colours and modern-day motifs like peacocks and parrots, but it soon turned into the forerunner of a movement that brought the handloom sari out of retreat and on to the red carpet. Saris, shirts, pants and even stoles – the brand offers a variety of styles, and enjoys privileged celebrity patrons around India and abroad.
Founded by textile designer Sanjay Garg in 2010, the brand grew from his craving to continue working with the chanderi weavers he met during his time with the Textile Ministry, Madhya Pradesh. What firstly began with a few weavers from that region has grown to include over 350 craftsmen from Varanasi, Bengal, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. His textile interventions have spanned Chanderi, Varanasi brocades, Mashru, Akola block printing and Bengali Jamdanis.
One of the missions of Raw Mango is to inform clients about the way handloom saris are made, which can take anywhere from seven days to a month to make and is touched by human hands at every step of the way. The minor variations in the knit or the colour palette only serve to add to the artisan quality of the product.
Garg introduced a line of lehengas in Benarasi silk last year which follows the same culture of minimalism in design and least ornamentation and has been a huge hit with brides looking for alternatives to zardozi and gem coated lehengas.
Raw Mango created the kind of saris you want to wear often, preserve, and pass on to someone special.
Think bright oranges and pinks, midnight blacks, and inky blues with elegant gold borders. “They’re essentially light – chanderi silks with a beautiful polish, and blends of half silk and half cotton,” says Garg, who likes to rely on established weaves and bold fresh colours.
From Alia Bhatt, Anushka Sharma and Deepika Padukone to Deepti Naval and Vidya Balan – this brand of modern Indian hand-woven textiles, crafted using conventional techniques, is a hit like nothing else right now.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk4MmScAje5/?hl=en&taken-by=raw_mango
So, what exactly is the best way to style these pieces? While there are no hard and fast rules, keeping things small is best to let the colour, fabric and prints take center stage. But the beauty is that you can dress the look up or down, depending on your taste and the occasion.
