India’s art and fashion world was jolted by visionary fashion designer Wendell Rodricks’ untimely passing on 12 February. The late designer’s dream project, The Moda Goa Museum – India’s first world-class costume museum – was expected to open in early 2020. It will now open on 19 October, in tribute to the day Rodricks met… Read more »
From the Nizam’s jewels to the Maharaja of Kapurthala’s Cartier headdress, we dive for gems among Sarmaya’s treasure trove of rare 19th-century photographs
From the bandhgala to the churidaar and from the dupatta to the lungi, we admire the definitive silhouettes of India and see how they’ve functioned as signposts of the eras that birthed them
Class, caste, gender, faith, community, identity. We give away so much of who we through what we wear. Looking at 19th-century photographs and watercolour portraits from the Indian subcontinent, it might seem like our ancestors dressed more conservatively, seeking to hide everything but their social status which they wore like an armour. But we can… Read more »
The sari is draped in more than 100 ways across the country, evolving with time and influenced heavily by geography, culture and even popular entertainment
This is most likely a staged photograph of a European official flanked by his attendants. While one performs the role of the traditional chauri-bearer, waving a large bamboo hand fan, and another holds the base of an elbaorate hookah, a third standing figure on the left of the official seems to be bringing in official… Read more »