Banarasi SareeBanarasi Saree. Indian style tipsbridal banterhandwoven sareesheritageindian sareekimkhab sareekimkhwab
Banarasi Kimkhwab Saree and my obsession with handwoven sarees
 |
| Banarasi Kimkhwab Saree |
Hello beauties! What comes to your mind when you
hear “Banarasi Saree”? For a Bengali, Banarasi saree (Or as we call it
Benaroshi Sharee) has been THE choice for brides since time immemorial. The
vibrant silks majorly in colours of red, blue and pinks with intricate golden
zari weave has been the ultimate choice of Bengali brides. Even I had chosen
two such sarees for my wedding and reception (Read HERE and HERE). But for a
handloom saree lover like myself, just owning one or two such royal sarees from
Banaras was not enough. I needed to know more about such deep-rooted beautiful handwoven
magic attire. So I have been reading quite a lot about Banarasi sarees since
the last few months and found out about the various kinds of Banarasi sarees
available since the glorious past. One such type of Banarasi saree weave is the
“Kimkhwab” (Kimkhaab) weave.
“Kimkhwab” is a Persian word which means a “Little
dream”. It is essentially a brocade woven painstakingly with silk and gold or
silver threads. This type of cloth was popular in India right from the ancient
times and was mentioned in Vedic literature as “Hiranya” or “gold cloth”. In
the Gupta dynasty, it came to be known as “Pushpapat” or “Cloth woven with
golden flowers”. But it reached the peak of popularity during Mughal era and
was called “Kimkhwab”. Since in those days, this fabric was woven with actual
gold and silver and silk was used sparingly, it gained popularity among the
rich and remained a “little dream” for the general mass.
In present days expert weavers of Varanasi (Banaras)
continue weaving kimkhwab but now majorly with “resham” silk and sparingly use
gold plated zari for maintaining the feel of Kimkhwab.
 |
| Banarasi Kimkhwab Saree |
It had always been a dream for me to own one such
masterpiece, but the prices at which they are sold at designers boutique is
almost 90% of my salary (which translates into “forget about it!”) AND I knew
very well that only maybe 10% of that price tag goes to the weaver who actually
made that magic. Then I came across an Instagram store which sells such
exquisite pieces almost at weavers’ price (Come on! Profit margin will be there).
 |
| Banarasi Kimkhwab Saree |
Once I received my order, I was overwhelmed at the sheer
beauty of this saree! There was no blingy sequins but the whole rose pink saree
exuded a golden glow. And the best part was, it is light as feather, can be
worn easily and the drape falls beautifully over my curves. Plus, it is so very
comfortable to wear in any summer wedding :D
The blouse you see here was sourced from “Umbara”
store on Facebook because I felt this matched perfectly with the saree (The
blouse piece which came with this saree is a plain rose pink resham one). The pearl studded choker and earring set again was bought from another Instagram store. Details
will be given at the end of the post. I had worn this Aarshi ring in a separate
blog post as well (Read what is an Aarshi ring HERE)
 |
| Banarasi Kimkhwab Saree |
 |
| Banarasi Kimkhwab Saree |
 |
| Banarasi Kimkhwab Saree |
 |
| Banarasi Kimkhwab Saree |
 |
| Banarasi Kimkhwab Saree |
My makeup was strong brows and lips and dewy skin J
Photography by a sleepy husband :D ( I made him get up on a Sunday morning to
do this for me)
This post is the start of a series of posts which
shall be exploring different nuances of Benaras weaves because I feel we know
too little about this glorious tradition of ours. Let’s learn and be proud of
such magnificent handwork J
Saree: Baranasweaves
Blouse: Umbara Designs
Jewellery: Jewel-Addicts
9 comments
Omg!!! Ur such a stunner in this beautiful saree,great informative post, thanks for sharing it...I am rushing now into that insta store to check out their banarasi saree collection ������
ReplyDeleteI just loved your look dear!!!��
Make sure to DM them for sarees.. On page mostly dupattas are shown :) Thank you so much dear :*
DeleteThat Alta and saree! Stunning! You look like a Mughal queen.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteTried to! :D Thanks a lot..
DeleteOh my god you stunning beauty!!!
ReplyDelete:D Thank you Krupa!
DeleteMy gosh! Such a ROYAL LOOK! You are slaying <3 <3 Loved this post :) I love Banarasi saree, they are bit heavy but absolutely adorable :)
ReplyDeletehttps://goo.gl/drRcy7
www.naturalbeautyandmakeup.com
Thank you! :D Original banarasi sarees are light as feather :) The heavy ones flooding the market are the machine made ones on satin
Delete