Ikat cloth found in Egyptian pharaoh's tomb.
Ikat has been a staple of fashion runways and pharaohs' tombs alike, carrying tales and customs with it from one era to the next.
Who hasn't delved into their grandmother's and mother's sari cupboard and marveled at the sheer opulence of it all? For those who are unaware, we have created a new bimonthly series on Indian textiles, which we derived from our mutual appreciation of them. We discussed the background and legacy of the shahi (royal) zardozi in our first dispatch of the series; now, we turn to Ikat.
Sunlight catches on a woman's sari in a busy marketplace, its elaborate designs shimmering like a mirage in the desert. This is ikat, a mesmerizing textile from India, where the threads that are resist-dyed tell stories of creativity and history in addition to capturing its beauty.
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