Journal

"Tussar" on a label can mean five different things, and they are not the same price or the same cloth. If you have read...

Chiffon is the lightest, sheerest saree you can wear — gossamer, floating, barely there. It is the fabric of old-Hindi-film glamour, of the saree...

Crepe is the saree that drapes close to the body without clinging — and unlike its cousins, you can't see through it. That is...

Brocade is not printed, not embroidered, and not stitched. The pattern is woven into the cloth. That single fact is what makes brocade brocade,...

Organza is the only sheer fabric that stands up instead of falling down. That is the whole appeal, and it is worth being precise...

Tussar is silk — but it is wild silk, and that is the whole story. Almost all the silk in the world comes from...

Banana silk is not silk. That is not a complaint, and it is not an accusation. It is just the fact, and almost nobody...

Kasavu is not a garment. It is the gold. That one sentence clears up most of the confusion. Kasavu is the zari border —...