Costume Textile And Fashion

Best shoulder replacement surgeon in Noida contact number 9654832287

2026-02-11T18:22:00.001+00:00

Best shoulder replacement surgeon in Noida contact number 9654832287

Shoulder replacement surgeon, or shoulder arthroplasty, is a procedure where damaged parts of the shoulder joint are replaced with artificial components. It is performed to relieve pain and restore mobility in patients with severe shoulder joint conditions.

Indications

Osteoarthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Post-traumatic arthritis
Rotator cuff tear arthropathy
Avascular necrosis
Severe fractures of the shoulder

Types of Shoulder Replacement

1. Total Shoulder Replacement

Replaces both the ball (humeral head) and socket (glenoid)

Most common type

2. Partial Shoulder Replacement (Hemiarthroplasty)

Only the ball is replaced

Suitable for specific fractures

3. Reverse Shoulder Replacement

Ball and socket positions are switched

Used in severe rotator cuff damage or failed previous surgeries

Surgical Procedure

Performed under general or regional anaesthesia

Incision made in the front or top of shoulder

Damaged bone and cartilage are removed

Prosthetic components implanted and secured

Soft tissues and muscles are repositioned

Duration: 1 – 3 hours

Recovery and Rehabilitation

Hospital stay: 1–3 days
Arm immobilized in a sling
Pain managed with medications
Physical therapy begins within a few days
Gradual return to daily activities over weeks

Recovery Timeline

Light activities: 4–6 weeks
Full recovery: 3–6 months
Strength and range of motion improve with physiotherapy

Cost Of Treatment

The cost of Shoulder Replacement or Reverse Shoulder Replacement would be in the range of Rs. 1,50,000 - 250,000 depending on the type of hospital chosen and the type of implant. There are several types of implants available in the market. The FDA approved imported implants are costlier but have better functioning and better reliability. The hospital stay would be around 5 days and the patient will have to keep the arm in a sling for 4 weeks. The physiotherapy to strengthen the shoulder muscles would start 4 weeks after the surgery and would continue for a period of 3-4 months. Full mobility would be achieved within 6 months of the surgery. However the patient will be relieved of the consistent pain immediately after the surgery. Long term use of painkillers is bad for the kidneys and therefore getting the surgery done in order to get pain relief is a better option in the long run.

Dr Manoj is Orthopaedics, Joint Replacement and Arthroscopic Surgery at

Best shoulder replacement surgeon in Noida contact number You can book appointment with Vikas Gupta by calling on the number 9654832287 or by filling the form . The consultation can be done by visiting Best shoulder replacement surgeon in Noida contact number

or on phone by sending your reports through whatsapp on the number 9654832298.

www.plusify.in

info@plusify.in

https://maps.app.goo.gl/BUob1f1avDgAiA99A

Best orthopedic surgeon for shoulder replacement surgery in Noida 9654832287

2026-02-09T14:05:00.000+00:00

Best orthopedic surgeon for shoulder replacement surgery in Noida 9654832287

Shoulder replacement surgery, or shoulder arthroplasty, is a procedure where damaged parts of the shoulder joint are replaced with artificial components. It is performed to relieve pain and restore mobility in patients with severe shoulder joint conditions.

Indications

Osteoarthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Post-traumatic arthritis
Rotator cuff tear arthropathy
Avascular necrosis
Severe fractures of the shoulder

Types of Shoulder Replacement

1. Total Shoulder Replacement

Replaces both the ball (humeral head) and socket (glenoid)

Most common type

2. Partial Shoulder Replacement (Hemiarthroplasty)

Only the ball is replaced

Suitable for specific fractures

3. Reverse Shoulder Replacement

Ball and socket positions are switched

Used in severe rotator cuff damage or failed previous surgeries

Surgical Procedure

Performed under general or regional anaesthesia

Incision made in the front or top of shoulder

Damaged bone and cartilage are removed

Prosthetic components implanted and secured

Soft tissues and muscles are repositioned

Duration: 1 – 3 hours

Recovery and Rehabilitation

Hospital stay: 1–3 days
Arm immobilized in a sling
Pain managed with medications
Physical therapy begins within a few days
Gradual return to daily activities over weeks

Recovery Timeline

Light activities: 4–6 weeks
Full recovery: 3–6 months
Strength and range of motion improve with physiotherapy

Cost Of Treatment

Dr Manoj is Orthopaedics, Joint Replacement and Arthroscopic Surgery at

best orthopaedic surgeon for shoulder replacement surgery in Noida You can book appointment with Vikas Gupta by calling on the number 9654832287 or by filling the form . The consultation can be done by visiting best orthopedic surgeon for shoulder replacement surgery in noida

or on phone by sending your reports through whatsapp on the number 9654832298.

www.plusify.in

info@plusify.in

https://maps.app.goo.gl/BUob1f1avDgAiA99A

Mrs Jasleen Dhamija - A tribute by Toolika Gupta

2023-03-07T17:31:00.002+00:00

On the 4th of March 2023, we lost a great person, Mrs Jasleen Dhamija. Her death suddenly brought to my memory, the articles I had read written by her. A homage must be paid to her, as she is one of the pioneers, of craft revival in India. To her, I bow my head in reverence. Thanks to my upbringing in the Lady Irwin College, New Delhi, that I belive in the courage of women and I admire them. I think a complete woman is one who has the ability to see what needs to be done for others and picks up from there. She plans and executes, she nurses and nurtures all that she thinks is important. She is someone with an innate sense of appreciation of hardwork and beauty, she works for the preservation of her culture and tradition, and creates new paths alongside. One such woman that I admire is Jasleen Dhamija.

She was born in undivided India in 1933, in the land that is now Pakistan. She gre up in Delhi and studies at the Miranda House College, New Delhi, and wrote many books and articles on Indian Handicrafts. She used to work with Kamladevi Chattopadhyay, has served on the Handicrafts board and also has taught at universities. Her major contribution is the research that she has doen in the craft sector and work that she did for rural development. Jasleen ji had edited many books. Her book with Dr Jyotindra Jain, "Handwoven Fabrics of India", has many noteworthy articles. In 2019, when the exhibition of Baluchari Sarees was on at the National Museum, it was a pleasure to see the book, edited by her, on Baluchari Sarees.

In the early 1990s, when I started studying textiles, we learnt about various embroideries of India. Those were the days of the libraries and I was very fond of reading. The articles on phulkari were usually by Jasleen ji. Her beautiful description of the fabrics along with community traditions around phulkari made me read on. I admired the way the stitiches were, the yarn, the colours and motifs, the counted thread embroidery, the wisdom behind it and the emotions too. It was almost miraculous to see the khadi fabric transform to the beautiful baghs and chopes and become symbols to the love of family and friends. Since I was not from Punjab, and had never seen a phulkari in my young days, I deeply admired Jasleenji's descriptions of the same. The fact that the women embroidered phulkari in their free time, with immense love to gift it to their loved ones, their daughters, daughter-in-law, relatives and friends, made it so special for me. Her writings brought to life the sociological aspects of the embroideries.

For a long time before Phulkari became commercial, it was a special embroidery. Today it's motifs and styles are copied heavily, they are either printed, machine embroidered or crudely executed by hand to be sold in the name of phulkari, to the mass market. The objects have lost the significance that the authors like jasleen Dhamija apprised us about. It is interesting to note that now generally mothers do not embroider phulkari, but buy it; or if they are ultra rich, they commission it to the designers to get the pieces hand embroidered for their daughters. These are interesting times that we live in, we wear powerloom and mill made fabrics as they are cheaper, and yet 'promote handloom', hoping that everyone else will wear khadi or handloom. What 'green washing'!

I deeply admire Jasleen Dhamija, and remember my last meeting with her in 2018, before COVID 19 hit us all. It was at the India International Centre on the occassion of a Seminar by TCRC (Textiles and Clothing Research Center - www.tcrc.in), held in the memory of another great woman, 'Dr Lotika Varadarajan', on the 7th of January 2018. She spoke fondly about Lotikadi and it was so good to hear her. That day, I presented a paper on the 'Shoe Question of British India', and she complimented me on my research. It was a truly humbling experience, coming from a doyen like her..

The entire report can be read online at the tcrc website.

This picture was taken after the seminar. We will all remember her for her contribution to Indian Textile knowledge.

Toolika Gupta

A Report on the International Seminar on Costumes Past, Present and Conserved organised by TCRC

2020-04-04T06:06:00.001+01:00

International Seminar on, ‘Costumes – Past, Present and Conserved’, organised by TCRC at Lecture Room 2, IIC Annexe, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi on 1^st February 2020.

Textiles and Clothing Research centre, with its aim to nurture research, education and knowledgeable discussions around textiles and clothing of India and the world, held its 2^nd international seminar on 1^st February this year. The topic of this seminar was ‘Costumes – past, present and conserved’. The call for papers was circulated in June 2019, and we received a good response. It felt good to see how Indian scholars had so much to offer, the research papers came from many different institutes and individuals. We created a peer-review team and went through all the papers. After careful peer review of all the abstracts, final papers were called for, and we were very excited to go ahead with the seminar!

The seminar invite

Being a young non-for profit organisation, we were happy to get sponsorship from the India International Centre, Sagar NGO and the Indian Institute of Crafts and Design, Jaipur. IICD faculty member Ms Swati Sinha helped us with graphics and Dr Barun Gupta helped with the compilation. Our final program in Figure 2 below was circulated, and we published our book of abstracts, with an aim to come out with conference proceedings soon.

The plan for the day

The seminar was attended by many researchers, educators, textile enthusiasts and designers, like Padmshree Gulshan Nanda, Ms. Ritu Sethi, Mr. B. B. Paul, Dr.Banhi Jha and Dr Charu Smita Gupta. Ms Larah Rai and Mr Ali Nasir were handling registrations with help from Ms Madhulika and Ms Namita. They were distributing kits and had registrations forms ready, while tea and snacks were served at the counter. After happy meetings and hugs, tea and snacks, the audience entered the seminar hall.

The session started with a welcome address by Dr Anamika Pathak, Chairperson TCRC, where she spoke about the national and international achievements of TCRC, which was followed by the key-note presented by Prof. Asha Baxi the ex-dean of NIFT, on the ‘Sarees of India’, which was much appreciated by the audience. Rest of sessions went as planned, but two of our speakers, Ms Shelly Jyoti and Ms Smita Singh could not come that day due to ill health and we really missed their talks. We plan to conduct their lectures as stand-alone lectures for the public in future. For our audience who is interested can read the abstracts in our book of abstracts which can be downloaded from our website.

The first session was based on historic costumes. It was started by my presentation on historical Indian menswear, (the topic that is dear to me and has been my PhD research conducted at Glasgow University (2012-2016), it is during this period that I met many like-minded people and TCRC was conceived). My address was followed by papers presented on Royal wardrobe of Baroda by Ms Gurviner Kaur, from MSU, which was an interesting peek into the wardrobe of Maharaja Sayaji Rao. Dr Anjali Karolia, Professor MSU and the guide for this project was also present among us, it was a pleasure to meet her. The second paper was on Indian Chintz which became a fashionable fabric to be used in European garments. This paper was presented by Dr Mailini Divakala from NIFT Hyderabad and brought to light many interesting facts, we also learnt a local name for kalamkari. The last paper in this session was presented by Dr Rohini Arora, she gave a immersing and interesting talk on the embroidered cholis. Dr Arora, works with Himachali women and has given much impetus to Chamba or Pahari embroidery. She has held exhibitions of the women’s work in Delhi and abroad and being a core member of TCRC, she was kind enough to get lovely mementos for all our speakers.

The speakers after the first session

After the first session we broke for lunch and enjoyed a sumptuous meal while discussing many textile / clothing related topics! The next session was on conservation, it was an amazing session for all museum lovers, it told them about the art and science of conservation. The opening address was given by Dr R P Savita, Conservation Consultant at the Indian Museum Kolkata. Dr Savita’s lecture on conservation of the last clothing worn by Mahatma Gandhi gave us goose bumps. His lecture was such a wonderful insight on how the conservationists in India face their own challenges. He narrated many stories with interesting visuals, from his 40 years long career. It was a treat! This talk was followed by an equally interesting lecture by Dr Binoy Sahai, Deputy Curator, National Museum, New Delhi and Ms Imrana Assistant Conservator, National Museum, New Delhi on conservation of shoes from the Central Asian Collection of the National Museum, in the National Museum at Delhi. This kept everyone glued to their seats and gave so much food for thought. Equally exciting and very fascinating was the paper presented by Dr Anita Bose from Thailand. She told us about the costumes of Ramayana dance-drama from the National Museum Thailand, the National Museum of Thailand. She told us about the costumes of Ramayana dance-drama in Thailand, and how the characters and their costumes are, how they are preserved in the museum and with what reverence is Rama worshipped there. Although the paper was about Thailand, but suddenly everyone felt so patriotic, it was an amazing presentation! The last paper of this session was a very technical paper on Natural Detergents to be used on historic textiles, to give them better life. It was very informative, and was presented by Rini Hazel Templeton.

Display of a 100 year old salwar by Dr Kusum Chopra- member TCRC

Of course after such an interesting session, tea and biscuits were waiting for us, but even more importantly, a 100 year old salwar was waiting to be displayed and discussed. The salwar was brought by one of our TCRC members, Dr. Kusum Chopra, and it belonged to her grandmother!! Everyone was so excited to see the style, pattern, embroidery, cut and construction of the salwar. It was an amazing example of a historic costume. We were told it took her almost two hours to put a nada through it and to wear it. The amount of gathers that would have created was beyond the imagination of many. So much for all textile lovers!

After tea, our last session began with a talk by Dr Anamika Pathak. Who better than her to talk on the importance of conserving our ethnic costumes and treasured textiles; being the head of Decorative Arts and textiles at the National Museum, she has guided and mentored so many young professionals in this field. Her introductory note was followed by a paper on distinctive clothing worn by Shia Muslim women on various occasions. The paper was presented by a research scholar from Lady Irwin College, Ms Andleeb Fatima. Her guide, Dr Simmi Bhagat, a core TCRC member, was also present and added to the discussions. This paper was a very interesting peek into the present status of clothing, vis-à-vis the ‘ethnic’ practices carried on by our society in the current times. Throwing light on Lusei tribe of Mizoram, and its prized costume ‘Pasaltha’, was the next paper, that was presented by Dr Liza Pachau, which was guided by Dr Ritu Mathus. She spoke about the present and the ethnic in a very similar context as Andleeb and both the papers were very insightful.

The engrossed audience

The last two papers of the seminar were on performance costumes. The penultimate paper was by Dr Nitin Hadap, from Symbiosis Pune, on the designing of Marathi Film Costumes. This is a very typical and rare research topic. It was an absolutely new line of work among Indian Scholars, we have had people commenting on costumes but not on how they were designed, or what was kept in mind. Dr Hadap’s paper was very well received with much applause. The last but not the least, was a paper on Western - Rajasthani Dance costume by Dr Kiran Kapur. It was a very detailed presentation of the costumes of three dance forms and it showed how the folk dances that were meant for people to dance and enjoy have now become performances, thereby effecting the very nature of costumes to be worn.

After the seminar - the TCRC Community, one Photo Op!

The day was about to end, but the attention was complete, and the interest among the audience was high, as each paper was so different, engaging and gave enough food for thought. Dr Simmi Bhagat finally gave a vote of thanks to all concerned. It was a wonderfully packed day, followed by the AGM, with a promise of more engagement among all textile and clothing enthusiasts.

Dr Toolika Gupta

Secretary TCRC

Costume Textile and Fashion by Toolika Gupta is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at costumetextileandfashion.blogspot.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://costumetextileandfashion.blogspot.com/.;">

Carpet Exhibition by Danny Mehra in December 2015 at New Delhi

2017-02-26T09:55:00.002+00:00

Dear All,

This is an excerpt from the most interesting exhibition on tribal carpets.

Carpets have been important for the people who sat on the floor, and probably needed something clean and beautiful to sit on. This exhibition of rare tribal carpets by Danny Mehra was a treat for a connoisseur of textiles and handicrafts. Mr and Mrs Mehra were present at the exhibition and were more than willing to help me (or any one interested) to understand the art and craft of these carpets. They had classified the carpets into various categories based on their geographic location (from various regions of central Asia) and type. It was an interesting array of different types of knotting techniques and was an excellent source to study the motifs and types of tribal carpets. It also helped one to think about how the tribal men and women wove these carpets in their free time, what did they think, what did they revere and what did they want to weave the piece for.

Caucasian Carpet Late 19th century

This Caucasian Carpet from late 19th century was really fascinating. It clearly showed how the weaver / weavers meant to create a symmetrical design, but have not been strict with it. There is a childlike / innocent attempt at symmetry. The colours are brilliant and the execution has been done with great patience.

The Kurdish Carpet below, is a long rectangular piece of woven beauty. It was woven in Northwest Persia in the 19th century. It has a double border of floral pattern and here again the colours and choice of motifs is really brilliant.

Kurdish - Northwest Persia - 19th century

Persian Salt Bag of the late 19th century

This is a salt bag, it is completely closed from all sides, with a very small opening for filling / removing the salt. Salt probably wold have been a precious commodity for travellers and thus commanded a special bag.

There is so much more to write but maybe next time.

The inauguration of the Textiles and Clothing Research Centre (TCRC) at New Delhi

2017-02-19T13:59:00.000+00:00

Dear Readers,

It is such a pleasure to share with you a dream that has come true. Since a long time and certainly after participating in many seminars and conferences in different parts of the world, I always felt that a society that would promote research on Indian textiles and fashion was needed. Yes there were research centers dedicated to the scientific aspect but none that really catered to the subject in a broader sense, which would include anything and everything related to this field. I was really lucky to meet many like-minded people who believed in the same dream. Some of whom I met but they were left behind, and some others who continued in the same spirit. We are thirteen of us, the founding members of the group. After many meetings and discussions, we decided upon the name and then the logo was to be decided. A more important aspect was the drafting of the laws / memorandum, the legal stuff. We had to do a bit of work on this aspect and in order to make it fool proof, we took the services of a legal advisor and then the government office bit, the court approval etc. took a while, but we did not lose hope.

Simultaneously we began drafting the first newsletter and the look of the website, many meetings, many discussions and many cups of tea with samosas and other snacks were consumed month after month and things began to take shape. With a lot more that I prefer to not get into details, we were ready to launch the society on the 1^st of Feb 2017 at the National Museum, Janpath, New Delhi, India. Our preparations began, we hired a professional again, this time to design our brochures and cards, many students from Lady Irwin College and NIFT volunteered to help us for the launch. We divided responsibility for editing, printing, website, sending invitations, tea and snacks, venue, flowers, photography, ushering, press release etc. and all of us began to look forward to the event with lots of excitement.

Finally the big day arrived. We were launching TCRC – Textiles and Clothing Centre at the National Museum. We had hired the auditorium for the launch. It was beautifully decorated and looked very welcoming. This was a dream come true for all of us. The badges prepared by Lady Irwin Student Volunteers. Photos were taken by NIFT Student Volunteers. demics, Museum professionals, students, people from the industry and press all came for the event. We had many registrations and many member enrolments that day. It was a pleasure to receive so many textile and clothing enthusiasts at one place. The student volunteers who helped with registration, ushering and photography was thrilled to be among so many learned people. I was thanking them for their help, and they were thanking me for the exposure. It was really overwhelming.

It was a pleasure to see so many esteemed guests coming for the event, all eager to know about the TCRC. Everyone came on time and as the hall began to fill, Dr B R Mani, the Director General of National Museum arrived. We felt honored with his presence and the presence of so many esteemed guests. It was time now to light the lamp.

The function started with the lighting of the lamp by Dr B R Mani and the founding members of TCRC. The Director General of the National Museum, Dr B R Mani agreed to speak a few words and to inaugurate our newsletter and website. It was such a pleasure to hear his encouraging words. Dr Lotika Varadarajan the President of TCRC gave the Key Note Address and Dr Anamika Pathak the Chairperson gave the vote of thanks. Finally the society was launched. There is a long road ahead for TCRC and I am sure with such overwhelming response, there is a lot of responsibility on our shoulders and there is a long way to go!!!!!

The above picture is of the founding members of TCRC with Dr Mani in the centre. The founding members in the picture From left to right, Dr Binoy Sahay, Mr Ali Nasir, Dr Archana Shastri, Dr Janaki Turaga, Dr Anamika Pathak, Dr B R Mani, Dr Lotika Varadarajan, Ms Larah Rai, Ms Smita Singh, Dr Rohini Arora, Dr Simmi Bhagat, me -Toolika Gupta, Mr Zahid Ali Ansari, Mr Sushmit is missing in the picture.

The aim of TCRC is to give a common platform for research in the area of Textiles and clothing. More can be found at www.tcrc.in

Looking forward to more!!!

Colonial objects and social identity : Seminar - Copenhagen, Denmark

2016-10-03T06:41:00.000+01:00

Dear All,

Recently I had the pleasure to be invited to present my paper at the National Museum of Denmark (20-23rd Sept 2016). Denmark is beautiful, especially at this time of the year.

Presentation at the seminar

From 20^th to 23^rd September 2016, National Museum Denmark, Copenhagen, was host to a most enlightening seminar on Colonial Objects and Social identity. The seminar included papers from all areas of colonial history including dress and textiles. Distinguished speakers from all parts of the globe read their 20 minute papers which led to great discussions, tea, coffee and cake adding the colonial flavour.

After the opening key note from Dir Nicholas Thomas (from Cambridge), the presenters educated the audience with their research, bringing in information and analysis of the colonial rule on objects and identity from China, to The USA, from India to Africa and Greenland; Mexico, Europe and the oceans all were traced and vividly presented by the learned guests. From paintings to ivory objects, from medicine to archaeological finds, from textiles to clothing, from missionaries to slaves, the seminar was a nostalgic reminiscence of the days of glory and sometimes of the atrocities of the colonials, and sometimes of the colonised.

The detail of the programme and of the speakers is as follows (copied from the abstracts and speaker profiles distributed for the seminar) -

Colonial Objects and Social Identity seminar
September 20th-23rd 2016, Copenhagen
Abstracts
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
KEY NOTE

Pacific Presences: Oceanic histories and European museums
Nicholas Thomas
This lecture outlines a five-year research project which has explored collections of Oceanic art and material culture in European museums, from the Baltic to Catalonia, taking artefacts as lenses on art and culture in the Pacific, histories of collecting, the biographies of colonial subjects and civic histories of collections and museums in Europe. A series of case studies reflect objects' social agencies as gifts and their capacity to engender relationships that remain latent, and susceptible to reactivation, even after decades or centuries in museum stores.
Biography
Nicholas Thomas has been Director of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge since 2006. His early book, Entangled Objects (Harvard, 1991) influentially contributed to a revival of material culture studies; he has since written widely on cross-cultural encounters, art in the Pacific, and museology. Recent publications include The Return of Curiosity: what museums are good for in the twentyfirst century (Reaktion) and Artefacts of encounter: Cook's voyages, colonial collecting, museum histories (Otago/Honolulu).
CONSUMING THE FOREIGN, PART 1
Selling the chinese woman
Lisa Hellman
In the 18th century, goods flowed from China to Europe. This paper will analyse the use of Chinese women as a motif on goods sold by East India Company employees in Scandinavia, as it highlights patterns of transculturation, gender, and power.
Chinese women were common as a motif on paintings, tapestries, porcelain, figurines, dolls as well as in sources such as travel writings and plays. I will analyse both the

production of this motif and its use in Scandinavia, and their dependency on individual aims and experiences, as well as on discourses on masculinity and femininity. By combining material, visual and textual sources, and discussing their use, I track the transculturation of the Chinese woman as an object.
Interestingly, goods with this motif were also sold in China itself, as were goods depicting European women. Thus, Chinese and European women were used to market foreignness, in the midst of both Qing and European expansion. Furthermore, after the unequal treaties when China itself became a kind of colony, this motif was reinterpreted. These objects exemplify how international goods must be put into more than one context to be fully understood.
Biography
Lisa Hellman is currently a postdoc scholar at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia at Tokyo University. She completed her PhD in history in December 2015 at the Department of history, Stockholm University. Her thesis ‘Navigating the foreign quarters’ addresses the everyday life in China of the employees of the Swedish East India Company 1730–1830. She works in the intersection between social, global and maritime history, with a special focus on China and Japan during the early modern period. She has published articles in five languages about how intercultural interaction changed the lives of the men and women involved.
Other cargoes: British slave ships and the transportation of African flora, fauna and artefacts (c.1680-1807)
Jane Webster
The Transatlantic slave trade supplied a labour force for the British colonies but was, from the outset, a trade not only in people but in gold, ivory and a host of other desirable things from West Africa. Documentary sources (including data on African imports gathered by Parliament in 1788-9) shed considerable light on the secondary cargoes of slave ships, and on British consumption of both Caribbean and African goods in the long 18th century. Slaving merchants helped to meet the demand at home for gold, pepper, ivory, hardwoods, dyewoods, resins and other products which were used in a variety of ways by British consumers. Individual mariners were engaged in the popular pursuit of collecting exotica from distant shores: African animals, birds, botanical specimens and ethnographic objects were all brought home to Britain on slave ships. Some of these objects eventually found their way into museum collections, and the biographies of artefacts bequeathed to museums by former slave ship sailors provide fascinating insights into the ways in which sailors – and the collectors whose

activities they supported - remembered, and refashioned, West Africa for home consumption.
Biography
Jane Webster (Head of Archaeology, School of History, Classics and Archaeology. Newcastle University) researches and teaches comparative colonial archaeology, with a particular focus on creole religions and the slave trade in both the Roman and early Modern periods. She is currently writing a book about British slave ships and their material world, entitled Material Culture of the Middle Passage.
CONSUMING THE FOREIGN, PART 2
Building an Empire: Archaeological Exploration of Consumerism and Identity in London c. 1666-1780
Stephanie N. Duensing, PhD
Establishments of consumption in late 17th-18th century London were spaces where issues of class, fashion, politics and trade were constantly displayed, observed and consumed by a host of social actors. These urban establishments fulfilled an important role providing a platform for socialising and conviviality which would remain central to their appeal amongst the popular classes over the centuries. As such, they were an environment perfectly poised to cultivate the indulgence and consumption of food, beverage and foreign goods in a socially appealing environment.
In this paper, the material culture recovered from archaeological sites within the City of London will be examined to illuminate the Colonial trade networks at work in these environments. The variations in material and the ways in which social distinctions were perceived through patterns of consumption will be demonstrated using the material evidence and historical records related to the different neighbourhoods. In this way, I argue these environments play a subtle yet powerful role in the burgeoning age of consumer culture which would form the basis for how we understand and define our own Western social identities and how we come to view others which have been appropriated.
Biography
Stephanie N. Duensing is a Post-Medieval specialist whose research interests and specialties are in historical archaeology and interpretation of early-industrial consumerism in the UK and public/community archaeology and issues of social equality in North American urban communities. She has contributed to fieldwork excavations

on urban Victorian park sites in Manchester, UK and urban and rural colonial sites in the Mid-Atlantic region in the USA. In 2015, she completed her PhD research at the University of Manchester titled, Taverns, Inns and Alehouses? An Archaeology of Consumption Practices in the City of London, 1666–1780. She is currently co-authoring a book chapter titled, Race, Riots, and Class Conflicts: Towards an Archaeology of Social Equality (in progress, with B.M. Hutchinson). She is employed full-time as an Archaeologist with Cotswold Archaeology and lives in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
African cosmopolitanism – Trade, transculturation and imperial encounters in the nineteenth-century Niger Delta
Julia Binter
This paper discusses the role of material culture in trade and imperial contact in West Africa. It looks at the ways in which Britain’s imperial agents (traders, diplomats, navy personnel) and African middlemen used material culture to forge political, economic and socio-cultural relations. It particularly looks at the ways in which gift giving and the exchange of goods and ideas contributed to the lifestyle and social identities of coastal trading elites. It thereby focuses on a formative period of imperial contact between Britain and West Africa, the African palm oil trade (1820-1900), and on the main hub for palm oil in the nineteenth century, the Niger Delta in today’s Nigeria. Drawing on private and public collections in the UK and in Nigeria, it emphasises the importance of African consumption and collecting in imperial encounters and seeks to highlight African agency in imperial contact. A concept that stresses this African agency is African cosmopolitanism (Mbembe 2005. Prestholdt 2008, Getz 2013). Hence, this paper seeks to bring together theories of African cosmopolitanism and transculturation in order to develop new insights into the role of material culture and African agency in forging imperial contact and related social identities in West Africa.
Biography
Julia Binter is a doctoral student in social anthropology at the University of Oxford. Her AHRC collaborative doctoral thesis with the National Maritime Museum, London, examines trade, cultural exchange and imperial encounters in West Africa during the era of so called ‘legitimate’ trade (1820-1900) and related memory practices today. It particularly focuses on the role of material culture in imperial encounters and the ways in which the exchange of goods and gift giving forged imperial relationships and social identities. She thereby draws on her previous work as assistant curator in the Africa department of the Weltmuseum Wien (Austria) and as lecturer at the University of Vienna. Her publications include “Unruly Voices in the Museum. Multisensory

engagement with disquieting histories”, The Senses and Society 9(2), 2014: 342-360 (reprinted in The Auditory Culture Reader, 2nd vol., Michael Bull and Les Back (eds.) Bloomsbury: New York)
RITUALS AND RELIGIOSITY
Glimpses of the Self: Mirrors in Seventeenth-Century Southern New England
Rebecca Shrum
Prior to widespread European colonization of North America in the 17th century, Europeans and Native Americans had developed robust and well-defined beliefs about and uses for reflective surfaces—largely intertwined with ritual and magic—over centuries of interacting with the reflective surface of water, reflective metals, and early metal and glass mirrors. At the beginning of the 16th century, the introduction of flat glass covered with a highly reflective coating, which reflected images much more accurately than their predecessors, enabled mirrors to begin shape human identity in profound and unimagined ways. This paper explores the multivalent meaning of mirrors among and between Puritan colonists and Native peoples in seventeenthcentury Southern New England using a wide range of interdisciplinary sources including trade records, material culture, data from significant archaeological work on Native burial grounds, the writings of Puritans Roger Williams and Mary Rowlandson, Puritan religious tracts, and probate inventories. Both cultures retained earlier beliefs and practices even as they embraced accurately reflective mirrors and the increased self-knowledge they offered. This paper also explores why, despite their close geographic proximity to one another, mirrors were present in only 17% of Puritans households, but almost one in three Native peoples owned a mirror by the late seventeenth century1
Biography
Rebecca Shrum is a public historian who studies material culture and historic sites. She is particularly interested in how very ordinary objects contribute to the creation of individual and collective identity. Shrum received her PhD from the University of South Carolina and is currently an Assistant Professor of History and Assistant Director of the

1 If we estimate a household size of three in order to compare directly with Puritan household rates, this would make mirror ownership among Native peoples almost 100%. Estimating a household size of larger than three would indicate that some Native households possessed more than one mirror by the late seventeenth century.

Public History Program at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Her article, “Mr. Coffee: Design, Gender, and the Branding of a Kitchen Appliance,” was published by Winterthur Portfolio in 2012. Shrum’s book, In the Looking Glass: Mirrors and Identity in Early America, will be published by The Johns Hopkins University Press in 2017. She has just begun a new research project that will explore how race, gender, and material culture are used and interpreted at historic sites in the United States.
“Fairly intricate and the Result of considerable Thought”: Native American Rush Mats in the colonial encounter
Sylvia S. Kasprycki, University of Frankfurt
The Ottawa rush mat collected in 1851 by Martin Pitzer and preserved in the Weltmuseum in Vienna, Austria, was part of several Native-made objects used to decorate the Catholic church of Arbre Croche in Michigan. What puzzles us today is the depiction of Thunderbirds on this mat – supernatural beings prominent in Algonquian mythology and thus a motif that appears incongruous with the practice of Christianity.
A closer look at the functions of rush mats in traditional cultural contexts reveals their importance not only as household items, but also their significance in gift exchange, ceremonial contexts, and in intertribal trade. In the course of colonial encounters in the nineteenth century, rush mats in addition came to be used for practical purposes by settlers, coveted as souvenirs because of their intricate designs by travelers and collectors, and lauded by missionaries as examples of Native women’s diligence and dexterity.
Drawing from written sources, pictorial records, as well as museum collections, the paper attempts to outline the transformations of use, meaning, and iconography of these objects in the course of appropriation and reappropriation across cultural boundaries.
Biography
Sylvia S. Kasprycki holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Vienna. She is lecturer at the Department of Ethnology of the Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, and an independent exhibition curator. Her research has focused on the ethnohistory, material culture, and contemporary art worlds of Native America and Sri Lanka in particular. Most recently, she curated On the Trails of the Iroquois (Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, Bonn and Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, 2013– 2014).

The East Greenland – INUA. Mythological traces through more than 1000 years
Hans Lange
East Greenlandic artists express themselves with many artistic techniques ranging from the three-dimensional carvings to very fine works of art. At the meeting with other people, Ammassalimmiut have been exercised in showing and telling their own version of a long cultural history. East Greenlandic artists have been influenced by their old belief that all things were alive and had its "inua" - its owner (actually "its human being"). They tell about their identity by depicting their surroundings and their environment. They also tell of how culture elements help to provide common memories of their shared past. Because of the demand from outsiders there was created a niche for designing tupilak figures. The figures obtained their size depending on their adaptation to be sold as souvenirs or trinkets. East Greenland artist plays an important part in maintaining the cultural heritage.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
KEY NOTE
Colonial Goods in the British Country House
Kate Smith, University of Birmingham
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the steady arrival of Asian goods transformed European material cultures and practices. While many goods arrived via the trading routes established by Europe’s East India Companies, others arrived through more personal means. These alternative routes of delivery – often via the individuals who served these large organizations - particularly affected Britain. As Britain’s imperial interest in the subcontinent increased during the eighteenth century individuals and later families ventured out for short periods to serve the East India Company. On their return they brought with them not only objects but also practices and understandings gleaned from their time in India. This paper explores the objects and practices that these individuals and families returned with and questions the ways in which they came to shape the British country house tradition particularly, and British material cultures more generally. In doing so, it demonstrates one of the many ways in which Britain’s imperial project came to impact the everyday lives and worldviews of a variety of Britons in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.
THREADS OF COLONIAL LIVES: TEXTILES AND EXILES
Pamela Parmal, Jennifer Swope, Maria Cecilia Aquilar Holt
Our three papers all concern American colonial textiles, made in, respectively, London, India and the Philippines, and all now housed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Jennifer Swope will talk about embroidery made in London by a schoolgirl in the late seventeenth century and brought with her to Boston for her marriage. Pamela Parmal will speak about a palampore that traveled from the Coromandel coast to Colonial New England in the mid-eighteenth century. Maria Cecilia Aguilar Holt will speak about a group of late nineteenth century Philippine textiles from the Mindanao. In all cases the focus will be threefold: on the significance of the place and time where the textiles were made and later used, on the persons associated with their everyday use, and on process of their preservation and collection after they ceased to be in use.

Dorothy Dix’s “worked counterpane”
Pamela Parmal, Department Head and David and Roberta Logie Curator of Textile and Fashion Arts, Museum of Fine Arts
When Dorothy Dix (1746-1837) of Boston wrote her will, she started with what must have been her prized possession, “her worked counterpane,” which she left to her daughter Mary Harris. This counterpane is most probably an Indian embroidered Palampore that descended in Mary Harris’s family before it was finally donated to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 1957. The importance of the bedcover in the Dix household is not surprising, elaborately embroidered or hand-painted palampores were rare in the colonies. Amelia Peck in her work on Indian chintz exports to the American colonies documented only six mentions of Chintz Bedcovers in merchant’s advertisements in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia during the period 1710-1784. This paper will examine how the Palampore might have been acquired by the Dix family, its role in the household as a textile of high status, and the broader importance of textiles on the American colonies as can be seen through the history of the family. Dorothy’s husband, Elijah Dix, was an apothecary and sold textile dyes in his shop; he was also involved in the establishment of a calico printing factory outside of Boston in the period following the American Revolution.
Biography
Pamela Parmal is Department Head at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and David and Roberta Logie Curator of Textile and Fashion Arts. She is the author of numerous books on textiles, style and fashion, including Women’s Work: Embroidery in Colonial Boston (2012).
Elizabeth Roberts and Colonial Boston’s Emerging Mercantile Elite in the Late 17thcentury: A Transatlantic Textile Legacy
Jennifer Swope, Assistant Curator, David and Roberta Logie Curator of Textile and Fashion Arts, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
In London in 1693, Elizabeth Roberts married Samuel Shrimpton. Shrimpton was the wealthiest of Boston’s native sons, but he and his father Benjamin, a brazier by trade, remained outside the Puritan elite who had long held the reigns of religious and civic power in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Young wealthy men like Shrimpton represented something foreign to Puritan elders like Samuel Seward who dismissed their public drinking and stylish dress as “high-handed wickedness.” Instead of trying to marry into this group of disapproving Puritan elites, Shrimpton found a wife in the city

of London, the source of his commercial success. As this paper hopes to show, bringing his new wife to Boston signaled the erosion of the Puritan influence in the colony’s capital city (that had begun with the arrival of Governor Edmund Andros) and the growing presence of Anglicanism as the religious preference among the merchant class.
Elizabeth Roberts Shrimpton brought two samplers and an embroidered cushion cover made as a schoolgirl to her new Boston home. Her father soon sent the couple eight portraits of Elizabeth and her immediate family; these textiles and portraits formed the core of a collection that passed through four generations of Colonial Bostonians, each adding their own layer of material remembrances. In the first half of the 20th century, descendants published histories of the founding members of their family and donated most of their portraits and textiles to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Had Elizabeth Roberts married into a London merchant family like her own, these objects would have long lost their association with people who used them, because scholars and collectors of English embroidery dismiss work like Elizabeth Roberts’s schoolgirl embroidery as the devolution of an earlier aristocratic tradition. In their transatlantic crossing, these middling tokens of luxury and affluence rose to prominence becoming treasures of the earliest period of American colonial history. By placing them in the context of the colonial Boston’s transforming culture of colonial Boston at the end of the 17th century, we can better understand why her descendants valued them as they enacted these changes at the advent of the 18th century.
Biography
Jennifer Swope is Assistant Curator in the David and Roberta Logie Department of Textiles and Fashion Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A graduate of the Winterthur Program in American Culture at the University of Delaware, she now specializes in textiles but was a curator in a more generalist sense at Historic New England before joining the MFA’s Textile and Fashion Arts Department in 2002. Most recently, she co-authored Quilts and Color, the Pilgrim/Roy Collection, a catalog for an exhibition that opened at the MFA in 2014 and will travel to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and the San Diego Art Museum in the next two years. Other areas of the MFA’s collection that she has researched and published on include American costume, Native American textiles, and Boston embroidery from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Skirting Otherness: Stylized Crocodiles on Mindanao Textiles
Maria Cecilia Holt, Th.D. Harvard University
This paper focuses on a late 19th to early 20th century tubular women’s skirt and other textiles from Mindanao, Philippines that feature stylized crocodiles. In the early seventeenth century, Jesuit missionaries reported that crocodiles were called ‘Nono’ or grandfather by indigenous peoples, and missionary chronicles were filled with stories of Catholic converts being swallowed by or wrestling with crocodiles. This late 19th/ early 20th century skirt from Mindanao (and others like it) is evidence of the significance of crocodiles in indigenous culture. Indeed at least one myth from the Philippines speaks of creation emerging from the belly of a crocodile. Thus the depiction of crocodiles on a type of clothing that was possibly worn for life—from birth to burial—will be examined in conjunction with negotiations of ‘otherness,’ foreign and familiar, as the weavers of the skirt (the Mandaya and the Bagobo peoples) are reputed to have remained ‘un-Christian’ and ‘un-Muslim’.
Additionally, the skirt’s provenance from a New England missionary family (The Slocums) allows us to explore the connections as well as differences between Spanish and American colonial presences in the Philippines. In particular, Miss Anna D. Slocum, is known to have lent and donated not only textiles to the MFA but also toys to the Boston Children’s Museum which opened in 1913. This paper will explore not only the enduring fabric of indigenous culture through two colonial regimes, but also the ingenuity of Spanish and American missionaries in putting that fabric to the test (in its implementation of various cultural, religious and educational policies) in light of everyday objects such as clothing and toys bearing indigenous Philippine motifs.
Biography
Maria Cecilia Aguilar Holt holds a doctorate from Harvard Divinity School for research on missionaries in the Philippines in the early modern period. She is currently working on the history of Christianity in the Global South, and on global trade and the role of commodities in negotiating aesthetics and religious doctrine in missionary contexts. She has recently been invited to lecture at Ateneo de Manila and at the University of Hong Kong; she will be presenting a paper at Harvard in the spring of 2016 on Jesuit missionaries and humanist printing.

HOMES DISPLAYING COLONIAL IDENTITY
Meaningful Mantelpieces: Displaying transculturality in the colonial spaces of Calcutta and Gangtok
Emma Martin, PhD, University of Manchester and National Museums Liverpool
The mantelpiece has become a site of enquiry for studies of contemporary migration, object mobility and meaning making (Svašek 2012, Hurdley 2006, 2013). Such cultural geographies of movement and materiality are also critical for unpicking a particular product of Britain’s colonial encounter with Tibetan Buddhism; the mantelpiece made of Tibetan Buddhist things.
This paper is less concerned with the imagined “malign monsters” of Tibet, described in the early works of budding Tibetologists (Mitter 1977), and more so with the curated experiments produced in homes of colonial officers. These assemblages were neither one thing nor the other, arguably more shrine than mantelpiece. As such, their production captured the, “sense of movement and the complex mixedness of cultures in close contact” (Bennesaieh 2010). Within these semi-private spaces men of empire aligned themselves to the aesthetics and cultural sensibilities of others, making antiimperial sentiments visible.
The curators of the mantelpieces - who knew each other - Percy Brown, Calcutta’s Indian Museum curator and Charles Bell, Himalayan scholar-administrator are the focus of this paper. Using these rooms I will think about the reasons for this transculturality and the connoisseurial practices of Anglo-Tibetan networks that made domestic displays based on other places possible.
Biography
Emma Martin (PhD, History of Art and Archaeology, SOAS University of London, 2014) is Lecturer in Museology for the University of Manchester and Head of Ethnology for National Museums Liverpool. Her specific interests lie in Liverpool’s important Tibet collections, which document Anglo-Tibetan contact during the early twentieth century. She recently completed her PhD on the collecting practices of the Himalayan-based colonial officer, Charles Bell and she has published several articles and book chapters on Bell and the wider Anglo-Tibetan colonial encounter; paying particular attention to transcultural knowledge production and diplomatic gifts, including their exchange, circulation and inventory.

Porcelains and Paliacates: Making space for Asia in Mexico
Meha Pryiadarshini
The paper considers the history of the Manila Galleon Trade (1571-1815) as a means to explore how the import of Asian goods into colonial Mexico mattered in the creation of social identities in the Spanish viceroyalty. It will focus on two popular commodities of the early modern period--Chinese porcelain and Indian textiles--and demonstrate the different ways in which they were appropriated by the colonial society. Chinese porcelains often retained their identity as Chinese in their new homes in colonial Mexico, whereas the Indian cottons were not always remembered as being Indian. In one particular case, that of the paliacate, the object was unmoored from its Indian origins entirely. However, in both cases the goods were important in the formation of a colonial identity distinct from that of the Spanish metropole. In addition to comparing the ways in which these commodities were used in Spain and Europe, the paper will also consider the importance of materiality to the manner of appropriation and historicization of commodities in the early modern period. The project combines the methodologies of history, art history and material culture studies to think anew about the impact of global trade, which began in the early modern period.
Biography
Meha Priyadarshini is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Kunsthistorisches InstitutMax Planck Institut. She received her PhD in 2014 from the History Department at Columbia University in New York. Her dissertation titled "From the Chinese Guan to the Mexican Chocolatero: A Tactile History of the Transpacific Trade, 1571-1815," follows Chinese porcelains from their point of production in China to their trade in the port of Manila, and on to their consumption and appropriation in colonial Latin America. The project investigates the formation of an early modern trade network and demonstrates that such networks developed from an interaction between global material forces and local histories and contingencies. The methodology also provides details about the movement and transfer of aesthetics in the early modern period. For the year 20132014 Meha was a predoctoral fellow at the Getty Research Institute as a part of their scholar year "Connecting Seas: Cultural and Artistic Exchange," and last year she was a Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellow at the European University Institute (EUI) in Fiesole.

Homes in the Early Danish West Indies
Louise Sebro
In the history writing of the Danish West Indies, material culture has never had any prominent position – apart from one area: 19th century mahogany furniture from the wealthier classes. Thus, much is unknown about home decoration, utensils, styles and ways of expressing group identity through materiality in the early eighteenth century. In my presentation I will discuss my work on homes and material culture of daily life in this early period of the colony’s history and present thoughts about differences and similarities between European Caribbean and African Caribbean households.
Biography
Postdoctoral researcher at the National Museum of Denmark sponsored by the Danish Research Council’s Sapere Aude program. She received her Ph.D. from Lund University (2010) on a dissertation about ethnic and social identities among African Caribbeans in the Danish West Indies. She has published about identity, cultural history, the history of daily life, and cultural encounters in Danish colonial India, the Danish West Indies and Denmark.
MULTIPLE MEANINGS 1
Playing the Puzzle of things: adaptation and assimilation of commodities in the early modern development of consumption – the case in the northern European fringe area.
Risto Nurmi, University of Oulu, Finland
The development of consumption has commonly been discussed and presented in the context of European expansion and the history of European colonial enterprise during the early modern period. The scene of these confrontations is set on the colonial encounters between European and non-European cultures/groups/people. From the colonialist and consumerist point of view these confrontations create an arena for the exchange of goods where both parties have their own understanding of the needs and meanings of material things and benefits gained through the transactions.
In this paper I am aiming to set the mechanisms of colonial encounters into the intraEuropean perspective. The Northern Scandinavia formed a fringe area of the trade of European commodities since the early medieval through the early modern period. The

long term perspective to the northern archaeological material shows that the adaptation and assimilation of imported goods were a lot related to the communities prevailing conception of artefacts and their uses. The locally based conception apparently caused also the sometimes existing diversity in the regional consumption patterns. By this context setting I am intending to visualize that the mechanisms of commercial encounters in the development of nascent consumption were not colonially based phenomena but more universal features of assimilating new material culture
Biography
Risto Nurmi, PhD, post doctoral researcher, University of Oulu, Finland.
Risto Nurmi is an archaeologist and specialized on Historical archaeology of the Northern Scandinavia. He has finished his PhD about the 17th and the 18th century development of urban material culture and peoples artifact relations in the Northern Finland in the University of Oulu in 2011. The dissertation was awarded the SHA Kathleen Kirk Gilmore dissertation prize in 2015. His research interests include the consumption studies, material culture studies and archaeology of smoking. Risto is currently directing the research project: Emergent consumer society and consumer symbolism in early modern northern Europe that studies the development of consumerism in the northern Bothnian Gulf region (Sweden and Finland), and he is also a member in the University of Oulu Finnish Academy research Project: Understanding the cultural impacts and issues of Lapland mining that studies the social development around the mining industry from the 17th century to the present.
Materiality and Construction of colonial Swedishness in North America
Fredrik Ekengren and Magdalena Naum
The material dimension of identity is a key issue in the study of European exploration and colonization, and vital for our understanding of the cultural geographies of the emerging Atlantic world. The Swedes and Finns who migrated to North America in the 17th century, and founded the colony of New Sweden along the Delaware, became entangled in a complex transcultural web of ideas, technologies, ideologies and material forms, that redefined their boundaries for the expected. This talk will examine the mechanisms behind the formation and expression of cultural identity of the Swedish settlers and their descendants in the day-to-day situations, as a way to approach the complexity of colonization and colonialism. It will explore a wide range of material culture ranging from objects, architecture, and even slaves, and explore how

the exotic and the familiar blended together to form the material basis for the creation of a Swedish colonial identity in America.
Biography
Fredrik Ekengren is an Associate Professor at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History at Lund University in Sweden. His research interests include the archaeology of cultural interaction, ritual and burials, migration and colonialism. He is currently associated with a long-term research project on the Swedish colony New Sweden in 17th century North America.
Magdalena Naum is an associate professor at the Department of Archaeology at Aarhus University, Denmark. She is a historical archaeologist. Her recent research has focused on Scandinavian colonial history, particularly Swedish settlement in seventeenth and eighteenth century America where she investigated construction of America as an exotic other as well as everyday life and negotiations of identities in the colony. She is also researching the development of early modern mining in Swedish Lapland and its wider political, cultural and economic background and consequences for the region. She is the editor of Scandinavian Colonialism and the Rise of Modernity (with Jonas Nordin, New York, 2013) and Facing Otherness in Early Modern Sweden: Travel, Migration and Material Transformations, 1500-1800 (with Fredrik Ekengren, Woodbridge, forthcoming 2016).
MULTIPLE MEANINGS 2
Exchange of missionary values and valuables in colonial New Hebrides
Eve Haddow, PhD Candidate, the Australian National University
From the late 18th century, missionaries began to spread Christianity across the Pacific in earnest, playing a key role in the broader project of European colonisation. With them they brought more than their religious ideologies to share with communities, transporting trade goods, new technologies and other items, which could collectively be considered a unique missionary material culture.
Aneityum island in Vanuatu (previously New Hebrides) offers a fascinating case study for exploring the use, reception and value of objects within missionary encounters in a 19th century Pacific community. Drawing on museum collections, photographs, and archives connected with Presbyterian missionaries on Aneityum from the 1840s, and recent ethnographic and archaeological fieldwork, the discussion will highlight key artefacts, eliciting stories of exchange and interaction between islanders and

missionaries from both Europe and elsewhere in the Pacific. These objects include those relating to the church, valued trade materials, and foreign items and styles integrated into daily life. The paper will locate artefacts in relation to changing identities precipitated by missionary presence and reflect on the legacy of these artefacts today. By exploring this local island context, contribution can be made to the broader discussion of the role of objects in building colonial relations.
Biography
Eve Haddow is a PhD candidate at the Australian National University, exploring the involvement of missionaries in the development of Pacific archaeology. Her research has a particular focus on missionary engagement with artefact collecting and photography in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Prior to this, Eve worked with Pacific collections at National Museums Scotland.
Colonial objects in motion: the life stories of Yup’ik masks in Europe
Anna Mossolova, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Estonian Institute of Humanities, Tallinn University, Estonia
My doctoral research project explores the dynamics in the traditions of mask making in Yup’ik society in southwest Alaska over the centuries, starting from the pre-contact period, continuing through the contact time, and concluding with the modern era. The history of Yup’ik mask making is tightly intertwined with the history of European colonial enterprise in Alaska. Colonial encounters inevitably influenced the techniques of making masks and the development of the tradition as such.
Early explorers, traders, museum and private collectors, and even European artists inspired by the “surreal” aesthetics of Yup’ik masks, were collecting these “charismatic” objects of, as they claimed, vanishing cultures in great amounts. Predominantly in the 19th – early 20th century, many Yup’ik masks travelled a long way from Alaska to Europe. Some of them got housed at the museums and art galleries, others made their way to private collections. In my presentation, I will give an overview on the life stories of Yup’ik masks that ended up in Europe, bringing examples from the UK and Denmark. I shall demonstrate how the perception and interpretations of the masks had changed when they were moved to other geographically and culturally distant locations, different from the native context that generated them. I will conclude by speculating on the implications of cultural, spatial and temporal transitions undergone by masks as colonial objects.

Biography
I am a PhD student in sociocultural anthropology in the Estonian Institute of Humanities of Tallinn University, Estonia. Currently, I am also a pre-doctoral Fulbright fellow affiliated with the Department of Anthropology and Alaska Native Studies program of the University of Alaska, Anchorage. In my research, I am focusing on the dynamics in the traditions of Yup’ik mask making over the centuries, starting from the pre-contact period. I have been working with a number of archaeological and ethnographic mask collections housed by the European and U.S. museums that form a great resource for the study of Yup’ik mask making history. I am also documenting the contemporary ways of mask making by working with and interviewing Alaska Native artists.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
KEY NOTE
(Ad)dressing the Collections: the archaeology of colonial clothing and adornment from Puritan New England
Diana DiPaolo Loren
Dress in colonial Massachusetts was, as in many colonial contexts, integral to performing different aspects of identities, including gender, religion, race, ethnicity, class, and status (Loren 2010). Elements of dress could be used to transform identity, allowing one to embody another “social skin.” The ability to change identity, however, was threatening to imperial rule as it confused colonial order and racial categorization of Europeans, Native Americans, and peoples of mixed ancestries. Thus, the everyday practice of dressing was far from simple--clothing and adorning one’s body was personal, social, political in response to English Puritan missionary activities as well as the changing social and political landscape. Artifacts of colonial adornment from 17th century New England—buttons, glass beads—were then entangled in the embodiment of different identities and the materiality of the lived experience of colonialism. Yet, too often, artifacts from Native American and English contexts are considered separately, as those these communities existed in two separate realties. Here, I consider the intersection of different collections and contexts of entanglement, hoping to bring forth a more holistic understanding of clothing and bodily experience in 17th century New England.
Biography
Diana DiPaolo Loren (PhD, SUNY Binghamton) arrived at Harvard in 1999 and is currently Director of Academic Partnerships and Museum Curator at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University. Loren is a North American archaeologist specializing in the colonial period Southeast and Northeast, with a focus on the body, health, dress and adornment. She co-directs the Archaeology of Harvard Yard Project with Patricia Capone. Loren is the author of In Contact: Bodies and Spaces in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Eastern Woodlands (2007) and The Archaeology of Clothing and Bodily Adornment in Colonial America (2010).

DRESS AND IDENTITY, PART 1
Between fur and silk – dress, representation and identities in Early Colonial Greenland
Peter Andreas Toft, Post doc at SILA – Arctic Centre at the Danish National Museum
In the 18th to the early 20th century Greenland was the scene of multiple and partly overlapping encounters between Inuit communities and European whalers, missionaries and colonists. These encounters resulted in new and overlapping identities, as many Inuit and Europeans became employed in trade companies and missions and settled more permanently around colonial factories or missions. This process also gave rise to a new colonial/ethnic class for people of mixed parentage.
During this period the Inuit incorporated textiles, sweaters, glass beads and other European commodities, into their dress in very specific ways. Further many Europeans in the Eastern Artic used local skin clothing as part of their dress culture.
This paper will explore how local European and Inuit dress changed in the complex interplay between dress, social identity and representation in Early Colonial Greenland. The paper draws upon a range of sources: ethnographic objects, written trade records and historical photographs, which calls for an interdisciplinary approach.
Biography
Peter Andreas Toft is a Post doc at SILA - Arctic Centre at the Danish National Museum with a Sapere Aude Research Talent scholarship from the Danish Council of Independent Research. Ph.D. in Eskimology and Arctic Studies from the University of Copenhagen. MA in prehistoric archaeology and teaching from the University of Copenhagen.
My main research area is cultural encounters in the 18th- 19th century Eastern Arctic with a focus on trade and exchange, social identity, transculturation of material culture and change in settlement structure and burial practices. My current project is a comparative analysis of the connection between transculturation of dress cultures and formation of social identities among Inuit and Europeans in 4 Greenlandic and two Canadian regions. In addition my research explores the heated debate on the use of Inuit dress elements by modern Western designers and how the historical roots of different dress parts is used in this context.

The Moosehide Banyan: thoughts on clothing, relationships, and identity in Rupert’s Land
Laura Peers, Professor of Museum Anthropology, School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography Curator (Americas), Pitt Rivers Museum
Clothing has been described ‘as a surface where collective norms, values and codes are deposited’ (Seremetakis 1994:133). Within the multicultural milieu of the western Canadian fur trade between 1750 and 1850, clothing forms, decorations, and their meanings passed from British to Aboriginal and Metis and back again. This paper examines a coat cut like a banyan—a form imported from India to Britain in the 18thC—which was reinterpreted in moosehide in the early 19thC fur trade.
Clothing served as an index of difference and identity in fur trade society at a time when British fur trade officers and missionaries were enacting racial and class-based hierarchies. While urged to dress in ‘civilized’ cloth and sober colours conforming to British class-based expectations, Aboriginal and Metis women made hide versions of European coats, with exuberant painted designs and porcupine quillwork, expressing indigenous belief systems. British fur traders often commissioned such garments before returning to the UK. The garments were seldom used after their creation, suggesting meanings that did not translate well back into British social contexts.
Biography
Dr Laura Peers is Curator for the Americas Collections, Pitt Rivers Museum, and Professor of Museum Anthropology, University of Oxford. She is interested in the role of material culture in mediating cross-cultural relations in 19th century fur trade society, in the shifts of meanings incurred by objects as they crossed cultural boundaries, and in the meanings of heritage objects to First Nations peoples today. Her publications include ‘A Token of Remembrance: the gift of a Cree hood, Red River Settlement, 1844’ (in John S. Long and Jennifer S.H. Brown, eds., Together we survive: ethnographic institutions, friendships, and conversations (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2016); “Ceremonies of Renewal: Visits, Relationships and Healing in the Museum Space,” Museum Worlds 1(1), 2013; (with Cara Krmpotich) “‘This Is Our Life”: Haida material heritage and changing museum practice (UBC Press, 2013).

DRESS AND IDENTITY, PART 2
Shirts, Snowshoes and Tobogganing Suits: Material Circulation, Indigenous Agency and Imperial Agendas in North Atlantic Climes, 17th – early 20th centuries
Beverly Lemire
Shirts, snowshoes and tobogganing suits mark transcultural exchange linking Britain and northern North America.2 I chart the shifting meanings attached to these goods in regions abutting the North Atlantic, objects shaped by colonial processes. Readymade shirts set the framework, made by the ton, a staple of naval vessels and trading companies. Shirts exemplified deliberate European investiture of Indigenous peoples, attempting “to produce relations of dominance,”3 but resisted and reinvented by Native Americans. Intended hegemonies of dress were disrupted. In contrast, snowshoes demonstrate a long European dependence. Colonists acquired snowshoes through diplomatic links with Indigenous societies, determining their survival in snow and cold. Snowshoes marked success in trade, hunting and war, with mastery defining male capacity, including among the colonial military. Settler appropriation followed through formalized clubs and races in the 1800s. Yet, snowshoe making and use persisted among Indigenous communities, confirming the power of their knowledge systems. Tobogganing, another Indigenous technology, was also claimed as a marker of imperial masculinity, deployed in imperial contexts from Ottawa and Dundee to Kabul. A tobogganing suit from 20th-century London illuminates imperial appropriation and transculturation, celebrated in everyday winter sports in the imperial metropole, another seemingly “natural aspect of Britain’s place in the world.”4
Biography
Beverly Lemire is Professor and Henry Marshall Tory Chair, Department of History & Classics, University of Alberta. She has published extensively on fashion, consumerism, material culture and women’s history in Britain, as well as on comparative early globalization (1500-1800) and consumerism. Her work has been published in Britain and the US, as well as France, Italy, Portugal, Japan and Germany. Books include: Fashion's Favourite: The Cotton Trade and the Consumer in Britain, 1660-1800, (1991);

2 I use the term “northern North America” in preference to the present-day states of Canada and the US. 3 Tim Murray, ed., The Archaeology of Contact in Settler Societies (Cambridge, 2004), p. 10. 4 Catherine Hall & Sonya Rose, “Introduction: being at home with the Empire” in Catherine Hall & Sonya Rose, eds., At Home with the Empire: Metropolitan Culture and the Imperial World (Cambridge, 2006), p. 2.

The Business of Everyday Life (2005, 2012); The Force of Fashion in Politics and Society (2010), Cotton (2011) and a co-edited volume, Craft, Community and the Material Culture of Place and Politics, 19th and 20th Century (2014). She is currently Principal Investigator for a SSHRC funded Partnership Development Grant “Object Lives and Global Histories in Northern North America: Networks, Localities and Material Culture, c. 1700s-1900s,” www.objectlives.com and is heading the 2016 conference “Dressing Global Bodies” www.dressingglobalbodies.com
Sartorial performance and African American clothing in the nineteenth century
Vanessa Mongey
At the nexus of slavery and freedom lived free people in color in the slave societies of the United States and the Caribbean in the nineteenth century. Using the notion of sartorial performance developed by Monica Miller in her study of Black Dandyism, this paper explores how free people of color used fashion and style as tools with which they negotiated their status and their identity vis-a-vis other people of African ancestry as well as European populations. Unfortunately very few garments survive and only a few images exist. This paper centers on a head-wrap belonging to Nancy Burns, a free woman of mixed-race ancestry from New York that was encased within a wood-andglass box frame that accompanied her framed portrait probably commissioned by Burns' former employer (now at the American Museum in Britain). To provide a more complete picture of this interplay of clothing and appearance with race, class and gender, this paper also turns to detailed descriptions found in travel journals or correspondence.
Biography
I am a teaching fellow in the History department of Newcastle University. I am a specialist in Early American and Atlantic history. My research interests are the Age of Revolutions and Caribbean history. I am currently finishing a monograph on itinerant revolutionaries in the Greater Caribbean. I also published articles on the Haitian Diaspora, Louisiana, the circulation of revolutionary print. I received my PhD from the University of Pennsylvania before moving to Memphis as a visiting professor at Rhodes College (2011-2012) and to Pittsburgh for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh (2012-2014). I also worked for museums in the United States (New-York Historical Society) and France (Musée des Jacobins and Musée des Arts Amérindiens, Océaniens et Africains) with a concentration on pre-Columbian art. At Newcastle, I teach courses on the slave trade and the British empire.
Website: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/historical/staff/profile/vanessa.mongey

TEXTILES, DRESS AND IDENTITY
The Blouse and the petticoat – colonial additions to the saree
Toolika Gupta, Phd Candidate, University of Glasgow
This paper focuses on the creolization of the saree during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Sarees, or long rectangular fabric drapes have been worn by the Indian women since ancient times. Western women including missionaries who travelled to India during the hey-day of British rule influenced the dressing styles of the elite Indian women of Bengal which later trickled down to the lower classes and trickled across to other regions of India. Few people are aware of the fact that it was during the British rule that the elite Indian women embraced the blouse and petticoat and began wearing them with the saree. Today, the entire ensemble is looked upon as traditional Indian womenswear and has acquired the significance of the national costume for Indian women. India’s women politicians, educated women in high profile jobs and millions of women across India embrace the saree-blouse-petticoat as India’s traditional and national costume oblivious of the fact that ‘blouse’ and ‘petticoats’ have been assimilated into the ensemble as a result of the British Rule.
Biography
Toolika is a fashion historian, researcher, designer and consultant and has recently completed her PhD from the School of Culture and Creative Arts, History of Arts – (Dress and Textiles) at the University Of Glasgow, UK, on ‘The influence of British Rule on Elite Indian Menswear: The Birth of the Sherwani.’ After her M.Sc. in textiles and clothing from Delhi University in 1996, she has worked as a designer and merchandiser in the fashion industry, taught fulltime at NIFT, New Delhi, India from 2005-2011. Now she is a full time researcher. This year she has been selected as one of the ten ambassadors of the Costume Society of UK. Toolika is also the secretary and one of the 13 founding members of a Textile and Clothing Research Centre in India – TCRC, to be launched formally on the 5th of Oct 2016. Her web site is www.profesorinfashion.com

Cottons and the gentleman merchant in 18th-century Copenhagen
Vibe Maria Martens, European University Institute in Florence, Italy
The Swiss immigrant Pierre Peschier came to Copenhagen in 1768 and quickly made a name for himself as a gifted and skilled merchant. He was one of the most frequent purchasers at Asiatic Company and private auctions of cotton piece goods from India, and was quick to build a successful merchant business in his own name in the second half of the eighteenth century. This talk will present findings on the purchases of Indian cotton textiles by other merchants and Pierre Peschier, as well as insights into how he himself may have applied some of these cottons in household furnishings in his estate on Holmens Kanal. Peschier can be portrayed as a classic “gentleman merchant” as perceived by Hancock, thus providing the man with a certain social identity through which he would strive to live up to certain mercantile ideals of a wealthy, successful and hardworking gentleman merchant. This talk will link surviving cotton textiles and objects to the few descriptions we have of Peschier’s house, to his purchases at the auctions and the particular virtues associated with the gentleman merchant.
Biography
Vibe Maria Martens (b. 1981) is a PhD researcher at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. She holds an MA degree in History from the University of Copenhagen and a BA degree in Modern History from the University of Westminster, London. Her research includes the study of Danish colonial trade in Indian cotton textiles in the long 18th century and its effect on Danish consumption and material culture. This work is performed by applying an interdisciplinary methodology, making use of traditional historical study as well as museum studies, technical and dye analysis of historical textiles. She has previously studied both English and Danish colonial history. Among her publications are: ‘The Theft of Fashion: Circulation of Fashionable Textiles and Garments in 18th-century Copenhagen’, in Engelhardt Mathiassen, Nosch, Ringgaard, Toftegaard and Venborg Pedersen (eds.), Fashionable Encounters. Perspectives and Trends in Textile and Dress in the Early Modern Nordic World (Oxbow Books, 2014).

THE POWER TO DEFINE – THE POWER TO TRANSFORM
Cinchona as a means of strengthening Dutch colonial relations and creating an exclusive global pharmaceutical network (1890s-1940s)
Toine Pieters, Freudenthal Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, Section History and Philosophy of the Sciences (Descartes Centre), Utrecht University
This paper follows part of the historical trajectory of the production and distribution of the febrifuge cinchona tree (Cinchona officinalis Lin.) and its most powerful and therapeutically applied alkaloid—quinine, an antimalarial medicine. Between roughly the 1890s and 1940s, coined the Dutch Golden Alkaloid Age, scientists, planters, traders, industrialists and state officials in the Netherlands and the former Dutch colony of the Netherlands Indies cooperated in the establishment of a profitable and exploitable Dutch dominated transoceanic cinchona-quinine enterprise. The acculturated highly productive ‘Dutch’ cinchona bark and the industrial pure white quinine powder became symbols of Dutch ingenuity and technological power and strength. The ‘exotic’ objects cinchona and quinine became household names both in Netherlands and its colonies to fight malaria that was endemic in both parts of the world. The Dutch came to play a dominant role in the first global pharmaceutical cartel that controlled the industrial production and distribution of the antimalarial medicine quinine. The cartel capitalised on the international public health campaign in the fight against malaria. At the same time the cartel played a key role in hampering the transoceanic circulation of knowledge. The latter would in the post-colonial period undermine efforts by the independent Republic of Indonesia to play a prominent role in the cinchona production and trade networks.
Biography
Toine Pieters is head of the Freudenthal Institute and professor in the history of Pharmacy and Allied Sciences at Utrecht University. He has published extensively on the history of pharmacy, colonial history, digital humanities, and addiction research. He is project leader and research coordinator of multiple projects in the fields of digital humanities and the history of medicine.
Foreign objects on Nias – and local ones too.
Bente Wolff, National Museum of Denmark
South Nias Island in Indonesia came under effective Dutch colonization in the early twentieth century. Long before that, the social and political life in the highly stratified

village societies had been depending on import wealth. The highest chiefs and nobles constituted a link between the local and the foreign world, as they controlled the flow of import and export wealth; slaves and foodstuff were exchanged for import gold. The double role of the chief as being associated with both local ancestral tradition and the foreign world was given prominent symbolic expression in his dress and house. The relationship between foreign and local was also a predominant theme in local myths.
Through a comparison between the conspicuous use of local and foreign objects, the paper discusses the use and symbolic meaning of import objects in South Nias during colonial time. References will also be made to pre-colonial and more recent forms of conspicuous consumption.
Biography
Bente Wolff is an anthropologist, working as curator and researcher at the National Museum of Denmark. Her PhD-thesis was based on fieldwork in a tourism area of South Nias, focusing on local, modern notions of local and foreign, self and other. Central in the analysis was the interrelatedness between identity, consumption and exchange, myth, history and politics in Nias. Previously she has worked on similar issues in Melanesia. Presently she is coordinating the Serampore Initiative of the National Museum (2011-2017). The Initiative includes restoration of Indo-Danish heritage buildings in Serampore (West Bengal), as well as research and popular dissemination about Serampore’s past and present.

My Article on costumesociety.org.uk - The British Nabobs in India

2016-05-11T07:45:00.000+01:00

Dear All,

A Happy news is that I am one of the ambassadors of the Costume Society of UK this year - 2016-17.
I will be writing one blog article every month. The article for March was based on the British Nabobs in India.

This article was a result of extra information that I had amassed as a result of my research on 'The influence of British Rule on Elite Indian menswear: The Birth of the sherwani.' I gathered that there were some British men living in India just like the nabobs. William Dalrymple writes about these nabobs (Nawabs) in his book titled - 'The White Mughals'.

You can read my article on this site - http://costumesociety.org.uk/blog/post/the-british-nabobs-in-india or click - Here

Captain John Foote - East India Company Period

List of my publications

2015-11-27T03:44:00.000+00:00

Dear All,

I have decided to put a list of my publications on the blog for easy access. Now that my research work is almost coming to an end, I will become more active on the blog.

“The Impact of British rule on the dressing sensibilities of Indian Aristocrats, A Case Study of Maharaja of Baroda’s dress” , in Global Textile Encounters, by CTR (Centre for Textile Research), University of Copenhagen, Denmark. 2014.
A book on ‘Hand knitting for Design Students’ Publisher ‘Studium Press’ Delhi, India. 2014.
Book Review on ‘India – Economy, Politics and society’, published in The Kelvin Grove Review , issue 11, May – June 2013 - http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_279243_en.pdf
‘The effect of British Raj on Indian Costume’ online - http://process.arts.ac.uk/content/effect-british-raj-indian-costume
Textile Crafts and their contribution in Indian Fashion online - http://www.academia.edu/2133459/Textile_Crafts_and_their_contribution_in_Indian_Fashion
“Ayurvastra” in “Textile Review”, Vol. III, Issue 12, December 2008
“Category Watch - Home Furnishing”, in “Images Business of fashion”, Vol. VII, No. 1, Jan' 06
“No Child play this” (Strategy to get into kidswear), “Images Business of fashion”, Vol. VI, no. IX, Sep' 05
“Lingere”, Images Business of fashion, July' 05
Book – ‘Hand Knitting for Design Students’, published online – at http://costumetextileandfashion.blogspot.com
National Social Labelling Initiatives, a necessity for Ethical Fashion - http://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/40/3944/national-social1.asp published on 6th April 2012 online.
Ajrakh Printing http://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/40/3974/ajrakh-printing1.asp
Lotus in Textiles : The motif and the meaning - http://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/41/4085/lotus-in-textiles1.asp

Hand Knitting for Design Students - My first book

2014-09-24T05:26:00.000+01:00

Dear All,

After all the knitting posts that I have published, and some knitting samples for beginners, I decided to publish a handbook for all those interested in knitting. Students of NIFT and other design institutes, as well as those who want to learn knitting can make use of the book.

I have tried to go step by step into the process of knitting. Other than that the focus is also on understanding the technique and I have tried to trace its history and origins, especially its entry into India. I have made all the samples (other than the historic ones ofcourse) shown in the book and thus I know it is so easy to knit and explore various options.

Since the book is for students and not a coffee table book, it is not expensive. It is a low budget book.

The image on the front cover is sketched by Sr. Prof. Banhi Jha of NIFT New Delhi, who was very kind to do it for me.

Hand Knitiing for Design Students - 2014

COST OF THE BOOK - INR (Rs.) 399/- including postage to major cities in India.

Outside India, the cost is £5.00 and the postage will be on actuals.

All those who wish to buy the book can write to me, It will soon be available on Amazon too.

Hope you enjoy reading it.

Influence of World War I (1914-1918) on Fashion

2014-03-08T01:57:00.002+00:00

Dear Students,

We have already discussed in class the influences of World War I on fashion. I will be writing the salient points here so that you can go through these before your exams. It might also benefit other NIFT students and any other students or fashion history enthusiasts.

To begin with - First world war also know as the “GREAT WAR” lasted from 1914 -1918.

The assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro- Hungarian throne provided the spark for the war.

POLITICAL SENARIO- Major European powers confronted each other. Germany feared encirclement by hostile powers whereas other nations feared German domination of Europe.

Division of Europe –

TRIPLE ALLIANCE- Austria-hungry, Germany and Italy

TRIPLE ENTENTE- Russia, Britain and France

Before the war, if you remember the clothes were rather extravagant, but the war put an end to this extravagance. One way of looking at it is that -

Women were now freed from the norms of the couturier and were free to design their wardrobes.
The recruitment of women for war - in factories and for nursing etc., spurred new demands in fashion.
The middle class women replaced their absent husbands and relatives in trade and industry.
Society life was almost suspended (more of mourning took over). Gone were the days of luxury and fancy tea parties.

This was a whole new beginning for women. This was a strong reason for women to change what they wore and more importantly to change the idea of what clothing should be. It became more practical and less fussy. The middle class influence became weaker, and thus the recently gone by 'Edwardian Era' suddenly became a bygone age, a time to remember fondly but not to embrace. The role of women in societies increased.

Changes in Women's fashion:

Women discarded elaborate ornate toilettes for simpler styles
Shortening of skirts for easy movement and practicality.
Adoption of silk stockings as a symbol of luxury.
low cut shoes
Simpler undergarments - A new garment called brassier was introduced and gone were the elaborate corsets. An undergarment called 'Cami-knickers' became popular as skirts grew shorter.
Simpler hats and hairstyles.
Designers - Paul Poiret and Fortuny (read up more)

Changes in Women's wear as a result of World War I

Tailored suits - distinctively military look for women became popular

Changes in Men's Fashion:

Menswear had been more or less stabilised since the beginning of 19th Century.
The three piece suit dominated with more practical cuts, the uniforms played a very important role in designing the fashion for later years.
Men preferred the clean-shaven look as maintaining beards and moustaches were not easy while war. This lead to the smart, clean and suave military image of men, which continued in the post war years.
Knickers were now being worn, with neutral coloured stockings, held up with garters.
Jodhpurs were used for riding. This was the influence of the British colony in India. It is a very good example of cross culture influence.
Trench coats was a mjor influence - began to be used as raincoats after the war.
Chesterfield coats became popular for outer wear.
Sweaters that were issued to soldiers later became popular, turtle neck sweaters became rather fashionable.

Men's clothing - Army costume during world war - I

Trench coats became fashionable during the first world war

Children's Fashion

Till the Edwardian age, children dressed up as mini adults. Now they were almost fining their own identity. Their clothing became simpler and less cumbersome.

Their clothing became more practical, girls wore smart skirts in plaids and checks and boys were seen wearing the sailor collared dresses, coats etc.

I recommend watching - The Sound of Music!! Enjoy!!

Children's clothing during the first world war.

Lady Curzon's dresses at The Fashion Museum of Bath

2013-11-20T11:15:00.000+00:00

Dear All,

Thanks to KG Ponting bursary, I got an opportunity to study Lady Curzon's dresses at The fashion Museum of Bath, that were designed by House of Worth in Paris, and worn by the lady In India, when she came here as the Vicerene.

As my Phd study revolves around the study of 19th - 20th century Indian fashion, the influences of the British Raj, this was really exciting for me.

I would love to share some photographs that I have taken at the museum, which made me realise how much emphasis was there on fusion even then. Lady Curzon, stood to the Parisian styles in couture, but loved the Indian embroidery. Here are some examples for the fashion students.

BATMC 1.05.1 Courtesy of The Fashion Museum Bath and The
North East Somerset Council

The above picture shows a blouse that she wore with a skirt and train of similar embroidery.

The above dress displayed at an exhibition at the Yale Center for British Arts in USA

It was an amazing opportunity to have first-hand experience of Lady Curzon’s dresses. The topic of my research is ‘The influence of British Rule on Indian Fashion.’ I am particularly studying the time period of late 19^th to early 20^th Centuries. Lady Curzon was a very important figure in the fashion circles of India when she was there as the vicerene. I have been able to study each of the 15 dresses in detail and they tell a lot about her fashion preferences. Her clothes are very European to begin with and slowly we see the Indian influence in her garments in terms of surface design / embroidery. This study also goes to show how living in India influenced the fabric choices of the West, for example, the inclusion of Indian embroidery in Lady Curzons dresses at a later stage show the mark that India had on her fashion choices.

There is a lot of use of Off white silk, with metal (gold) embroidery, zardozi, for example in the picture below :

Indian embroidery on Lady Curzon's Skirt (1900 early date) BATMC 1.19.102, Picture Courtesy The Fashion Museum Bath and The North East Somerset Council.

A detail of the embroidery....

Detail of the Indian embroidery on Lady Curzon's Skirt (1900 early date) BATMC 1.19.102, Picture Courtesy The Fashion Museum Bath and The North East Somerset Council.

There are many other photographs, but I keep them for later.

Academic Poster on - Influence of British Raj on Indian Fashion

2013-03-14T14:55:00.000+00:00

Dear All,

On the 12th of March 2013, in the open day of 'Textile Conservation Centre', I presented the following poster. It is in fact a summary of whatever I have worked on till now. There was also a three minute thesis competition. It was really good fun.

Let me take you 400 years ago to India via this platform today. The year is 1613 and India, under Mughal Rule, is a rich country. It welcomes the tradesmen from Europe, The Dutch, The Danes, The French, The Portuguese, The Spaniards and ofcourse the British; each one vying with the other for trading in spices and textiles.

They are all friends and foreigners, partners in business. Indians look at their multi-layered costumes in awe, but never think of dressing up like them. The Fashion in India is ruled by the Mughal court.

Now let us fast forward 200 years to 1813. What do we behold? A country that is currently the biggest textile exporter to the world, in the state of Anarchy, the Mughals are no longer as strong and the country is divided into small princely states with various rajahs and nawabs as rulers and wisely Sir Robert Clive has established the rule of East India Company in many Indian State. Finally in 1878, Queen Victoria becomes the empress of India and India comes directly under the British Rule.

Thus the chapter of Mughal rule ends and a new chapter of British Raj begins,(Raj meaning rule in Hindi) bringing about major changes in 19^th century Indian fashion. As much as the British might admire Indian Textiles, the British in India looked to the West for their fashion choices. As more and more men poured in from Britain, in various capacities, more and more women followed them bringing with them the latest fashions of the West. As transport became faster and printing cheaper, fashion magazines found their way to India. As a result of Industrial revolution, cheap and good quality mill made fabrics imported from Britain became easily available.

My Study investigates this influence of politics on fashion. Some changes are voluntary while some are thrust upon. The voluntary changes are in the upper strata of society – The Indian Aristocrats now wear hats and coats and smoke the pipe, use the fork and knife. The Indian women learn to wear the blouse and the petticoats with their sarees creating the Indo-western fusions. The blouses reflect the fashions of bodices worn as a part of day dresses by the White women. The changes are thrust upon as uniforms – The Army uniforms, uniforms for bearers and of course for schools, instilling in them the change while young.

Indian fashion has been never been studied as fashion but merely as costume frozen in time, which may be partly true, but definitely is far from being the absolute truth. My study is based on Visual, literary and object based evidences as well as the terminology and etymology of words and export import registers. I am out to unravel the little known facts about clothes that merrily pass off as Indian whereas in fact they originated in the west and were brought to India – all as a result of 200 years of British Rule.

The Pictures in my poster are credited to :
1. York Museum Trust
2. University of Glasgow Archives
3. V&A
4. British Library

Purvaai Textile Design Competition 2013 - NATURALLY YOURS

2013-02-12T10:13:00.002+00:00

Dear All,

After the resounding response to its first ever Textile Design Competition last year, Purvaai is pleased to announce the competition once again for the year 2013.

Purvaai, is an endeavour of three young women to create excellent home essentials for the discerning customer. Having been associated with them throughout their first Textile Design Competition last year, and again this year, as a consultant and adviser, I feel proud to say that they are genuinely hard working and extremely committed.

The competition is open to UK-based art and design students and recent graduates, It is a wonderful way of helping talented young designers burst onto the scene, to get them noticed by industry and the media and give them a great head start in their careers. The recognition is immense, since the selected entries are actually put into production and the budding designers are given due credit.

The last year's award ceremony pictures can be seen here.

This year the theme of the competition is ‘Naturally Yours’ deriving inspiration from nature in all its abundance for colours, motifs, patterns and fibres. With this theme we also hope to provide design students with an impetus to focus their creative energies on ethical and sustainable fashion which not only draws inspiration from Nature, but also helps nurture it.

‘Emerald Green’ is Pantone’s colour of 2013. Green reflects nature and nature reflects diversity. Nature knows no boundaries; there can be a microcosm in a dew drop and there is a universe in our seas. A garden with its flowers, beetles, birds and trees belongs to tended nature, whereas the forests that are teeming with amazing flora and fauna showcase the wild, untamed side of nature. Marine life is vivid with colours and textures of corals, fish, plants and other aquamarine life. The molten lava settled as beautifully coloured igneous rocks, giving us precious and semi-precious stones are all part of this wonderful element of nature.

Apart from providing us with immense inspiration, nature has also provided us with fabulous fibres such as linen, cotton, silk, wool and natural dyes like madder and indigo to with which to colour them.

Designers are being offered the chance to take their pick from colours, textures, patterns and forms that nature has to offer and to design a range of soft furnishings / personal accessories. This is an opportunity for them to present their take on the theme by unleashing their own natural powers of creativity.

Registration for the competition will open February 15th, 2013.

For more details of the competition, registry etc., visit the NEWS and EVENTS section of www.purvaai.co.uk

I wish everyone ALL THE VERY BEST. Hope to see some wonderful designs soon.

Probable influence of Roman Empire on the Indian Sari

2013-02-03T17:17:00.002+00:00

Dear All,

I wish to declare that this is based on my research, anyone who thinks it is otherwise may please feel free to contact me and discuss the same.
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Between 321 BC and 850 AD India was one of the world’s great civilizations. Parallel to the Roman Empire in the west and the Chinese Empire in the East, Chandragupta Maurya founded the first large empire in India (including the present day Pakistan and Afghanistan). Trade links to the east and west were already established. Textile and spices were among the most prominent trade items from India.

Probably owing to the climatic conditions, the Indians did not feel the need of cut and stitched garments. Cotton was first grown and used in India. Indians had mastered the art of embellishing the cloth. They used gold and silver in their clothes. The Ancient Indian costumes belonging to the Vedic and post-vedic period (1500 BCE to 350BCE) generally consisted of three articles of clothing for men and women alike. These were not cut and sewn garments, but rectangular pieces of beautiful textiles. There was the Antariya, which was like a loin cloth. The ways and variety of draping it were many. It could be worn simply wrapped around with pleats in front. It could be taken in between the legs in kaccha style, or could have the loose end pleated like a fan. The fabric ranged from sheer to thick depending on the person wearing it. Sculptures of the periods show varying lengths of the antariya, ending as high as modern day hot pants, or as low as the ankles.

Maurya Sunga Period - from Roshan Alkazi

The other rectangular piece of cloth was the uttariya – which was like a mantle. It covered the upper part of the body. The Uttariya could be worn across the back, resting on shoulders and left to fall freely on the forearms. Sometimes women took two uttariyas, one draped beautifully on the head, and the other across the arms. All this while there was no covering on the breasts.

Yet another piece of clothing was kayabandh, which was like a belt to hold the Antariya in place. The kayabandh could also be tied in various styles, it could be taken around the body two or three times, and tied with different kinds of knots. The sculptures reveal that Atariya was always tied below the navel, emphasizing the curves of the female form. Both men and women wore ample jewellery, and adorned themselves with flowers.

During the Mauryan period, the basic articles of clothing remained the same. “Chandragupta Maurya, who founded the Maurya dynasty in 320 BC, himself married a princess from the Greek Selucid court and was in close touch with his Greek neighbors, so that court life had about it a strong exotic flavor with its foreign inmates wearing their own costume,” Alkazi, 2006. The Indians had trade links with Romans, ‘Instead of linen and wool, women preferred lighter, softer materials, cotton stuffs from India and, most of all, silks, which reached Rome by the land routes of the Empire or through Indian and, later, Egyptian traders.’, Boucher 1998.

Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador at the Mauryan court, writes in “Indika” about the riches of the Mauryan court and the prevailing styles of dress. It is around this period that we begin to see the changes in the indigenous costume of the people of Indian subcontinent. We see a strong Greeco-Roman flavor in the costumes.

Maurya Sunga Period - Roshan Alkazi

Though most of the women are shown bare-chested in the sculptures, and so are men, the literature of the period reveals that married women wore a breast band, to cover their breasts. It was known as stanmasuka or Pratidhi, which is similar to the mammillare worn by the Roman women. We come across another term for Antariya known as nivi or nivi-bandha. “There is no reference to wearing of the lower garment in the style of a modern saree.”Brij Bhushan 1958. Although we come across some sculptures wearing a saree like garment, but mostly there were two separate garments. In many parts of India we still have a two piece sari.

“The sari with its endless variety in texture and in colour, in layout and in decoration, is the prominent female costume of India.” Bhattacharyya 1995. Sari is regarded as the traditional costume for Indian women. When did saree come to be as it is today is debated by many scholars. Some believe that existed from the Aryan times, “female households wore a kanchuka (tunic) and a sari. The dhotis were worn in different styles and individual creativity was reflected in various forms of sari draping around the body.” Vinay Bahl

If you look at the clothes of a Roman woman during the time of Roman empire - you see something more of a sari as worn later in India.The saree as we see today has a main body and a rectangular area towards the end which hangs lose from the shoulder, incidentally this is known as the palla.

Roman Matron wearing a Palla

Sari as worn today - a single piece of Fabric

We come across the term palla while studying Roman costume, whereas this term finds no mention in ancient Indian costume. A few historians believe that the modern saree was a result of the Roman influence. The indigenous antarya and uttariya were combined together along with the palla to give rise to the saree as we see today, which we regard as the traditional costume of India.

A rectangular piece of fabric varying from 5 to 9 meters in length and almost 1.5 meters in width, with a plain or decorated body and a decorated end piece known as the palla or anchal , is the quintessential garment of the Indian woman, known as the saree. From Kashmir to Kanya Kumari, it is the saree which binds the Indian woman, the style of drapery varies from one state to another, and so do the motifs and styles of weaving.

The Choli which is like a fitted blouse came as an addition during the Gupta period (early 4^th Century). The Choli probably came to be because of primarily two reasons, one of them was modesty, the other was the influence of cultures from the west. “The evolution from unstitched to stitched garment has an inescapable logic when it evolves for purely functional purposes. In case of Germanic races, it was protection from the cold, and in India, it served the purpose of modesty”, Alkazi 2006.

Bibliography:

· Watson Francis, A Concise history of India, Thames and Hudson,1979,

· Alkazi Roshen, Ancient Indian Costume –Art Heritage, New Delhi 2006

· Vinay Bahl, “Shifting Boundaries of “Nativity” and “Modernity” in South Asian Women’s Clothes”, Dialectical Anthropology Volume 1 / 1975 - Volume 35 / 2011

· Tarlo Emma, “ Clothing Matters: Dress and Identity in India”, Chicago University Press, 1996.

· Boucher Francois, A History of Costume in the West – Thames and Hudson 1998

· Bhattacharyya A.K., A Pageant of Indian Culture, (Art and Archaeology) Vol. I , Abhinav Publications, 1995

· Brij Bhushan Jamila, Costume and Textiles of India, Taraporevala’s Treasure House of Books Bombay, 1958

Hollywood Costume - Exhibition at the V&A

2012-11-24T16:11:00.000+00:00

Dear All,

Recently I was at the V&A (Victoria and Albert ) Museum, and got a chance to be a part of the audience of this wonderful exhibition – “Hollywood Costumes”. The exhibition is on till the 27^th of January 2013.

This image is used as the poster for the exhibition - it is Dorothy Gale 's costume from 'The Wizard of Oz' 1939

This exhibition brings together the world of costumes for cinema as never before. It is the most amazing exhibition to say the least. The aura was Hollywood style and the costumes looked more real than they were. The entire experience was surreal, you felt like a part of Hollywood. For costume and textile researchers like me it was like a place of worship, from Charlie chaplain to pirates of the Caribbean, the importance of costume was so beautifully exhibited.

Kate Winslet's costume from 'The Titanic'

The entire exhibition was split into three parts or rather three rooms and were named as Act I - Deconstruction, Act II – Dialogue and Act III – Finale. There were many flat screens, with write-ups, cinema clip shots, or Images. The costumes were displayed on mannequins, apt for them with the mention of cinema and Costume designers.

It was a wonder to see the costumes of Cleopatra and Scarlet-o-Hara, mama mia, harry potter, batman and avatar. There were in Act - II, the recorded interviews of costume designers and film actors and directors which added the angle of knowledge, much appreciated. Fashion is not frivolous it is serious business and so is Costume design for cinema.

Sharon stone, Meryl Streep, Leonardo di Caprio and Johny Depp even Greta Garbo seemed to come to life in their classic roles. Robert di Niro in his various avatars was also present .

The concept, clarity and the zeal of the exhibitors came through brilliantly. It truly was a remarkable exhibition. It is a must see exhibition for everyone. A very strong recommendation.

Pictures have been taken from here.

PURE LONDON August 2012– The buyer seller meet for Spring/Summer 13

2012-10-30T09:59:00.003+00:00

PURE LONDON August 2012– The buyer seller meet for Spring/Summer 13

“Pure London”, which aptly calls itself UK’s favourite buying destination, was held in London’s Kensington Olympia from 19^th to 21^st August 2012. Three days of pure activity for the next season – S/S 13. Spread over two floors were more than one thousand displays of womenswear, kidswear, young fashion, accessories and footwear along with enough seating capacity and refreshments at sale, PURE LONDON was a mega event for the buyers, retailers, manufacturers, designers, trend forecasters and followers. All in all it was a very successful event for the Fashion Industry.

There were two sections launched this season – PURE BODY and PURE JUNIOR. As the names suggest, PURE BODY showcased some of the most well renowned names in Lingerie, Swimwear and Shapewear. This was located on the upper floor of the hall and was given its own section. One could see best use of the knitted fabric and stretch fabric being done here. PURE JUNIOR showcased the latest in kidswear or Children’s wear and was placed near the Spirit Young Fashion Collection. ACCESSORIES and FOOTWEAR dominated most of the upper floor. Accesoories included bags, belts, hats and scarves. The famous British Designer Zandra Rhodes launched her new collection of Bags during the show.

Print Scarves were the highlight of the show and a variety of these were there on display. Companies from all over Europe came to display the accessories that are the highlight of the UK fashion scene.

Womenswear section was carefully planned and divided into PREMIUM, DIRECTIONAL, BOUTIQUE and STUDIO. Along with this there were Fashion Shows and Seminars happening all through the thee days on Better Buying. Better Business and Retail Insight. With WGS, FAB (Fashion Association of Britain) and Drapers as supporters for the Show there was a lot of emphasis on trend forecasting for buyers and retailers.

Womenwear companies from UK, all over Europe, America and also India were present. There were the established brands like ESPRIT, BOLONGARO TREVOR, Adventures des toiles, Frau Blau along with the younger and brand new ones like Lily and me, Eka and Bombay High who were from India and were showcasing for the first time at Pure. Fashion Forward trends visited the event to record it. As recession is not over yet, we wanted to see the pulse of the market and thus conducted a few interviews to find out the same.

I started with Esprit which is an established brand by itself and was informed that Esprit as usual has done very well this season. The old buyers placed the usual orders and Pure helped them to get some new ones too. Their best-selling item this season were ‘The sophisticated dresses’. They were also very excited about the new denim division that they had launched. ‘The emphasis was on affordable denim primarily for the younger generation’ said Magda Beigaj, who was manning the Esprit stall, which was available in most of the brilliant Olympic season like colours for S/S 13. There was printed denim too which looked amazing. Along with lowers they were alos doing T-Shirts and other tops to ge with their Denim Range. It was altogether a much focussed collection and had received brilliant response during PURE.

Esprit seemed to be doing some good business inspite of recession.

Lucy, who handles the ecommerce for Bolongaro Trevor, mentioned that Pure had attracted many buyers as they had desired. Bolongaro Trevor caters to both men and women. Their collection for S/S 13 was an amazing array of Leather jackets for both sexes, women’s dresses with an edgy twist and T-shirts and the like. It caters to a higher price paying market age range from 18 to 35. Their best-selling item were the lace dresses that they designed inhouse, Design, she said, was their biggest strength. Their prints are based on vintage finds and they cater to a different taste group. Each panel for jackets and dresses was individually created with very intricate detailing. They had done well at PURE. Stockists who bought from them in the past did so even now. Since they have their own outlets in London stockists from North England, Europe and America were regulars with them.

Their lace dresses were very much in demand apart from their leather jackets. Incidentally the new iconic British Label, BOLONGARO TREVOR was worn by the rock band ‘THE WHO’ who performed at the closing ceremony of OLYPIC GAMES 2012 at London. Personally, I loved how they had done up their stall at the event. It was a reflection of their identity, really pains were taken tobring that out and it was much appreciated.

Amelia Haywood who started a new line ‘Lily & Me’ was also happy with the response she received at PURE. She informed us that they had branched out of the earlier established ‘AMARI’ by Polly Webb. Both Amelia and Polly Webb very very positive about the responses that they had received from PURE and said that apart from the regular buyers they had some new Buyers this season. They mostly cater to independent boutiques. Their collection reflected the spirit of a more mature woman, whatever be her age. Below the knee dresses with lovely prints had cap sleeves were the highlight.

Figure 2 Polly Webb from AMARI and Amelia Haywood from Lily & me

The dresses were for casual daywear, targeted women between 25 to 60 or even 65 and above, very well designed with a sure commercial success as per S/S 13 forecast. The prints, style and cuts were very feminine and reflected the choice of independent women. The cuts and styles looked very comfortable for the modern woman. It was for a niche market and both the women were very positive about their success at PURE.

The Indian Label EKA, was exhibiting in PURE for the first time. It is a new label although the parent company has been in business for a long time. This label follows the Ethical Fashion Philosophy. They make handcrafted clothes with hand woven and hand block printed textiles. It was a proud moment to see the Indian Crafts doing well abroad. Their resources came from the smaller craft cluster belt of eastern and western India.

A soothing sight of hand-block printed, natural dyed fabrics, cut or made out into Indian tunics, bags, scarves made out of indigenous material – 100 and 200 count Khadi brought back the memory of India in the Fashion galore of Europe. Rina Singh from Eka was happy discussing her label with us and informed that the response has been quite interesting so far. She said that that since they catered to a niche market here and it was their first time, she did not naturally expect an overwhelming response. Their Label is sold in India through Oogan, Ensemble, Cinnamon and similar outlets.

‘Bombay High’, another Indian brand which was showcasing here for the first time was not very happy with the response so far. They felt that Indian trade shows were a better platform as they realised that people here follow strict trend forecast rules.

The buyers at the show were keen to attend the Fashion Show and trend forecasting seminars so that they get to stock the right material for the coming season. They had to make big choices and the choices had to be right. Lorna Hall, senior retail analyst at WGSN, was the speaker for the trend forecast S/S 13. She highlighted the major trends in terms of colour, look, style and cuts that will prevail for the next season. We could see that Fashion Forward’s Trend Forecast for S/S 13 was proven accurate and correct while taking a look at the WGSN’s S/S 13 forecast.

Buyers felt that they could have bought more had the pending recession not haunt them so much. We met buyers from independent boutiques from Glasgow in the north to Brighton in the south.

Everyone bid goodbye finally as the time was up and planning now for the next PURE season to happen in Feb 2013.

Ploughboy Organics at London Textile Fair

2012-07-20T12:56:00.002+01:00

Dear All,

The visit to London Textile fair on the 18th was indeed enlightening. As last time, it was really informative and gave a good idea of textiles and accessories as per the upcoming trends. These days LTF is hot on the fashion trail with print studios and trend forecasts along with textiles.

But the most amazing thing this time around was the new company from North Carolina - Plougboy Organics.

I had read before arriving at the fair that, ‘RALEIGH, North Carolina (July 04, 2012) - Company Founder and Chairman, Suzanne De Vall, will personally attend the London Textile Fair on July 18th and 19th, 2012 to premier her breakthrough discovery which transforms the tobacco plant into a renewable resource — pertaining specifically to dyes and fibers for use in the apparel and home goods industries.

This patent pending technology has significance because it allows organic, non- toxic dying to be done on a large scale commercial level. Moreover, Ms. De Vall’s innovation utilizes specialized equipment that requires a fraction of the water used by conventional dyes and leaves virtually no toxic waste by products in the environment. This process offers the marketplace a completely organic and natural dye that is comparatively low in cost with respect to many organic dying methods available today. It also eliminates the need to purify toxic water expelled by conventional dye processes.

A life long advocate of organic textiles, Ms. De Vall has been able to create a palette of over 30 exquisite colors in a wide variety of hues.

Ploughboy Organics seeks to establish a profitable global business through the reinvention of tobacco as a sustainable organic dye and fiber. Through her own research, Ms. De Vall determined that the tobacco plant could be utilized not only as a dye , but also a fiber that can be blended with most yarns such as cotton, wool, silk and cashmere to name a few.

The company’s goal is to produce low cost organic dyes and fiber for the global marketplace utilizing raw materials that are free from chemical agents and pesticides — which negatively impact our environment. An overriding philosophy for the organization is the commitment to sustainable agricultural practices and responsible manufacturing processes from the field to the finished product.’

It was amazing to read about and thus it was important to find out more. I met Mr. Steve Jenson – The Fashion Director at Ploughboy Organics, Mr. Steve Bender – The President / CEO of the company, and Ms. Elizabeth J. Hardy at the stall. I was at once taken in by the shade card that was displayed as I thought that tobacco could produce various shades of brown, but the shade card kept on Display, (as you can see in the image attached) had various hues – white, off-white, rust, green, gold and the like apart from various shades of terracotta, all beautifully named after rocks and metals and other natural elements. They call their dyes – ‘AVANI – Dyes of the Earth’ and the fibers ‘Onatah Fibers’.

I had a good discussion with Mr. Steve Jenson, which is being published in Apparelonline soon for you to read. More information can be found at www.ploughboyorganics.com or at www.thelondontextilefair.com

Colour and Print Trends for Autumn / Winter 13/14

2012-06-15T18:21:00.004+01:00

Dear All,

Every year and every season designers look for inspiration in the likely and / or most unlikely places. There is an ever growing need to identify and create demands for new products by researching the existing; similarly in this globalized world there is an ever increasing need to predict the future trends. Here are some great trends that are sure to rule in the Fall / Winter collections of 13-14. These are great inspirations for all designers -

COLOUR TRENDS FOR F/W 13/14:

Beautiful rustic colours with excellent surface suggestions are sure to be picked up by the discerning designers. The source for all these pictures is weconnectfashion.com

Another one that I really liked is the 'tonal blues'

Some great surface and print suggestions are as follows:

Out of the Menswear trends for F/W 13/14 I really like the following:

This one above is truly very inspirational. The picture as well as the colours and fabric suggestions seem to be just right for A/W 13/14. The hue and saturations seem perfect for the season to come.

All the best to all the inspiring designers.

PURVAAI TEXTILE DESIGN COMPETITION

2012-05-28T09:55:00.003+01:00

Dear All,

It was a real pleasure to design and execute the Textile Design Competition for PURVAAI Home Decor.

The competition entailed planning a range of table linen or cushion cover(s) and throw(s), based on the theme “Reminiscing the Raj”.

The days of the British Raj evoke nostalgia for the royalty of yore. Those luxurious palaces and gardens, full of exotic Indian riches and a blending of the Mughal and British styles are full of tangible and intangible memories. The hukka, the purdah, the Kaleen and divan; the pankha bearers and the marble walls with inlaid stones in floral motifs; the silver tea-sets all are reminiscent of the lazy afternoons which were spent reading or writing or merely thinking about the forthcoming polo or cricket matches.

The hunting games on elephant backs with a trail of people all willing to help the sahibs capture their kill and the luxury of a photograph with the beast of the jungle dead at their feet; the inclusion of jungle in the English language and the stories of adventure told over lavish parties, a parade of servants and bearers all waiting upon the sahibs and the mem sahibs and not to miss the baba logs. The beautiful chintz and the Kashmir shawls, the Mughal and Rajput miniature paintings; the carved wooden boxes containing secret letters among other prized possessions, the list is endless. By nature and nurture India was truly ‘a jewel in the crown’ as it was called.

A tennis Party - 100 years ago

The competition was a success. Students from various institutes participated in the competition. The entries were restricted to UK based students and we had entries from Glasgow in the north to Brighton in the south. Each budding designer had interpreted the theme in thier own special way. CONGRATULATIONS!!! are due to all those who participated.

A big THANK YOU to all the judges for spending thier time going through the numerous entries and giving their marks and comments.

An award ceremony has been organised by Purvaai to give students the right platform and right recognition. The details of the ceremony can be found at - http://purvaaihomedecor.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/and-the-award-goes-to/

All those interested to see the student's work and Purvaai's Home Decor collection are invited to the show. For details pl. visit - www.purvaai.co.uk

Lotus in textiles – The motif and the meaning

2012-04-26T13:25:00.000+01:00

Dear All,

I wrote my M.Sc thesis on the Quintessence of this flower. Here is an exerpt from my work.

Indian textiles, with their excellent execution, vibrant colours and hidden interpretations have lured many a people. Their textures and motifs, whether woven or embroidered have always aroused interest. Among the innumerable motifs, that have been passed on to us, since centuries, there was one which was an emblem of special sanctity, and is still so in many parts of the world: the aquatic plant “Lotus”.

Lotus in its various forms has been adorning Indian textiles, since a very-very long time. But these beautiful flowers have not been merely used for decorative purposes; they have hidden meanings behind them. Somewhere they depict the Cosmos and somewhere else, the beauty of a woman.

Most of the famous Indian textiles like Kantha, Kasuti, Chamba rumals, Picchvais, Gujrat embroidery, as well as woven textiles, like Ikat and Paithani employ the lotus motif as the main motif, full of meaning and significance.

Lotus in Kantha

Man saw in lotus, a reflection of the solar system, and a relationship with the cosmic rhythm. This lovely ‘padma’, seemed to arouse everyone’s interest with its salient features of opening with the arrival of the sun, and closing with its departure. This led to a very logical conclusion, that “lotus was the rest house of the sun.” Therefore in Hinduism it became a symbol of the sun and of creation, as also in Jainism and Buddhism of perfection and purity, because its flowers grow in long stalks, high above the water, while its roots remain in the mud. “With its roots in the mud, its stalk traversing the entire depth of the waters on which it rests its leaves, its flowers open to the light of the heaven, the lotus belongs to this world and to those above and below, to light, earth and water.” This singular property of the lotus makes it a transition symbol. The fact that drops of water, roll off a lotus, like water off a duck’s back, gives this unsoiled flower an added symbolic meaning, it becomes a simile for non-attachment.

Padm, Kamal, Kumud, Pundarika and Pushkar are some of the names with which Lotus has been addressed in India. In Kantha of Bengal, the central mandap with the padma, forms the essence of the universe. The petals of a lotus vary from four to a thousand. The blooming of the petals, of the lotus expresses the opening of the universe. In Ikat fabrics of Orrisa , the eight petalled lotus occurs frequently, where each petal represents, earth, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and ego.

The Paithani of Maharashtra employs lotus in its most naturalized forms, here it is executed in brilliant colours, showing the efficiency of the weaver in executing this beautiful flower. The motifs are similar to those found in Ajanta and hence are more natural looking.

Lotus in paithani

The Kasuti embroidery, which follows the warp and weft of the fabric executes padma in a variety of ways. Here the motifs such as sparrows, swans and deer were used in combination with the lotus.

In Gujrat embroidery too, lotus is the most popular flower. It is used in the centre as the manifestation of the universe. It is also used as the seat of Gods and Goddesses. In North India, the Chamba rumals and Phulkari have also used lotus motifs extensively.

Lotuses have also dominated the carpet scene. In Tibetan carpets a variety of Lotus motifs can be seen.in a beautiful, religious Tibetan carpet, lotus is depicted in all its three stages – the bud, the semi-open flower and the lotus blossom. There are others that depict lotus in a mandal form.

Pallu of Sambalpuri Ikat with a row of Lotus flowers

The national Flower of India, rich in symbolism, and perfect in beauty, lotus is still used today, as it was many years ago.

My Knitted Lap-Top Cover -" Sony-Vaio Cozy"

2012-04-20T09:53:00.000+01:00

Dear All,

To Keep my SonyVaio all safe and cozy this season, I've knitted a chic blue cover for it. I slide the laptop in it and then it is ready to go anywhere without a scratch on its surface. There are no buttons or zippers, just wash-easy acrylic.

Fotr those of you who would like to try it out yourself - here are the pictures and some instructions.

This is the front of the laptop cover with the laptop inside

this is the back of the Laptop Cover with the laptop inside

It was a fun project - really easy to knit. I started knitting from the ribbing at the back (2K 2P), and then a simple stockinette, with 4 lines in white acrylic just to add some interest. This would become the flap at the back, so after about 4 inches I started two cable rows in the center, which continued till the length of the front part of the cover.

Starting with the back flap moving on to the cables in front

Once the back-flap and the front were done, I knitted the back in plain stockinette, ending with rib to go inside the back flap, so the entire piece was knitted as one, and then the sides were stiched. Really an easy and quick project. Fun to knit and really useful!!!

Have fun knitting a lap-top Cozy! If you make one, post a pic and let me know!!

Fashion Trends - The Sporty look for Summer

2012-04-19T10:45:00.001+01:00

Dear All,

With Olympics close at hand in London, the mood is all set for the sporting event. The trend forecasters bring together the mood for the season in thier Mood feature. Fashion Forward trends brings to you its newsletter for the same-

Fashion Forward - The Trends Magazine

2012-04-17T13:10:00.000+01:00

Dear All,

Fashion Forward is an upcoming trend forecast magazine. The team comprises of designers, researchers and acdemicians from India and the UK. The runway reports and trend analysis help in judging future directions in terms of objects of focus, colours, patterns, silhouette trends and a general overall movement in terms of Fashion.

The team offers design consultancies to various organizations. I am just placing one of their newsletters below. But all those wanting to avail of these services can subscribe at - subscribe@fashionforwardtrends.com

Its all about moving forward. I wish you good luck for future.

Home Furnishings

2012-04-11T08:52:00.001+01:00

HOME FURNISHINGS, This Article of mine was published in "Images Business of Fashion " in 2006

When the bed beckons, and the sofas tempt;
When the windows dress to reveal or hide;
When the cushions lure, and covers attract;
Oh! Then the lady of the house beams with pride.

“Home furnishings”, or “soft furnishings”, that we are talking about, is the latest craze in the business of fashion. The urge to beautify everything around us, has led people to become very fashion conscious regarding the interiors of the place they live or work in, or perhaps it is the compensation for our stressful lives that we seek relaxation through color and design in our furnishings. We try to please our visual and tactile senses, by the soft, beautiful fabrics, surrounding us.

As they say, form follows function, the function or the purpose of home furnishings is very well defined. The list includes – Bed Linen comprising of bed sheets, pillow slips(also known as pillow shams), bed skirts (a very European trend), duvet covers, quilts, and cushions; for completing the bedroom story, matching curtains, tie-backs and also mats can be added to the list. This bedroom could be attached to a bathroom making the list even lengthier. Towels and floor mats, shower curtains, matching soap cases, toothbrush holders, soap dispensers, mugs and rugs can make or break the beauty of a bathroom. Water in this room, evokes memories of sea and ocean, shells and fish, hence these are major motifs in the design concepts of bathroom accessories. Bed and Bath themes are also linked together by the designers.

The bedroom that we are talking about could be that of an adult, or a child, or two adults, or two children and therefore the kind of “look” that every bedroom has in a house is different. The appearance of any room has to be in accordance to the psychological and physical needs of its occupants. A visit to Jagdish Stores, Sita Fab, Vadheras, Floor and Furnishings and the like will actually bring out more of your desires to adorn your room with trims, you could have only dreamt of. These specialty stores cater to every taste with highly creative expression.

Priti Srivastav, a textile designer from ‘Window Passions’ feels, “bed sheets aren’t merely utilitarian items, they make style statements while reflecting your personality and moods.” This young designer feels that as people are becoming more cognizant regarding fibers, fabrics, feel, colour and size of bed sheets, pillow slips, quilts, etc., it gives added responsibility to the designers and manufacturers to ensure, quality supply of the same.

Cotton by far, is the most preferred fabric for bed sheets, especially those with a higher thread count. The exporters have a high demand for cotton bed sheets, though some also have demands for silk made ups. Babita Piplani, of PiPlani’s which is a manufacturing unit as well as an Export house of bed spreads, quilts etc., believes a lot in embellishing her made ups with embroidery. She believes in her motto, ‘smooth as silk and durable as spirit.’

These export houses are usually given the designs to work on, or they create their own ranges, from which the buyer gives orders. The stories are built on color and design. For new born children, softened primary colors, are used, where as for slightly grown up children complimentary colour schemes, with cartoon like motifs are more prevalent. There is a variety of prints to choose from. The prints for curtains range from animals, to soft toys, to cartoons and candies; the same is true for rugs, bed sheets, duvet covers and cushions.

Teenagers have different color scheme preferences like pinks and tints and shades of it are preferred by girls, where as blue is preferred by boys. Adults like to go for a variety of colors and motifs, which could range from traditional Indian motifs to modern compositions. Of course the color and design depend on the present day fashion scenario.

A step out of the bedroom leads you to the most happening area, the living room. A multitude of colors and co-ordinates are specially made to cater to people’s physical and psychological needs. Sheer curtains, to let in sun light, heavy lined curtains to block it; embroidered curtains and valences with lace trimmings flaunting luxury and a taste for design, make the room appear beautiful, cozy and welcoming. Curtains can actually uplift the beauty of a room. Most fabrics for sewing curtains are either 54 in. wide, or extra wide, at 110 in. or 118 in. Extra-wide fabrics are usually intended for unlined sheer curtains, and are meant to be "railroaded," or run sideways with the selvage at the top and bottom of the curtains, allowing the curtains to be made without seams.
Curtains with functional features like noise and light reduction are being especially made for exports. The dyes used for these need to be sunlight resistant, as curtains receive direct sunlight, most of the time, and might appear faded pretty soon. They are coordinated to go with the cushions and other furnishings in the room. A lot of traditional Indian weaves and embroideries are being used all over India for the purpose of home furnishings. The traditional Indian embroideries like Kasida from Kashmir, Kantha from Bengal, Chikankari from Uttar Pradesh are hot favorites, when it comes to bed covers and curtains. The tie and die techniques of Rajasthan and Gujrat are also extensively being used for producing interesting bed sheets and quilt covers. Some of these have cheaper versions in print. Most of the home furnishing industry thrives on interesting fabrics, which are handloom products. High Quality silk and cotton are generally used for this purpose. Though traditionally curtains were either made up of heavy jacquards, or luxurious prints, but today, a vast variety of fabrics including embroidered fabrics are being used for it.

The interesting display of colours can also be seen in plain sofas, with striped and spotted cushions, or plush heavy pile carpets with designs ranging from geometricals to florals and abstracts. Complete stories are made which comprise of runners, throws, curtains cushions, rugs, floor and table mats for the dining area. Some times it is an interesting concept, that rather than sorting by room the designers go for a themed approach with areas sorted by mood like femme fatale, eclectic, delicate, timeless and wild! They actually accessorise the home with furnishings, rugs, throws, frames, cushions etc.

Special linen for the kitchen and other soft furnishings for lawn chairs and the like, have also gained tremendous popularity. Tapestries, chenilles, cotton & linen prints, stripes & checks, toiles, crewel work, plains of all kinds including linens, silks, suedes, voiles & muslins and towels, be it for bath or the kitchens all fall under this category and the showrooms for soft furnishings give the customers a plethora of designs to choose from.

Some of the most famous names dealing with soft furnishings in India are Welspun Gujrat (who are also into exports), Handfab, Panipat, Highness Exports, New Delhi, In Vogue Buying, New Delhi, Indian Exporters, Kolkata, Shabari International, Kerala, Cannanore ,Amber Textile, and Reliance Industries.

Apart from that a lot of small players are there in the market to cater to every taste and pocket. For those who do not wish to spend a fortune in decorating their rooms, a variety of good options are available in India’s largest showroom chain - Big Bazaar. Other small showrooms, which are spread all over the country and even the Weavers’ Service Centre Delhi, has interesting fabrics at very reasonable prices, but you need to use your creativity to get the best out of them.

Famous Fashion designers like JJ Valaya have also entered this market segment due to increasing demands in this sector. At the moment, home furnishings segment is the most happening sector in the textile industry. Domestic and export markets are both thriving sectors of home furnishings.

We need to develop more color and design sensitive people to work in this area. For somebody who plans to start a home furnishing unit, whether for exports or for the domestic market, Images BOF has found out that it is advisable to start with just one or two products and then add on to it gradually. Cushion covers and curtains are the hottest selling items. If coordinates are developed using the right colours as predicted in the colour forecast, and ever new designs are created, then there is no reason why a venture is this field will not yield profit. The main thing to remember here is that tastes change very quickly, so the process of designing and creation should continue in order to avoid stagnation, and ensure success.