"Dream, Dream, Dream! Conduct these dreams into thoughts, and then transform them into action."
- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
"Dream, Dream, Dream! Conduct these dreams into thoughts, and then transform them into action."
- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
3 Jun 2017
ACE costume designer Manish Malhotra’s had introduced ornate Punjabi embroidery technique of phulkari in the Autumn-Winter 2013 collection. Now, the collection is on display at the Joan Spain Gallery, Philadelphia Museum of Art (US), in an exhibition titled “Phulkari: The Embroidered Textiles of Punjab from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection".
The exhibition is attracting a lot of eyeballs and earning accolades for Manish Malhotra. Malhotra says that although phulkari is an art from that is very vibrant and playful, it requires an almost monastic sense of discipline. Traditionally, brides were presented with phulkari outfits, each piece carrying a story presented through motifs of flora and fauna which one can claim as a deeply personal ‘limited edition’ product.
He said that each outfit displayed at the exhibition had been embroidered by a single craftsman in order to retain the uniformity in the design. It took three months to complete an ensemble.
Malhotra had recreated some pieces from his 2013 line and improvised in keeping with current trends. The museum's team were highly impressed by his modern take on the native art. They liked the opulence featured in each of his designs wanted to feature them in the exhibit.
Malhotra who is famous for dressing celebrities is also known as a revivalist designer as he had championed the cause of Kashmiri embroidery, Banarasi textiles and Lucknowi chikan karri embroidery done by the women of the Mijwan Welfare Society.
