Embellished Jamdani: A new way to elevate traditional designs

Adiba Mehnaz, a savvy marketer based in Dhaka, chose a pastel Jamdani for her reception. She always wanted to wear a Jamdani on her special day, but after purchasing the shari, she found the shade a bit lacklustre. 

So she turned to Priyangon Shopping Centre in the city for a transformative touch to her ensemble. She opted for exquisite zardosi embellishments on her shari, and the addition of gota patti (embroidery with small pieces of zari) further elevated its allure. 

While the original Jamdani was priced at Tk17,000, the embellishments cost Adiba approximately Tk9,000. Despite the extra cost, the outcome left her elated with her choice, proving that sometimes thoughtful customisation can turn a dream outfit into a personalised masterpiece.

Jamdani shari is a delicate material, already designed with traditional motifs and patterns. And for the last few years, Bangladeshi brides are increasingly opting for an elegant Jamdani shari as their wedding attire instead of silks like Katan and Benarashi. 

However, the issue with Jamdani is it can be easily copied and there are some common motifs used on most sharis. 

If you happen to know a good karigar or artisan, s/he will be able to make you a copy of a very expensive version. But not all of us would be comfortable with that arrangement. 

So, the brides love to wear jamdanis, but they want it to be a bit unique. How do you make a unique Jamdani when it is already an established craft? 

Nazia Hasan, the owner of Audriana Exclusive, came up with the idea of decking up Jamdani with zardosi.  

Saima Manzur, currently settled in the Netherlands with her husband, wanted to wear Jamdani on her wedding day. 

But instead of a regular jamdani, she wanted something unique, different from what everyone else was wearing. Finally, she chose a nude pink shari with zardosi work on the border and anchal (free end) along with silk tassels sewn at the end from Audriana Exclusive. 

"Jamdani has its own motifs and patterns. We don't want that uniqueness to be interrupted with sparkly zardosi work. So, we trace the Jamdani motifs with golden zari yarn, which only elaborates the existing patterns," Nazia said.

She said that they are careful to add zardosi embroidery to the anchal so that the original look stays intact. 

"Sometimes we add an embroidered panel at the end of the anchal and we attach tassels to add more glam to it, without interrupting the Jamdani motifs. Sometimes we make the blouse in another fabric, for example muslin, dupion or tussar, so we can include elaborate or heavy embroidery in the outfit."  

Jamdanis with higher yarn counts are finer in quality and they have a tendency to get torn with friction. Doing zardosi on such a delicate material is tough and the concern is whether the shari will be able to carry the weight of the extra designs or not. 

That is why for zardosi embroidery, the jamdani needs to have a bit of a body of its own, with lesser yarn count and a bit coarser in nature.  

"If we want to add some heavy work on the border, sometimes we add a false border underneath to give it support, like an anchor to carry the weight. The more the yarn counts, the more delicate the designs," Nazia added.   

According to her, brides nowadays want traditional Jamdani in unique colours as well. "In fact I only get a few clients who want red Jamdani. Most of my clients opt for light coloured ones-  off white, mustard, mauve, purple, nude pink etc." 

There are changes in the traditional Jamdani motifs also. Earlier we used to have geometrical and floral designs. Popular motifs include panna hazar (thousand emeralds), kalka (paisley), butidar (small flowers), fulwar (flowers arranged in straight rows), tesra (diagonal patterns), jhalar (motifs evenly covering the shari), duria (polka dots), charkona (rectangular motifs), naksha, belwari, nayanbahar, toradar, hazartara mayuri, and many others.

"However, nowadays we get many variations in a shari, for example, the borders of the shari may vary in size and motifs, the anchanl is simple while the jomin (body) of the shari is intricately embellished and vice versa, or the pleats have a certain motif while the border and the anchal has some other patterns etc", Nazia shared with us.  

An embellished Jamdani with zardosi work takes a lot of time to finish. And the price depends primarily on the yarn count, and hence the intricacy of the work

"A fine 12-yard Jamdani takes months to weave, sometimes three months. And when we take the shari to the zardosi artisan, it takes a month more. And the price also extends to Tk20,000 to Tk30,000 more", she added.  

Jamdani has a special place in the hearts of Bangladeshis. Upscaling the traditional shari also has its critics. 

"When we first came up with zardosi embroidered Jamdani, people were critical. They were not welcoming, I must say. But I believe Jamdani is so versatile that it can be a part of every woman's wardrobe, of every era and taste. Now, we get so many good responses from our clients, which means people are gradually accepting it," she ended.    

Kaniz Supriya contributed to the article