Beena Kannan | |
---|---|
Occupation | Business |
Known for | Seematti |
Spouse | Kannan |
Children | 3 |
Beena Kannan is an Indian businesswoman, who is the CEO and lead designer of Seematti textiles.
After graduating university, she joined the family textile retailing business Seematti in 1980, working with her father and husband. Seematti was started by her grandfather, the textile king Veeriah Reddiar. [1]
Beena became one of the most noticed wedding silk sari designers in South India. Her unique contribution appears [2] to be her effort to retain the pride of place for saris even in the face of onslaught from Western and North Indian fashions. Beena Kannan attracted attention when the longest ever silk sari created by her (half a km long) entered the Guinness Book of Records and Limca Book of Records in 2007. [3] She has launched her sari designs in UAE (2007) and the United States (2009).
Her rapport with the weaving communities earned for her a "Lifetime Achievement Award" from Coimbatore Erode Weaving community in 2009. In September 2011, Beena Kannan-designed saris walked the "Swarovski Elements 2011" Ramp. [4] [5]
A sari is a women's garment from the Indian subcontinent. It consists of an un-stitched stretch of woven fabric arranged over the body as a robe, with one end attached to the waist, while the other end rests over one shoulder as a stole, sometimes baring a part of the midriff. It may vary from 4.1 to 8.2 metres in length, and 60 to 120 centimetres in breadth, and is a form of ethnic wear in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Pakistan. There are various names and styles of sari manufacture and draping, the most common being the Nivi style. The sari is worn with a fitted bodice also called a choli and a petticoat called ghagra, parkar, or ul-pavadai. It remains fashionable in the Indian subcontinent today.
Clothing in India varies with the different ethnicities, geography, climate, and cultural traditions of the people of each region of India. Historically, clothing has evolved from simple garments like kaupina, langota, achkan, lungi, sari, to perform rituals and dances. In urban areas, western clothing is common and uniformly worn by people of all social levels. India also has a great diversity in terms of weaves, fibers, colors, and the material of clothing. Sometimes, color codes are followed in clothing based on the religion and ritual concerned. The clothing in India also encompasses a wide variety of Indian embroidery, prints, handwork, embellishments, and styles of wearing clothes. A wide mix of Indian traditional clothing and western styles can be seen in India.
Jamdani is a fine muslin textile produced for centuries in South Rupshi of Narayanganj district in Bangladesh on the bank of Shitalakhwa river.
Shamita Shetty is an Indian actress and interior designer. The younger sister of actress Shilpa Shetty, she made her acting with the romantic drama Mohabbatein (2000), which earned her the IIFA Award for Star Debut of the Year – Female. She went on to do films including Bewafaa (2005), Zeher (2005) and Cash (2007).
A Banarasi sari is a sari made in Varanasi, an ancient city which is also called Benares (Banaras). The saris are among the finest saris in India and are known for their gold and silver brocade or zari, fine silk and opulent embroidery. The saris are made of finely woven silk and are decorated with intricate designs, and, because of these engravings, are relatively heavy.
Meera Mehta is a weaver and textile designer, based in Mumbai, India. The textiles she has created have been displayed in museums and galleries around the world. Mehta is best known for her revival of the Paithani sari.
Sabyasachi Mukherjee is an Indian fashion designer, jewellery designer, retailer and couturier from Kolkata, India. Since 1999, he has sold designer merchandise using the label Sabyasachi. Mukherjee is one of the Associate Designer Members of Fashion Design Council of India and the youngest board member of the National Museum of Indian Cinema. He has designed costumes for Bollywood films such as Guzaarish, Baabul, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Raavan, and English Vinglish.
A Sambalpuri sari is a traditional handwoven bandha (ikat) sari wherein the warp and the weft are tie-dyed before weaving. It is produced in the Sambalpur, Bargarh, Balangir, Boudh and Sonepur districts of Odisha, India. The sari is a traditional female garment in the Indian subcontinent consisting of a strip of unstitched cloth ranging from four to nine meters in length that is draped over the body in various styles.
Anamika Khanna is an Indian fashion designer who operates from her studio situated in Kolkata. She has been covered by the Business of Fashion (BOF) for being the Indian designer who has blended traditional Indian textiles and techniques with Western silhouette and tailoring. She is the first Indian designer to have an International label: "Ana mika". Her creations are sold online and offline stores across India and abroad. Before entering the fashion industry, Anamika was a classical dancer and painter.
JJ Valaya is an Indian fashion designer and couturier from New Delhi, India. He founded the House of Valaya, a luxury fashion and lifestyle house in 1992, along with his brother TJ Singh. A founding member of Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) and the first global brand ambassador of Crystal giant Swarovski. He has been designing for over 20 years. As a fine art photographer, he released his first book, Decoded Paradox in 2011. In the same year, he also closed the day one of the Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) winter/festive 2011 where he debuted a fashion collection inspired by photography.
The crafts of India are diverse, rich in history, culture and religion. The craft of each state in India reflect the influence of different empires. Throughout centuries, crafts have been embedded as a culture and tradition within rural communities.
Gajam Anjaiah, an Indian master handloom designer, who is widely recognised in the handloom industry for his innovations and developments of Tie and Dye handloom products along with Telia Rumal technique of weaving based on Ikat tie-dye process. He received Padma Shri from Government of India under Art category in 2013. He is known for his excellence in traditional handloom design works, such as Puttapaka Sarees in Tie and dye skill, that is the traditional art of designing on paper and then transferring it on to cloth. His dedication to the Handloom Industry has kept the Indian tradition of weaving alive, brought livelihood to the weavers and gave exclusive/unique designed handloom products to the people in India.
India is a country with an ancient clothing design tradition, yet an emerging fashion industry. Though a handful of designers existed prior to the 1980s, the late 1980s and the 1990s saw a spurt of growth. This was the result of increasing exposure to global fashion and the economic boom the economic liberalization of the Indian economy in 1990. The following decades firmly established fashion as an industry across India.
Neena Haridas is an Indian journalist and writer. She is the founder-director of Last Leaf Ideas that works towards sustainability and fair practice in the lifestyle and luxury community. She specialises in fashion, beauty, art, lifestyle design and is also known for being a commentator on television. She was until recently Editorial Director of the Indian edition of the French haute couture magazine L'Officiel. She worked as the Editor of the Indian edition of the international beauty and fashion magazine Marie Claire from 2010 to 2013. Before joining TCG Media Limited in 2016 she worked as Editorial Director at Blouin Artinfo in New York. She was also advisor to Marie Claire International.
Ritu Kumar is an Indian fashion designer.
Habaspuri is a cotton-based traditional handloom textiles of Odisha, India. Habaspuri sari is a major product of this textile. The Bhulia weavers of Chicheguda, Kalahandi district, Odisha are originally attributed for weaving of the Habaspuri fabric. For its uniqueness in weaving, design and production, it has been identified as one of the 14 Geographical Indications of Odisha.
Ṛta Kapur Chishti is a sari historian and a textile scholar. She is the co-author and editor of two books namely ‘Saris: Tradition and Beyond’ and 'Handcrafted Indian Textiles: Tradition and Beyond'. Saris of India: Tradition and Beyond, published in 2010 and co-authored by Martand Singh, enumerates a hundred and eight variations of draping the Sari. The book is a comprehensive compendium of different Sari weaving and wearing traditions in India, covering 15 states of India and countless variations of colour, weave and pattern from each state, besides documenting 108 methods of draping a Sari.
Suraiya Hasan Bose was an Indian textile conservator, textile designer, and manufacturer, who worked to preserve traditional Indian textile art and techniques. She worked with the Indian Cottage Industries Emporium, as well as the Indian Handloom and Handicrafts Export Corporation, later establishing her own textile manufacturing unit to create traditional Indian textiles. Her designs have been exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
A sari-inspired dress incorporates attributes of the Indian sari into its design. This includes how it drapes, its embellishment and colours.
Tissue is a thin, transparent, and lightweight material. Tissue fabric is a suitable material for designing various types of garments, including saris. Tissue is characterized by the use of metallic yarns for decorative purposes. The tissue sari is composed of silk threads in the warp and zari in the weft.