Goa’s dying Kunbi saree finds fresh lease of life on fashion ramp

The surge in popularity has meant that the Goa government has also begun promoting the saree, pumping in money to launch six handloom training centres.

When Goan fashion designer Verma D’Mello first suggested that she would drape her models in “indigenous tribal wear” at the 2019 Cannes festival, she was met with bemusement, she remembers. Her forte was bridal collections, and this, after all, was one of the world’s biggest stages. D’Mello took the leap nonetheless, and jaws dropped when her models glided down the ramp in costumes made entirely of material indigenous to Goa’s Kunbi and Gauda tribes. That year, she was given the

Handwoven out of cotton yarn and then dyed in the earth, the Kunbi saree was for long ubiquitous with the Kunbis and the Gaudas, two scheduled tribes in Goa.