April surprise! First Chikan Mahotsav at Ghat

THE CITY will soon have a Lucknow-centric fair for a change on Kudiya Ghat. The mahotsav organizers want it to be an interface of big fashion houses, big fashion stores, designers, and export houses with the Lucknow?s chikan artisans, manufacturers, dealers, and retailers.

THE CITY will soon have a Lucknow-centric fair for a change on Kudiya Ghat.
The mahotsav organizers want it to be an interface of big fashion houses, big fashion stores, designers, and export houses with the Lucknow’s chikan artisans, manufacturers, dealers, and retailers.

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If you think that only the ready material will be on display, then just wait and watch. “Actually, there will be more of a live chikankari will be here. Artisans will be working here on the spot for potential patrons to see,” said Abid Ibrahim, a chikan designer and coordinator of the event.

The Royal Family of Awadh, Mehfil-a social and cultural organization and Dara Nawab Educational & Welfare Society are putting the fair together. It is the brainchild of the Dara Nawab Educational & Welfare Society to sell Chikankari outside for its promotion and benefit people engaged in it.

“Our Chikankari is famous all over the world, but we do not market it properly even within the country. People talk about it a lot, but we have not been able to make them go crazy about it and draw them towards it,” said Rubi Nawab, president of the committee that is organising the fair.

“We realized the need of separate Chikan mahotsava as none of the fair and festivals have been able to help promotion of chikan as the focus of those mahotsava is more on festivities,” said Ibrahim.

The organizers have invited those designers who use chikan work in their dresses, like Manish Malhotra, Abu Jani, Parveen Mehra, Hemant Trivedi, Muzaffar Ali, Nisha Beri. “We have also sent some invitations to Japan and Indonesia and these countries buy a lot of Lucknow chikanworks,” said Ibrahim.