FINALLY, THE first-ever Chikan Mahotsava will be held next Sunday with leading models, like Meher Bhasin and Romil Srivastava walking down the ramp for chikan at Scientific Convention Centre. But, this will be only for a day.
Earlier, this festival was to take place in April at Kudia Ghat. But, it got delayed due to some reasons.
The festival is being organised by Dara Nawab Educational & Welfare Society, the Royal Family of Avadh and Mahfil (a socio-cultural organisation).
“Our endeavour is to bring about an interface of big fashion houses, big fashion stores, designers, and export houses with Lucknow chikan artisans, manufactures retailers, up-coming fashion designers and the student of fashion designing institutes under one roof,” says Abid Ibrahim, a chikan designer and coordinator of the event.
Talking about the need of Mahotsava, Rubi Nawab, president of the organising committee, said: “This festival has been long overdue. It’s strange that nobody thought about it before. Our chikankari is famous all over the world, but we do not market it properly even within our country. People talk about it with a flourish. But we have not been able to make them go crazy about it and draw them towards it. We realised the need of a separate chikan fest as none of the fairs and festivals have been able to help promote chikan as the focus of those mahotsavas has been more on festivities.”
During the festival, the visitors may witness as to how artisans do chikankari as there will be a large number of expert artisans doing chikankari on the spot. There will be two fashion shows— one in the afternoon and the other in the evening. The evening one will see ten top models from Delhi and Mumbai sashaying down the ramp in chikan ensemble by by some top Lucknow designers in India and abroad.
{{/usCountry}}During the festival, the visitors may witness as to how artisans do chikankari as there will be a large number of expert artisans doing chikankari on the spot. There will be two fashion shows— one in the afternoon and the other in the evening. The evening one will see ten top models from Delhi and Mumbai sashaying down the ramp in chikan ensemble by by some top Lucknow designers in India and abroad.
{{/usCountry}}On Sunday, towards the run up to the show, Justice Jagdish Bhalla released a souvenir on the ‘Mahotsava’. The organisers said they would make the mahotsava an annual event.