Banarasi Sarees

Banarasi Sarees - The Mesmerizing Drape from the Beauty of Banaras

A piece of a garment of which every thread weaves heritage, the combination packed with timeless elegance, a saree and that too a Banarasi saree! With its rich history connected to the city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, these sarees are creatively crafted by skilled craftsmen and brought for you to adore. They have been in the fashion market for centuries and are cherished by women of all ages, backgrounds and states. The mesmerizing textures, luxurious fabrics, vibrant colors, bold looks and intricate detailing on the Banarasi sarees leave us all in awe. Nita Ambani's favorite and most commonly known is the silk fabric woven into a Banarasi saree, popularly called the Banarasi silk saree. But do you know that the charm game of Banarasi beauty does not end at Banarasi silk sarees only? Well, yes, as fashion is evolving all around the world, the Varanasi artisans have also upped their fashion game and are now weaving Banarasi sarees with multiple fabrics that are as good as the silk ones.

The beauty of Banarasi lies in their zari finish, the silver and golden zari over the saree gives it a Godly look. The essence of these sarees also is in how it fits the body, the Banarasi saree is known to wrap the body perfectly into a cozy drape just like how a baby feels when they are swaddled into a piece of comfort. Just as that baby is swaddled in coziness by the loving mother, the Banarasi sarees are weaved carefully and meticulously by the artisans. The weaving pattern and process are where the heart and soul of the Banarasi saree lies. It is woven through a variety of methods and varies for different styles, fabrics and sometimes even colors too.

Techniques and Weaving Patterns of Banarasi Saree

• Meenkari: To create a saree with detailed and delicate floral prints, the meenkari technique of weaving is used by the artisans. Being one of the oldest techniques of weaving it uses resham threads and zari and turns it into a beautiful Banarasi saree.
• Kadhua: Also called as the Kahdwa weaving style, this technique of weaving. It is the most difficult weaving technique that requires laborious work and rigorous process. It is used to make sarees with embellishments and each of its pieces is woven individually into a beautiful articraft. It is time-consuming but produces rich and textured pieces of Banarasi saree online that will blow your mind.
• Phekwa: Commonly known as the cutwork weaving technique, it uses motifs and weaves them all together, hence consuming less time than the other techniques. This method is pretty fast and produces sarees that have less intricate detailing.
• Jangla: A weaving technique that creates embroidery all over the saree is the Jangla one. It covers the entire fabric of the saree by creating dense designer embroidery that looks rich and majestic.
• Tanchoi: A weaving technique that creates delicate designs on the fabric, producing a soft textured piece is the tanchoi. It uses warp (tana, threads that are longitudinal, held vertically in tension on the loom) threads and wefts (latitudinal, threads held horizontally on the loom and weaved in and out of warp threads) that are multicolored to create these designs.
• Kadiyal: This weaving technique is used to create borders of that saree that are in contrast. It is a meticulous process that uses and shuffles multiple colors of the weft (horizontal threads) to create beautiful patterns and designs on the Banarasi sarees online.
• Zari Vasket: The Banarasi saree is known for its intricate zari work all over the fabric. This weaving technique particularly is used with other weaving techniques to give it a zari finish that will look bold and beautiful, giving a rich and lustrous look to the overall saree.

Almost all of the above weaving patterns and techniques require hour-longs of work and labor, and through this process, only the original and authentic pieces of Banarasi sarees are created. However, it is easy to skip this process and create a faux piece, looking exactly like the Banarasi saree but just not an authentic one.

Tips to Identify Handmade Original Banarasi Saree