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Revive Style

fashion, design and old world charm

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24th July 2017

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Oorja Makkad

Blogger | Designer
Millennial Sareephile
Indian Textile Aficionado

Musing on fashion, handicraft, sustainability narratives, cruelty-free beauty and eclectically homegrown design. Find me on Instagram @oorja.revivestyle.

#HANDCRAFTEDISBEAUTIFUL

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#HandEmbroideredEverything Someone cute recently n #HandEmbroideredEverything Someone cute recently named me a "hopeful little sunflower" so here I am 🌻💛😂 Yellow, to say hello to spring for it's Saraswati Pujo | Basant Panchami today! . . . a kurta and sharara both delicately adorned with chikankari and mokaish hand embroidery of Lucknow, purchased from an emporium in Crawford Market, Mumbai. Pearls and chikankari are like cheese and wine, once you have them together you can't do with just one thereafter! The wedges are also hand embroidered, with threadwork and lovely little beads. It's quite an artisanal outfit day today ✨
Shop: 'Souk,' with motifs and patterning akin to o Shop: 'Souk,' with motifs and patterning akin to opening a drawer full of vintage amulets, pendants and trinkets 🖤 do you see what I see too? Textile: Pure Cotton Mul, Ajrakh Handblock Printed, Naturally Dyed in Ajrakhpur, India. Link in bio ✨#HandmadeIsBetter
more black magic 🖤 belted, and there is an off more black magic 🖤 belted, and there is an off shoulder blouse in there haha. A north eastern silk, but I cannot exactly discern which, as yet. Most likely a ghicha silk. While solid stripers like this one are timeless as ever, there's still the case of all the resplendent, old school traditional silks in so many wardrobes that aren't worn as often due to ageist notions, sheer boredom, or the oversaturation that comes from exposure to recent Indian fashion fads. They certainly make true heirloom elegance feel outdated or underdressed. Getting a new blouse, a crop top, experimental drapes or renewed accessorizing is always better than cutting those precious textile yardages into clothing. As a designer, non defective sarees being cut into garments has become my pet peeve of sorts 😂 5/100
black magic 🖤 black magic 🖤
happy sunday 🌺 happy sunday 🌺
nobody: Desi females everywhere: and here I presen nobody: Desi females everywhere: and here I present yet another creative way to rub in some subtle, sanskariER-than-thou "mei toh Tinder pe hun hi nahi / kabhi thi hi nahi" for the #DollyPartonChallenge. . . . #JustDesiThings
#Refashioning #DenimJacketMakeover #SaturdayVibes #Refashioning #DenimJacketMakeover #SaturdayVibes 🧵
#WhatImWearingToday 🍑 How would you accessorize #WhatImWearingToday 🍑 How would you accessorize this? Fire away in comments, I'm seeking inspiration ✨ upcycled, refashioned block print crop top: @samastroop handwoven mul saree: my 5/100, @suta_bombay
Waste time this year. Go for long, rambling walks Waste time this year. Go for long, rambling walks with your music. Write poems. Journal sporadically. Try a new recipe just because. Paint. Paint average art, and put it away. Colouring books. Read that big novel, even if you're a slow reader. People are so anxious, "What if I don't finish it?" that they don't even begin. Who terrified you so? Read two or four at a go, leave as many books midway if you aren't really feeling them. Our world is obsessed with 'productivity', and the commercial monetization of leisurely activities. The robotification of human 'BE-ing' and existing. Discard the notion that your hobbies have to be aesthetically perfect, Instagram-worthy and 'sellable' in order for it to become valid to give yourself unstructured flow, play and bliss time. 'Unproductive' hours are the most soul-shaping of our lives, they open the mind and heart. You know why being in the shower brings forth AMAZING ideas in our brain, and even the wittiest imaginary argument comebacks? 😂 You are never trying hard to have the 'perfect' shower in there, or wondering how your shower must look like to other people, or struggling to conduct exactly what you think a shower 'should' be. You just shower, you let your mind rest, go with the flow (pun intended), that's why 😝 . . . PS: None of the above activities actually 'waste' your time. But it had to be said in capitalist mindset vocabulary for effect. Original text excerpt from Joy Clarkson, modified and extended in parts. I've been taking too many mirror selfies lately, so here's yet another in my colourful room. In a groovy secondhand dress ✨
Shop: Parisienne 🖤 Visit link in bio for a full Shop: Parisienne 🖤 Visit link in bio for a full reveal of this contemporary, elegant drape! #AjrakhSarees #SareesofIndia
Closely linked to how much I wish I lived in a col Closely linked to how much I wish I lived in a cold, mountainous place, I have a wish that I had a lot more cozy knitwear in my closet! It's Knitwear Day over at the @showoffyourcloset challenge 🖤 This is my favourite ribbed knit dress, I only get to wear it in December given how hot it is in Bombay all year. I know dress day is the last day, but this is my fav knitwear like piece so I couldn't help but begin with this. @drapeastory I lovvvved your pink pants! Go check out the #ShowOffYourCloset hashtag. So many beautiful posts, rewearing and celebrating what one already has. I love the idea, it's cute and fun. @alisa.koz, @csillaherbszt and @dreamalittlegreen are three ethical fashion queens that started this cute 'style thing,' thank you for letting me in on this 🌲
Shop: think princesses and nayikas, tinkering down Shop: think princesses and nayikas, tinkering down candlelit palace halls in the wee hours of the night, in mysteriously sensuous garb akin in it's appearance to the night sky and all of it's stars. Keeping their trysts; as the delicate tinkling of a hundred ghungroos announces an arrival to a lover in the shadows... This hand block printed Ajrakh is one of many cotton mul curations to come to the #AjrakhMystique collection on the Revive.Style Shop. Naturally dyed on cotton mul, all the way from Ajrakhpur 🖤🍷 The madder dye blends beautifully with a black base to create a burgundy, black and indigo saree (Ajrakh uses a natural black pigment obtained from the fermentation of iron oxide and jaggery). Six yards of a densely patterned, geometric, architectural lattice (jaali) design, which one might quite likely see on the windows and viewing galleries of ancient palaces. The Persian influence over Ajrakh's print vocabulary is so evident, isn't it? . . . 🔊 Sound on for the video, the pallu is lined with melodic little ghungroos in silver, which may organically oxidize over time. This is a light, breezy, soft cotton mul that sashays as the wearer walks. Link in bio!
It's #baluchariweek so I just had to, for you @des It's #baluchariweek so I just had to, for you @designerrajirm ♥️🍒 I await the day I have a Baluchari saree like all the gorgeous people posting theirs! I remember lusting over @saree.man's absolutely dreamy black drape (cannot remember if that was a Swarnuchuri or Baluchari but heavenly it sure was) the night we met at the Saree Social and ever since, I've been wishing to get myself one exactly like that. It's imprinted on my mind, and Himanshu you've become my saree style icon for a Baluchari. This Baluchari dupatta from @handmadebyrahi is my very first Baluchari buy for myself, something of a lifetime milestone! A throwback to last year's festivities. Paired with a pure silk 'pyaaz' pink kurta-pyjama set from @tjoritreasures, and earrings from @swarovski.
🍁 Think of the chinar leaf, gently omnipresent 🍁 Think of the chinar leaf, gently omnipresent across kani and jamawar handwoven shawls, sozni and kashidakari embellished textiles, hand carved copperware and walnut wood designs, on papier mache, within traditional carpet knotting and wherever more art takes creative nourishment from the region - the environment - it finds home in. Something like the fish motif in Odisha and Bengal weaves, or Islamic architecture influencing the quintessential arched elements in Mughal buti prints and Ajrakh! Spotting recurrences across the design vocabulary of a particular region gives us heritage lovers a strange sense of achievement, doesn't it? Like we've been let in on something. A chinaar tree could tell tales spanning centuries - of Lalla Ded contemplating in its shade, or of Akbar taking refuge in its hollow trunk along with 34 soldiers. The Mughals were so enraptured, they ordered it to be nourished with milk instead of water. Poets have long been inspired by the flaming beauty of the majestic chinar tree, an iconic image of autumn, or 'harud' as it's called in it's homeland. While some works are darkly melancholic, some beautifully romantic, there's one I came across in The Speaking Tree that stayed with me... "Jis khaak ke zameer me hai aatish-e-chinar, Mumkin nahi ki sard ho woh khaak-e-arjumand" The dust which possesses in it's soul the flame of chinar, is a celestial dust that wont be possible to cool down. Textile: Went to work like a 🍒 in a @fabindianews kurta and a non-woolen Kashidakari on the side (hey I'm in Bombay, 17 degrees is all we get in the early morning for winter which is basically the temperature of a fine summer day in lovelier places of the world. 😂) This one is full of 'chinar' leaves but in a machine embroidered rendition, purchased on travel. The above excerpt is from a post I'd written about the Chinar leaf and its presence in the creative vocabulary of it's place of origin about two years ago! I can't recollect more examples, but so many such inspired themes exist across the textiles of India when it comes to motifs. Have you noticed any? Share in comments below ♥️
🌱🤗 don't let the 'High Court of Instagram' g 🌱🤗 don't let the 'High Court of Instagram' get to you, it's what you really DO - in your living, breathing, imperfect, pulsating existence - that matters! Love this @ethicallykate
A sustainable, 'tiny changes' resolution for 2020, A sustainable, 'tiny changes' resolution for 2020, I want to try to fulfill my clothing needs or desires by substituting shopping with going old school - using the fabric yardages I have in plenty, as a designer, or procuring slow textiles whenever necessary, and getting them stitched to order from my local tailor. I feel like so many things that I would like to wear could be made in this manner. It would fuel my own creativity, support the skilled (and underpaid) tailor and karigar workforce that I know of directly, and even encourage me to experiment with trying out more and more tailors. In turn, I would be able to recommend them to so  many people and enable the joy of making our own clothing over consumption for a number of dear ones. We all know finding a good tailor is a major deal, a hassle not everyone has the patience to undertake. What I get stitched would be suited to my needs to the maximum - for it is conceptualised and made just for me, by myself - and I feel like this is a far more mindful and positive way to go about creating and nurturing my wardrobe. . . . Of course, when I do want to invest money in clothing, I'd always want to go for ethical, artisan supporting, slow and sustainable brands. They are the future of fashion, and I'd only want my money to uplift designers working to bring about a change in how we manufacture clothing, how we wear clothing! Do you like to get clothing stitched from local tailors? What's a sustainable resolution you have for 2020? It could even be the tiniest change - such as finally buying that steel straw, or breaking up with a fast fashion brand you keep going back to for good. It could be a big change like planting many trees or going on a no-spend year. We can all make a big change, even with tiny changes! Share yours in comments below 🌱
Thought I should post something Sankrant-y, don't Thought I should post something Sankrant-y, don't mind me 🖤🔥🧵 #BlackforSankrant
Bonfire night vibes? 🖤🔥I arrived at the 10k Bonfire night vibes? 🖤🔥I arrived at the 10k milestone after three years (I took too long, maybe, this has been a s l o w slow fashion feed) and somehow I'm still not feeling it totally sink in. Where's my Möet at?! Sending hugs and gratitude to every inspiring soul this journey has introduced me to, every beautiful online and offline friend that added knowledge, value and insight to my life. I feel like I have grown over so many phases - been so many different people - all the while that I've grown as a blogger and through how this feed has evolved over time. This happy little 10k strong bubble of saree, sustainability, fashion aficionados and beautiful minds have been with me through it all.Thank you so much for being such an uplifting, loving, inspiring, warm community! Happy Lohri! . . . #SareeToWork: 4/100 This one's for you @sareesaatsamundarpaar, some #blackforsankrant. I've been waiting to take part. An unknown, mystery silk weave to me, from my mom's closet, all I know is that it hails from West Bengal (because that's where it came from, brought by a benevolent Bengali neighbour). It's got pineapples on the pallu! 🍍Can anybody identify it? I think this could be an Assamese weave too!
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Revive Style

fashion, design and old world charm

  • Home
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