Yards of wonder in various hues

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The City’s first store South India’s popular RmKV Silks was recently opened in Orion Mall. It offers a wide range of thematic saris with options like a 50,000-colour sari, the reversible sari as well as one with a print of a Raja Ravi Varma painting on it.

“Eighty -eight years ago, my grandfather started this brand and it was nurtured by my father and uncle. We strive to make wedding silk saris unique in their theme, colour and design,” says Sivakumar, the managing director of the brand. “One of our recent developments is a ‘lino light silk sari’, which looks heavy but weighs almost 40 per cent less than the regular silk sari and allows the fabric to breathe,” he adds. The thematic range is inspired by Indian paintings, sculptures and literature. There is a lot of research and detail reflected in the range — from varnajalam psychedelic saris to those with warli paintings of tribal Maharashtra; from embossed silk saris that give a three-dimensional look to one depicting the 108 karnas of bharatanatyam.

“Our 50,000-colour sari took four months to make and has gone in the pages of Guinness World Record. We have sold around 250 pieces so far. It costs Rs 50,000 with just Re 1 being charged per colour. We made it as a unique piece but because it has to be used by the customer, we kept it affordable even though the cost of production is a lot more,” explains N Manik, the brand’s director. This is the fourth city that the showroom is being opened in, the others being Chennai, Coimbatore and Tirunelveli. 

“Bangalore is a tough base to crack because no one knows of us, except Tamilians, perhaps. But we are optimistic and hope that our concepts are well appreciated by a new audience,” says Niranjana Viswanathan, who manages the ethnic wear label, Srinika.

Along with the wedding silk saris, the showroom will also offer ethnic and western garments for men, women and children.