I just can’t get over the cows (and bulls!). They’re everywhere, just wandering around the streets and paths. They park themselves where the mood strikes, regardless of heavy traffic that now has to inch around them.
Michelle in the background crossing the street
Sadhu in the background sitting at temple steps
"I think I'm going to...
call it a day."
Fatima
Everywhere we went, we noticed women wearing colorful, embroidered outfits that had a long skirt and a hooded waist-length cape. Rather than a fashion craze, it was clear these outfits were designed to function as a modest cover-up worn in public. Who were these ladies? We asked a few times, only to be given the wrong information: they were Jain, they were Parsi. When we arrived at our new co-op in Maheshwar we were pleased to meet some of these ladies in person and find out their real identities. They are Dawoodi Bohra women, a community that is a subsect of Islam.
Dawoodi Bohras are encouraged to educate themselves in both religious and secular knowledge, and as a result, the number of professionals in the community is rapidly increasing. Dawoodi Bohra believe that the education of women is equally important to that of men, and some Dawoodi Bohra women choose to enter the workforce, although we were told that in this small town, that is not very common. The women that we met at the co-op are highly skilled at embroidery and crochet work, and we are excited to put those skills to work on Mata’s 2011 Spring/Summer line. In fact, while these Bohra outfits come ready-made, Saheeda, in blue below, applied the hand-stitched design herself.
Saheeda, Maria
Hannah and Michelle hard at work
We want to thank Hannah Warren, founder and Executive Director of Jhoole, for being such a fabulous host! We spent two lovely days designing in the peaceful town of Maheshwar – best known for the talent of its handloom weavers – in Madhya Pradesh (central India) where Jhoole is located. It was a true relief to escape the chaos of big-city India for a moment; Maheshwar, with a population of just over 20,000, actually feels chill, like a village! We ate home cooked meals and got to know the townspeople a bit.
recycled denim Frill bag available Oct 1
Jhoole is an eco-friendly, fair trade apparel producer that strives to empower female artisans and their communities; they work almost exclusively in discarded, misprint and recycled fabrics. Check out our Winter 2010 Frill bag (available in stores and online Oct. 1, 2010) which we designed out of their recycled denim, and stay tuned for Mata Spring 2011 when we plan to debut dresses made from recycled chiffon and misprint fair trade jersey!
Jhoole co-op member cutting fabric
Checking into the Panorama Guesthouse, my eyes scanned the lobby walls as I waited for the clerk to record my passport and visa information in his registry book. Imagine my surprise as I looked up at this photo of the establishment’s roof top restaurant and spotted Michelle and Maureen!
It’s not everyday you see your best friends’ picture up in the lobby of an Indian hotel. Obviously you can see that Michelle and Maureen are regulars at this guest house and for good reason…check out the view from our room:
I was particularly impressed with the guest house’s staff, who really make an exceptional commitment in order to work here. These young men come from various parts of the state, as far as 6 hours away by bus, so they only get to visit their families for a few days every couple months. They work long hours as cooks, cleaners, reception, room service and waiters, and are the heart of the Panorama establishment.
L-R Shantilal, Dhahraj, Mukesh, Ramesh, Santosh, Parassmal, Samrtaram, Virendra
The Ganpati Festival is the annual celebration of Ganesh, the elephant-headed son of gods Shiva and Parvati. During the festival, Ganesh idols are paraded through the streets, on the back of trucks or perhaps camel carts, and brought to makeshift stages set up throughout the town. These are a few images of the Ganpati Festival we came across this week.
My second day of design work in Rajasthan goes like this:
For me – up at 7 AM to watch the sun rise like a ball of fury over the lake. For the first time in years the lakes are full here — rain, rain and more rain has turned this town lush with beautiful shades of green. Breakfast while e-mailing (yes, our dear, dear guest house owner installed wifi for which I am ever so thankful) consists of “egg cheese toast” and a Starbucks coffee travel packet necessary to wake me up. Off to the co-op by 9 AM, running various errands along the way.
For her - the women we work with in the sampling unit do one of two things: 1) Some are trained to use the electric sewing machines and they come in to work at the co-op on a daily basis.
These women stitch sample garments for both domestic (Fab India!) and international (Mata Traders!) customers; their work is complex and the same group of women have been at the sampling unit for over two years now. For most it is their first time working outside their homes, and Manju commented to us that what stitchers like her enjoy most about their work is the professional environment itself and the opportunity to socialize with coworkers.
2) Other women are talented hand embroiderers.
We asked Narabda (see blog post dated 9/10/10) about her morning, which sounds much like any working woman’s morning routine. She rises by 7AM to cook breakfast for her family, prepare her tiffin (to-go lunchbox) and send her children off to school; by 9:30AM she meets with other co-op members to take a shared rickshaw into work, which is a ride of about 1/2 an hour. Indian business hours are 10AM-6PM, and she’s home by 6:30 or 7:00 PM to cook dinner for her family (though living in a joint family, oftentimes a kind mother-in-law will have a warm dinner waiting!). Narubda tells us that today is a bit unusual for her – she normally can do her work from home and only comes to the co-op when she is needed for sampling.
Once Mata designs are finalized in the sampling unit our pieces will move to production, where over 50 different women will stitch our garments. Then, hundreds of additional women come to the production unit from surrounding villages to learn the specific hand embroidery designs we create for each piece. These ladies then take their work home to complete, which is convenient since many care for young children and there are few other ways for them to earn an income in their villages.
So much care and hard work is invested in Mata’s products, not only by us, but more importantly by the Indian women we work with – we feel lucky our design process is so meaningful! We hope you will enjoy the Spring 2011 collection once it’s ready!
I arrived on Wednesday morning at our co-op in Rajasthan to find our Spring 2011 collection well on its way toward completion, since Maureen was here two weeks prior and did a spectacular job getting things started!
Anatomy of a Mata design
Our Spring 2011 Soho dress is almost there – but yellow, purple or creme half circles for the applique?
We decide on purple, and Narabda completes the design for us with her signature tanka hand embroidery.
shorts featured in the latest issue of Indian Vogue
My second day here at the cooperative in Mumbai were were eating lunch with some of the ladies and the topic of shorts came up. You see, shorts are the new hot fashion item here. All the ladies had a pair. But India is quite a modest country, and showing too much skin is taboo. Shorts are too revealing to wear in public, except in the upscale districts of Mumbai where the rich and famous reside. So while all the ladies had a new pair of shorts, they all admitted to only wearing them in their own homes. They never actually wear them out of the house.
That same day I encountered another example of modesty here. The mannequin in the red dress (pictured above) was being changed into a new outfit to be photographed, and I noticed that she was wearing underwear and a tube top. That’s right, they don’t let the mannequin be seen naked…that would be improper. I immediately thought, great blog post, and later, when no one was looking, I unbuttoned her dress and took the picture below. Pretty scandalous of me.
Michelle and Maureen have lunch with a few ladies from our cooperative in Mumbai.
L-R Maureen, Michelle, Rosy, Trupti, Harshali, Hettal
I’ve had 3 full days now back in India (last time I was here it was 2004) and the main thing to report is that it is rainy. It’s monsoon season which means that it rains almost all the time and when it seems like the rain has let up and you go outside, it’s actually still raining, only a bit lighter.
Maureen discussing new designs with Hettal, one of the co-op's designers
Maureen and I have been visiting the women’s cooperative here everyday, working on pieces for Spring/Summer 2011. We’ve got some great styles of dresses, jackets, skirts, and tops. We ordered some new custom block print fabrics, but so far only one set has arrived to the co-op. The delay is caused by the rainy weather, as the fabrics need the sun to dry. Meanwhile, we are trying on each of the new styles to perfect the fit and make any alterations. Can’t wait until the new fabrics come in to see what they’re really going to look like!!
Michelle arrives tonight, so we are pretty excited. Once she gets here we can fit for smalls (Maureen is a medium and I’m an extra-small). Not to mention that she has a great eye for style and will be a huge help in getting these samples ready for production.
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