Silk, the queen of fabrics:Silk was discovered by accident, in ancient China, way back in 3000 BC. Even today, 5000 years after it was discovered, more than half the world's silk is produced in China.
Over the ages, silk has been considered very fashionable in the Indian sub-continent. In the olden days,the use of this fabric was restricted only to the affluent class. Today, silk - the queen of fabrics, adorns the wardrobes of the entire nation. In India Fashion sarees, Silk occupies an unque place.
In India, silk is produced in small pockets spread across the country. South India silk sarees are well known for their traditional design and vibrant colors. Small towns like Kanchipuram and Dharmavaram in the south, and Banaras in the north, account for a majority of the silk produced in India.
Made from natural protein fibre, silk is found in the cocoons of silkworms. A normal cocoon produces 500 to 900 metres of silk filament. Four to eight silk filaments are twisted together to obtain one strand of silk. Once the strands are formed, they are woven together to create a saree. It takes three skilled weavers, three to seven days to weave a silk saree. Composed of natural fibres, silk is biologically consistent with the human body. Due to its smooth surface and a low frictional co-efficient, far lower than that of other fabrics, silk is one of the most comfortable fabrics to wear.
Silk is a self-adjusting natural fabric which keeps the body cool in summer and warm in winter. Thanks to its porous nature, silk enables the dissipation of heat and perspiration in summer, keeping the body cool.
Every single filament of silk is composed of multiple exceptionally fine fibres. In fact, 38% of a silk thread is hollow. The air in this hollow space acts as a thermal shield and prevents the loss of warmth from the body during winter. Whether it's a warm summer afternoon or a cool winter evening, silk is a fabric that's ideal for every season of the year. Sakhi brings out the different variants of this queen of fabric in its best collection of Indian designer sarees online.
Sakhi Fabrics
Kanchivaram: One of the superior silk fabrics in the world, kanchivaram is woven by skilled weavers from the famed temple town of Kanchipuram. The designs on this luxurious silk reflect finely crafted motifs inspired by the temples of Tamil Nadu.
With silk thread dipped in liquid gold and silver, these glorious motifs are brought to life by the gifted hands of artisans. Sakhi pays tribute to the age-old tradition of adorning kanchivaram silk, with a contemporary twist that suits the modern woman.
Chiffon Silk: This pure silk is a light weight fabric, perfect for an evening out or a sunny summer day. The effervescent chiffon is a light, sheer fabric with a rich shimmer and a mild, granular texture. The twist in the yarn creases the fabric gently in both directions, giving it a slightly textured feel. Sakhi mingles featherlike chiffon with different designs to create stunning sarees.
Crepe Silk: Crepe features among the most popular fabrics made from silk yarn. The softer version of crepe is called 'crepe the chine'. Lustrous in visual appeal, crepe silk has a glamorous sheen and an excellent drape. It has a slippery smooth texture, with a crisp appearance. Crepe is woven from hard spun yarn in its natural condition. The fabric, when woven, is smooth and even. Once the resin is extracted, the fabric becomes soft, giving it a crimpy look. Sakhi uses this comfortable-to-wear, fluid silk to create designs that can be worn at all times.
Georgette Silk: Another member of the pure silk family, georgette is a variant of pure crepe silk. The translucent nature of the fabric makes it well-suited for an evening out or a spring day. Georgette has a gauzy feel and comes in different grammages which contribute to the elegant fall of the fabric. These pure fabrics have an excellent ability to absorb colour, offering numerous colour permutations to the designer. At Sakhi, one can find georgette, sporting elegant hand-block prints, also featuring mild hand embroidery.
Tussar Silk: Also known as kosa silk, tussar silk is highly valued for its purity and linear weaving texture. This type of silk is drawn from cocoons especially cultured on Arjun, Saja or Sal trees. Tussar silk is available naturally in shades of muted gold and mild beige.
Tussar silk is considered ideal as well as auspicious for marriages, religious ceremonies and other functions. Sakhi uses tussar in its original hue in addition to dyeing the rich gold shade in wonderful colours with beautiful motifs, to make it suitable for today's woman. Tussar, in combination with natural dyes like pomegranate, flower and fruit extracts exudes an understated yet classy elegance. Tussar also finds a special place in designer Chandra's collection as it is one of her favourite fabrics.
Organza Silk: A sheer, feather-like open weave fabric that is mildly heavier and more crisp than silk gauze, organza silk is traditionally made from the continuous filament of silkworms.
IIt has a smooth, flat finish and sports a characteristic shine, obtaining its stiffness from tightly twisted yarns. At Sakhi, organza silk finds its way into day and evening wear designs. The use of intricate hand embroidery on this preciously delicate silk makes it the epitome of elegance.
Cotton: The soft, staple fibre that grows around the seeds of cotton, the tropical and subtropical shrub, produces this popular fabric. Cotton has an ease which lets the skin breathe well. Cotton has an excellent ability to absorb colour, which helps it manifest itself in myriad hues.
At Sakhi, one can find cotton in all its simplicity, with a simple elegant border, enhanced by thread work. But the ones most sought after are the weaving wonders, pure silk borders in vibrant hues with a contrastingly modest cotton body. This special weaving technique is called 'Korvai', wherein different base fabrics are interwoven. Embellished with innovative block print motifs, cotton takes on a new life.
Sakhi Story
Indian fashion is making waves globally. Well known Indian designers like Ritu Kumar, Manish Malhotra, Manish Arora, Satya Paul, Neeta Lulla and others have a large following worldwide. New brands like "Sakhi by Chandras" are fast emerging as designer brands that add to the glamour of Indian designer sarees. Sakhi focuses on designer sarees that are wearable. They are exotic but at the same time elegant. They are unique but at the same time casual.
Sakhi is a fast growing fashion outlet founded by the mother-daughter duo of Chandra Rajendran and Neeta. Chandra is a designer with a keen eye for color and passion for design and her daughter Neeta brings a younger dimension to the designs and the brand. Sakhi specializes what they call the "wearable design" - Indian designer sarees and other products that you can wear for multiple occasions with ease and always win a complement.
Chandra's designer boutique has been active for more than 15 years, initially serving a close circle of friends. The popularity of her designs caught up and whenever people wore her designs, heads turned and complements flowed. And when Neeta, with an engineering degree and NIFT diploma in fashion under her belt joined her mother, the mother-daughter combine launched "Sakhi by Chandras" as a new brand in 2005 in Bangalore. From then on, Sakhi has grown into a well-respected brand for Indian woman's clothes today. Sakhi launched its online shopping site making it one of the best experience for Indian sarees online shopping. Sakhi launched their Hyderabad outlet in Oct'09.
With a clientele spreading across the world, Sakhi is constantly reinventing itself while not losing its core focus of creating wearable designs for the Indian woman.
Why Sakhi?
Sakhi By Chandras, the fast growing fashion outlet founded by the mother-daughter duo of Chandra Rajendran and Neeta offers a range of exclusive range of Indian designer sarees, salwars and kurtis.
Sakhi offers an extensive collection of Indian sarees online
Sakhi ensures prompt delivery world wide, taking extra care to ensure the product reaches you in mint condition within the date specified making Sakhi one of the most reliable places to buy sarees online.
At Sakhi you can also find exclusive Salwars that can be customized to suits your measurements or just the fabric. That means you can by either custom stitched or unstitched material at Sakhi.
In addition to an exclusive collection of designer sarees from India, Sakhi also offers custom creation of classic styles designer Saree blouses that goes well with many of the sarees.
Sakhi ensures the collection stays fresh and one can look forward to regular updates on our fashion pages. The color themes are very current and high fashion.
Sakhi guarantees that the product you receive is identical to the one seen by you on our site Sakhifashions.com
Sakhi's offerings combine the best of material and crafts in a stylish design making them a genuine collector's item.
Sakhi has stores in Bangalore and Hyderabad and an excellent online store in www.sakhifashions.com, giving customers flexible options to buy their products.
Sakhi Products
Sakhi always holds an interesting collection - vibrant combinations of colors, craft and fabric. In most countries around the world, women have switched out of their traditional dresses to western style very fast. Unlike their counter parts, Indian women continue to proudly wear clothes that are modern but have a strong connect to Indian culture - weather Sarees, Salwars, Kurtis or whatever. Sakhi helps the modern Indian woman with a great combination of colors, crafts, materials and design patterns making Sakhi the best source of Indian designer sarees online.
Sakhi's Sarees
Sakhi has an excellent collection of Indian silk sarees including the queen of silks kancheepuram silk sarees (aka Kanchi silk sarees or Kanchi Pattu Sarees). When high quality material like Chiffon, Crepe, Tussar, Organza, georgette, Kancheewaram, Cotton, etc, intricate crafts like Cutwork, Kalamkari, Shadow-work, Hand embroidery, Block-prints, Sequins, Badla, Applique, Ari-work, Kundan etc. in glorious colors like fuscia-pink, golden-yellow, aqua-blue, burnt-rust, deep-green, peach, lavendar, sober-ash, turquoise blue, etc, combined seamlessly in Sakhi's wearable designs adds to the glamour of Indian fashion sarees.
Sakhi's Designer Saree Blouses
Sakhi brings out stunning designer saree blouses featuring pure Kanchi silk in rich colors like bottle green, rich reds, classic mustard, black and other colors. With exotic designs using crafts like kundan, cut work, kalamkari, hand embroidery etc, sakhi's designer saree blouses make a great match to the designer sarees from Sakhi. Sakhi provides custom stitching making it a one stop store for the clients.
Sakhi's Salwars
Sakhi carries an exotic collection of silk and hand spun cotton salwars. Excellent material like Kanchi silk, Crepe, Chiffon, Tusser silk are used for Salwars and Dhuppattas. They also include craft work like cutwork, block print, kundan, appliqué work etc. You can purchase as a fabrics or use custom stitching.
Today's Trends
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Kalamkari hand craft literally meaning drawing with a pen, sarees featuring the kalamkari craft have been adorned by women over the ages. There are two distinct styles of kalamkari - Srikalahasti and Machalipatnam. The fabric gets its glossiness from its immersion in milk and resin. Kalamkari fabrics are created in seventeen steps, using only natural dyes, with numerous washes. Typically, the motifs capture the essence of temple architecture and scenes from great epics. The muted kalamkari motifs in maheshwari silk or cotton are appliqued onto rich vibrant kanchivaram silks. One can also find this work of art handcrafted on tussar silk, crepe, chiffon, georgette and cotton. Kalahasti and Masulipatnam located in the state of Andhra Pradesh in south India are well known for various forms of kalamkari. Sakhi borrows from this craft and brings alive the soul of kalamkari with fashionable designs
Kanchivaram is one of the superior silk fabrics in the world, kanchivaram is woven by skilled weavers from the famed temple town of Kanchipuram. The designs on this luxurious silk reflect finely crafted motifs inspired by the temples of Tamil Nadu. With silk thread dipped in liquid gold and silver, these glorious motifs are brought to life by the gifted hands of artisans. Sakhi pays tribute to the age-old tradition of adorning kanchivaram silk, with a contemporary twist that suits the modern woman.
