Indulge Chennai 19th Anniversary Special: How Chennai is giving the iconic Kanjeevaram sari a contemporary makeover

In Chennai, a Kanjeevaram finds its way into some of life’s most memorable moments. It is the sari a bride saves for her muhurtham, the one a mother brings out for a family wedding, or the first silk sari you buy her with your first salary. You may not remember every outfit you wore growing up, but chances are you remember the Kanjeevarams in your family, their colours, the glint of zari and the way they looked draped over someone you love. A short journey away, in Kanchipuram, generations of weavers have been bringing these saris to life on their looms. The bond between the weaving town and Chennai runs through our weddings, family traditions and the small, personal gestures through which we show affection. It is one of the reasons the Kanjeevaram will always have a place in our city’s story. For Indulge’s 19th anniversary, we speak to designers, silk retailers and a textile researcher about how the cherished sari is finding a place in the wardrobes of a new generation.

A silky heritage

Named after Kanchipuram, the temple town in Tamil Nadu where its weaving tradition flourished, the Kanjeevaram is prized for its lustrous mulberry silk, contrasting borders and richly woven pallu. The skill lies as much in the making as in the finished drape. The body and border are interlocked using the traditional korvai technique, while the contrasting pallu is joined through a separate weaving process known as petni. The zari, responsible for the sari’s golden shimmer, traditionally uses fine silver wire coated with gold and wound around a silk core. However, not every sari sold today contains real gold or silver zari, so the material composition can vary. Although the silk is traditionally sourced from Karnataka and the zari from Surat, the Kanjeevaram silk sari holds a Geographical Indication tag recognising its association with Kanchipuram and the generations of weavers who have carried its techniques forward.

Bessie Cecil, professor at the Indian Institute of Crafts and Design (IICD), says the identity of the textile has never been fixed. “Two hundred years ago, Kanchipuram was a cotton-weaving centre, not a silk-weaving centre,” she says, referring to records she has studied. “It is only around the turn of the 20th century, or a little earlier, that we begin to see silk weaving here,” she tells us.

“What is unique about Kanjeevaram is the weight, and today you can’t even claim that,” Bessie says. “At one point, the silk was very, very light. Earlier, it was the lightness and the beauty that set it apart, not the weight,” she points out. Bessie believes the sari’s identity can be shaped by several elements, including “the material, technique, pattern, colour, the region where it is woven and, again, the weight of the sari”. As she puts it, “We cannot put Kanjeevaram tradition into a single box and define it, because it is ever-evolving.”

Old roots, new routes

Nalli, a longstanding name in Chennai’s silk retail story, is exploring how the heirloom can appeal to younger customers. Founded in Chennai in 1928 by Kanchipuram-born weaver Nalli Chinnasami Chetty, the family business has become one of the city’s best-known names in silk saris. Today, the brand is looking at how an heirloom can find a place in a younger woman’s wardrobe through their new festive collection, Nava.

“The Kanjeevaram has long been something a woman inherits. Nava makes it something she picks for herself,” says Niranth Nalli, vice chairman of the Nalli Group. The collection retains traditional silk, zari borders, temple motifs and buttas, while introducing bolder colours, sharper contrasts and contemporary styling. Vivid corals, deep magentas and rich wines sit alongside borders in black, silver and copper-gold, while contrast blouses, embroidered sleeves and high necklines offer new ways to style the sari for festive dinners and celebrations beyond the muhurtham. For Niranth, the idea is to bring the sari out of the cupboard and into more of the occasions that shape everyday life.

The idea of making silk more appealing to younger women also runs through the Nalli family. Jeyasree Ravi, daughter of Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetty, founded Palam Silks in 2003 with a vision of taking silk saris beyond their conventional associations. While Nava experiments with colour and styling, Palam Silks has explored lighter finishes, unconventional motifs and saris designed for the workplace. Together, the two brands offer different interpretations of a shared inheritance, showing how the Kanjeevaram can retain its traditional character while finding new ways into contemporary wardrobes. Jeyasree noticed younger customers reserving Kanjeevaram for the muhurtham while choosing chiffon and georgette for other wedding events. “The youngsters were not preferring to wear Kanjeevarams for other occasions because they were too grand, too heavy,” she explains. “That’s how Kanjeevarams have been right from the beginning. It is starched; it is difficult to drape. So we removed the starch and gave it a very soft finish,” she tells us.

Palam Silks began experimenting with colour and design, retaining the quality of the sari while softening its overall look. “We worked on the designs and colours without compromising on quality. We wanted the zari to look classy, without being too gaudy,” says Jeyasree. In 2009, the brand began hosting Kanjeevaram fashion shows to challenge conventional ideas of what the sari could look like. “We wanted to break the idea that a Kanjeevaram had to have a thick border,” she recalls.

Palam Silks has also explored how a design can work across the sari’s full length. In one collection, floral motifs evolved across the sari’s full length. “The entire five-and-a-half metres was covered in floral patterns, showing the flowers from one stage to the blooming stage and from every different angle,” says Jeyasree. The idea was to create a design that came alive when draped, rather than one that looked impressive only when laid out.

Palam Silks also challenged the bridal imagery traditionally associated with Kanjeevaram advertising. Rather than presenting every sari as part of a wedding look, the brand wanted to show how it could fit into a younger woman’s wardrobe. “I want the model to look more like the girl next door,” says Jeyashree. Palam Silks has developed more than 75 concepts for pattu saris, driven by its aim of making them part of more occasions in a woman’s life. “The mission of Palam Silks has always been to have more youngsters wear pattu saris on more occasions,” she says.

The idea extends to working women as well. Palam Silks’s Corporate Pattu collection, for instance, explores lightweight saris with geometric patterns and minimal ornamentation suited to the boardroom. The larger ambition is to take the Kanjeevaram beyond weddings and traditional celebrations, giving younger women more reasons to wear it.

Everyday heirloom

Shankar Raman, managing director of Sundari Silks, sees two kinds of demand. “Younger customers are drawn to lighter saris with minimal designs and bright, fresh colours. Pieces they can wear more often and not just once a year. For weddings, the preference remains the same. Brides still choose the bold, heavy Kanjeevaram in traditional colours,” he says.

“Our focus is on making Kanjeevaram saris lighter and more comfortable, while preserving the richness and strength that make them so special,” Shankar says. “We are also experimenting with colour, bringing in interesting tones and dual-tone combinations that catch the light differently as the sari moves.”

For designer Anu Vardhan, inheritance and personal expression go hand in hand. “To me, Kanjeevaram means familiarity. Many of us grew up watching our mothers, grandmothers and aunts wear it, so its colours, its texture and the feel of the silk are part of our earliest memories,” she says. She believes younger customers are recognising the labour behind a handwoven textile. “Perhaps that makes something created slowly, with so much human skill and effort, feel even more special. I feel they recognise the luxury in that, the time and craftsmanship behind a handwoven Kanjeevaram,” she says.

Anu’s styling philosophy is to let the sari take centre stage without making it feel reserved for grand occasions. “I like to let the sari lead, with a simple blouse, less jewellery and a drape that feels comfortable. Its colour and texture already have such a strong presence; you don’t always need to add much,” she says.

She is also exploring how motifs can travel across textile traditions. “You might see a motif woven into a Kanjeevaram, interpreted in a Venkatagiri, and then explored through block printing. The inspiration stays the same, but each technique and fabric brings something different to it,” she adds.

Draped differently

Designer Ashwin Thiyagarajan is testing what a Kanjeevaram can become when the sari is no longer the only format. “Many modern women find it cumbersome to drape six yards of fabric and stay in it all day. I wanted to make Kanjeevaram accessible for them in modern silhouettes that they can wear not just for their wedding but also for other occasions,” he says. His experiments include lehengas and corsets. “I’m not trying to modernise the fabric. I’m only trying to innovate the uses of the weave. Retaining the traditional techniques of its weaving, I’m modernising the silhouettes in which it can be worn. So the identity of the weave, the richness of the yarns and the intricacies of the motifs stay intact. Only the garment changes to suit the modern woman,” he explains.

A month ago, Canadian-Tamil actor Maitreyi Ramakrishnan wore a custom-corseted short dress by Ashwin on The Drew Barrymore Show. Crafted from a traditional Kanjeevaram silk Paalum Pazhamum Kattam sari supplied by RmKV Silks, the look brought the Kanjeevaram to an international audience in a contemporary silhouette.

Ashwin is emphatic about protecting the craft beneath the new form. “The dominance of the powerloom has taken away the beautiful inconsistencies and the richness of the handloom weaves. Designers of today should, in my opinion, work with only handloom silk, thereby ensuring the non-erasure of the craft that is the livelihood of an entire community of weavers,” he says. His mantra is simple:“Keep the handloom, innovate the silhouettes.”

Chennai’s love for Kanjeevaram lies in the lustre of its silk, the skill of its weavers and the generations of wearers who have made it part of the city’s story. Now, designers are giving a new generation more ways to make the sari their own, through fresher colours, unexpected motifs and contemporary silhouettes that take it beyond weddings and grand occasions. As Bessie reminds us, “Change is constant, and that has happened in Kanjeevaram as well.” Rooted in the bond between Chennai and Kanchipuram, the sari continues to evolve with the people who wear it.

Email: anoushkakundu@newindianexpress.com

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