Pashmina shawls have often been considered synonymous with luxury. When it comes to attending extravagant events, women around the world often love to pick a Pashmina shawl. This showcases their grand taste of accessorizing. This tradition was started by the Mughal rulers in India. They introduced the trend of wearing elaborate shawls on an everyday basis and Pashmina shawls during that time were so expensive that only the kings could afford them anyway.
Presently Pashmina shawls are indeed expensive. But there are a few versions of Pashmina that are quite affordable by the younger generation. Plain Pashmina shawls, prints, and patterns, and a large number of minimalistically crafted shawls are largely worn by women on a regular basis owing to their affordability. However, profusely designed exquisite shawls still hold the same status, as they did centuries ago in the Mughal era. Hence these are chosen by women to be worn on special events like a luxury weddings. Here are a few Kashmiri Pashmina shawls that are ideal to wear at weddings.
Kani Pashmina Shawls
What better to stun the onlookers than a Kashmiri Kani shawl. Kani shawls have a history of being the most luxurious accessory in India as well as the West. It was a Kani shawl that Emperor Napoleon gifted to his style icon wife Empress Josephine. She later owned a few hundred Kani shawls after making it immensely popular among the masses.
The making of Kani shawls is entirely different from the making of the other varieties of shawls. While other Pashmina shawls use Cashmere wool as a warp and wefts in the weaving process, Kani shawls are made in a different way. The warp shawls are indeed the Cashmere threads, spun earlier by womenfolk, but the wefts are a different set of colourful threads. These foreign threads are wound around small wooden bobbins called Kanis. Threads from Kanis interfere with the Cashmere warp, intersecting them at different levels. This creates breathtakingly beautiful motifs over the shawl and makes it a work of pure art and flawless skill.
Kani shawls take over 4 years to complete, as artisans can weave just 1 sq inches of the shawl per day. These are some of the most expensive shawls as far as Pashmina shawls are considered. Kani shawls are usually worn by the bride, especially when she leaves her native place with her partner.
Sozni Jamawar Pashmina
As far as embroidery shawls are considered, a Sozni Jamawar shawl is the most popular and preferred one. Sozni Jamawar shawls are those where a Pashmina shawl gets hand embroidered in the most intricate and fine threads, all over its plush base. As soon as a solid Pashmina shawl is handcrafted, it is handed over to embroidery artisans. The artisans start by stamping the shawl as per the design given by a professional designer.
This stamp is followed by a series of colourful threads, which are intricately embroidered onto the base. This is done by the most proficient and patient embroidery artisans. Brilliant and pastel-shaded threads are used in perfect combinations with the shawl, and the shawl is profusely filled with embroidery, such that the base is barely visible or not visible at all. This is the Sozni Jamawar Shawl. It is a luxury shawl worn by either the bride herself or her mother. ‘
Many women prefer gifting a Sozni Jamawar Pashmina shawl to the bride. They consider it the best gift as it reminds the newlywed of her culture and tradition.
Also read: Which shawl is famous in the world?
Papier Mache Jamawar
A distinct type of embroidery is done on Pashmina shawls, which is more brilliant and colourful than Sozni embroidery. This one is called the paper mache, as it takes inspiration from the regal art of Papier-mache (where pounded paper is converted to utility and decorative items). The embroidery on this shawl is thicker and bright colours are used mostly. The motifs too are different, and large spaces are filled with thick threads that make these shawls look like pieces of art.
Papier-mache embroidery too is preferred when it comes to luxury wedding wear for the bride or her family members. Over a warm coloured outfit, a white Papier Mache Jamawar Pashmina shawl looks overwhelmingly beautiful and alluring.
Reversible Shawls (Aksi Dorukha)
When reversible shawls were handcrafted for the first time, common people were awestruck by the creativity of the master craftsmen who crafted them. The shawls were as beautiful from the front as they were from the back; hence could be worn from both sides. These shawls started as plain shawls, and the two sides would simply be of two different colours.
A variation of reversible shawls was the Aksi Do Rukha embroidered shawls. These were reversible shawls with Jamawar embroidery, where both sides, front and back, of the shawl, were embroidered. The embroidery patterns on the front and back looked like mirror images of each other. This super luxurious and extravagant shawl was the most expensive Pashmina shawl ever. The fine and lightweight Pashmina shawl could not have borne the weight of embroidery, had not the artisans chosen the even finer Sozni Kari to embellish it.
Aksi Do rukha shawl, being the most intricate and grand of all shawls, is the one used by the most affluent and indulgent brides, who own almost all luxuries of life.
Tilla embroidered Pashmina Shawls
For an ethnic wedding, the shimmers of Tilla Dozni look so fine. Tilla embroidery is the one where metallic threads are dipped in gold and silver and then embroidered over shawls in classic motifs primarily. The shawls hosting Tilla threads were once used by Mughal to decorate their courts. This is because the glimmery look of Tilla made their courtrooms even more extravagant. Tilla shawls can be gifted to the bride so she can wear them on her new journey.
A luxury wedding is full of lavish and exaggerated accessories, owned by guests and the hosts. And we believe nothing is more luxurious than a finely crafted Pashmina shawl. It is timeless, ageless, and looks exceptionally graceful and beguiling, besides emphasizing the fact that tradition is beautiful.
Also read: Aesthetic Pastels Of Embroidered Pashmina