Monday, December 17, 2012

Traditional Manipuri finery

We have a decently numbered Manipuri community here in the bay area and we got together for a feast called the 'Ningol Chakouba'. The festival is similar to 'Bhai Duj' as known in most other parts of India. Its a beautiful concept; married women are invited by their brothers for a feast. It is a time for sisters to get pampered with gifts and a lavish spread of food items. It is one of the major festivals in Manipur.

It is a time for us women to dress up in traditional finery and look our best!It is of course a big deal!Going back and meeting all your folks again is very looked forward to, and eagerly waited for all year.

For an experience away from home, I chose to wear this hand woven silk stole in golden yellow, draped in traditional style and put in place with a brooch. I think yellow suits me no?The stole(called a phee in Manipuri)(read more about it here) comes in beautiful colors and looks ethereal on women during weddings and festivals. The wrap(called a phanek-this design in particular is the mayek naiba) is also hand woven and is tied at the waist,  also a classic piece(both the phee and the phanek are made in many beautiful, bright colors)-it could take a while to wrap it right :).  I paired the outfit with jewellery , designs which are very original and unique to Manipur.
Stole and Wrap- Wangkhei Manipur, India;Jewellery-Manikumar, Manipur, India; Sandals-Jimmy Choo







Traditional Manipuri Jewellery-Manikumar Jewellers; Manipur, India

Brooch-A gift; Earrings and bangles-Manikumar Jewellers,Manipur, India







3 comments :

  1. Hi There, nice jewellery pieces.
    what kind of jewellery craft is this? Does it have any name like Rajasthan Jewellery have meenakari, kundan and polki style.

    Thanks
    Saurabh

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi There, nice jewellery pieces.
    what kind of jewellery craft is this? Does it have any name like Rajasthan Jewellery have meenakari, kundan and polki style.

    Thanks
    Saurabh

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Saurabh!
    Thanks for stopping by and thank you!Each piece of jewellery has a name in Manipuri. This is traditional Manipuri gold jewellery. The designs are exclusive to Manipur and the specialty lies in the fact that each of these is made in 24K gold and handmade.:)

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...