Victoria and Albert Museum opens Fabric of India

Following the unprecedented success of Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum is placing Indian textiles under the spotlight in its latest fashion exhibition, as part of the museum’s 2015 India Festival.

The Fabric of India aims to celebrate the “variety, virtuosity and continuous innovation” of India’s textile traditions and features more than 200 decorative and functional handmade objects, ranging from everyday fabrics to third-century textile fragments and even contemporary clothing by designers including Manish Arora, Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Rajesh Pratap.

Curated by Rosemary Crill and Divia Patel curators from the Asian Department, the exhibition starts with an introduction to the raw materials and processes of making cloth by hand, with the opening sections showcasing fabrics dyed with natural materials such as pomegranate and indigo and the complex techniques of block printing, weaving and embroidery across the ages, together creating a visual compendium of India’s astonishingly diverse array of fabrics.

The cultural, religious and royal aspects expressed through textiles are also explored, examining how fabrics were used in courtly and spiritual life, with a highlight being a Hindu narrative cloth in silk lampas weave, depicting avatars of the deity Vishnu dating to around 1570.

The historical and ongoing importance of textiles to the economy of India forms a key focus of The Fabric of India, with the exhibition highlighting the prevalence of Indian cloth around the world over millennia.

Victoria and Albert dedicate fashion exhibition to India

The final section of the exhibition goes on to explore how fabrics are currently being used by contemporary designers and how the fashion industry in the country is continuing India’s textile traditions, featuring designs by Manish Arora, Abraham and Thakore, Rahul Mishra, Rajesh Pratap Singh and Aneeth Arora. The exhibition ends with a selection of vibrant saris, the traditional dress of India.

Other highlights include a wedding ensemble by Sabyasachi Mukherjee, one of India’s most sought after designers, a women’s jacket fusing ancient technique and modern aesthetic by Rajesh Pratap Singh, as well as a Mughal hunting jacket from the early 17th century.

The Fabric of India is part of the Victoria and Albert Museum India Festival, which will run throughout autumn to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Nehru Gallery of Indian Art at the museum. The festival will feature a series of exhibitions, displays, events, workshops and digital initiatives, including the Bejewelled Treasures: The Al Thani Collection exhibit presenting more than 100 jewelled objects made in or inspired by, India from the 17th century to the present day.

The Fabric of India exhibition runs until January 10, 2016.

Images: Victoria and Albert Museum