Women Lines

Namaskar! India as a country needs no introduction in today’s times!

As popularized in name as “Incredible India”, the country has always been known for its traditions, culture, and diversity.

Indian handicraft is world famous. Embroidery is the name of one such craft that glorifies the cloth when worked upon. There are several embroidery traditions in India that have been the major factor behind the beautiful clothing of the royalty and the common people. Chikankari is one of them. Lucknow, in Uttar Pradesh, was and is the centre of chikan embroidery, renowned for its timeless grace and its gossamer delicacy, a skill more than 200 years old — exploited & commercialized but not dead. In fact, the craft is alive and struggling to regain some of its former beauty and elegance. Chikan embroidery is done on fine cotton fabric. The garments are first stitched and then embroidered, whereas skirts, saris, and table linen are first embroidered and then finished. A study of the origin of chikan reveals that this form of embroidery had come to India from Persia with Noor Jehan, the queen of the Mughal Emperor Jehangir. The word chikan is a derivative from the Persian word ‘chikaan’ meaning drapery.

Chikankari is not an easy embroidery.
Different specialists work with different types of stitches. For example, open work or jaali is not done by embroiderers who do the filling work - each worker completes his/her bit and the fabric is then sent to the next embroiderer. The wages for each job are fixed separately. There is a discipline and method in the application of the stitches. The darn stitch is worked on rough cotton fabric to fill angular designs and to cover the surface of the fabric, while satin stitching is done exclusively on delicate fabrics Chikan embroidery has a repertoire of about 40 stitches of which about 30 are still being used. These can be broadly divided into 3 heads - flat stitches, raised and embossed stitches, and the open trellis-like jaali work. Some of these have equivalents in other embroideries, the rest are manipulations that make them distinctive and unique. They cover almost all the embroidery stitches of the country and have interesting and descriptive names.

NC Styles, is the brainchild of Neetu Chopra and Charu Mehrotra. We are creating awareness & educating on the chikankari work and cultural heritage of North India in Singapore. We are bringing you the exclusive chikankari ‘hardwork’of the Indian artisans.

As natives from Lucknow, we would like to see this art grow & more artisans are able to lead a better life through this art. Furthermore, we’re able to get the best rate possible. We have Unique & Beautifully Elegant ladies wear to suit all curves of women, & comes in various sizes & colours. We are looking people who are interested in introducing chikankari wear to their friends/ clients, in Singapore/Asian market.

Here are some samples of our work.

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