Parsi Gara

Gara embroidery came at a time when the Parsis from India would travel to China for trade. Legend says that one of the traders brought back a new kind of artistic embroidery, which was very realistic in its depiction of flora and fauna and was targeted to the European market.

Eventually, it was commissioned as a five-and-a-half-metre sari for the traders from India. Earlier, the pieces that came in were fully embroidered, corner to corner, but then slowly the women started travelling to China too, and they edited them to have borders, blank spaces for tucking in, etc.

The Parsi become quite rich, and now wanted a certain new look—and they adopted the Gara saris as their signature.

Sources of Inspiration

The timeless elegance of a traditional Parsi Gara is undeniable. Skilfully embroidered with a realistic depiction of flora and fauna, the Gara sari is a unique member in the exhaustive variety of crafts found in the country. The Gara Saree is predominantly worn by the Parsi community during weddings and special occasions.

Today, after much modernization & innovations in stitch and style, PATINE has transformed and re-worked the traditional Gara embroidery techniques on different materials and color palettes, giving it a contemporary feel whilst retaining the classic look.

The embroideries are layered with various other heritage embroidery traditions in versatile and silhouettes and cut to create a unique look and individual look which can be worn from day into evening for any and every occasion.

Images from our PATINE Archives