How the humble gamchha became a fashion statement

If you have nothing to eat, wrap a gamchha tightly around your waist and go off to sleep.’ This was the harsh advice given to those feeling hunger pangs during the Bengal famine. The checkered cloth has seen working class folks through many hardships — from wiping sweat to using it as a quick-drying towel, a turban to carry head loads, an impromptu vegetable bag and even a child’s cradle.Now, the humble everyman’s cloth has not only become fashionable, but museum worthy as well. ‘Gamchha: The Extraordinary in the Ordinary’ — an exhibition by the Dastkari Haat Samiti that concluded last week at the National Crafts Museum in Delhi — showcased over 230 gamchhas from 14 Indian states and Southeast Asia. In Bihar, it is offered to the river goddess, while in Assam, the white gamosa is a symbol of respect. It also featured art installations, design interventions and live demonstrations exploring the fabric’s many uses.Dastkari Haat Samiti president Jaya Jaitly says the aim was to show its cultural and practical value. “It is gifted at weddings, used in religious ceremonies and carried over the shoulder when taking a body for cremation. But both the weaver and wearer remain most overlooked,” she says.From rally to red carpetThe most visible use of this handwoven towel is during election campaigns, with everyone from PM Modi to Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren and deputy CM of Andhra Pawan Kalyan sporting it. In fashion, it’s rise has been more recent. While Bangladeshi supermodel-turned-designer Bibi Russell did use it for her collections around 15 years ago and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap paired it with a Dior suit at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, the gamchha played only a cameo role. The current crop of designers is putting the material to far more creative uses, fashioning everything from dresses to dolls and biker jackets. Last month, Akshata Murty, wife of former British PM Rishi Sunak, turned heads in a striking gamchha dress she had picked from Bengal-based label Rangila Dhaga which had a stall at this year's Jaipur Literature Festival. medium119047744Kalpana Das, who comes from an artisan family in West Bengal and started Rangila Dhaga in 2014, says that in the beginning, people didn’t understand why they were making clothing and accessories out of gamchha. “In cities like Delhi, we were told, ‘It’s worn by the labour class — why should we wear it?’ But times have changed. Today, the gamchha has found its way into designer boutiques,” she says. Murty’s dress became an instant bestseller, with orders flooding in. The label has also found patrons in actor and singer Ila Arun and Baroda royal Radhikaraje Gaekwad. medium119047632 ShowQuotesTaking Pride in rootsFor Saurabh Dwivedi, founding editor of vernacular digital news platform The Lallantop, the gamchha is not just an accessory. It reflects his roots in Bundelkhand and challenges the notion that the gamchha signified backwardness. “Our whole argument was that you shouldn’t judge by appearances. We can be rooted and aspirational at the same time and excel in our craft,” he says.Though upscale iterations are welcome, Dwivedi points out that it remains absent from mainstream fashion. “As more people like actor Pankaj Tripathi or director Anubhav Sinha wear them, they gain popularity. But people still associate the gamchha with rural India, not office wear. Only if a popular icon like a big Bollywood star wears it will the gamchha get a real boost,” says Dwivedi, who recently wore a woollen gamchha at a Harvard conference.In a market dominated by powerloom textiles, Das focuses on the artisans at the core of her brand. “The clash between powerloom and handloom continues, and gamchha weavers are not front and centre of the story, as they should be. Even if they can’t scale up like machine-made goods, weavers deserve a place in the industry,” Das says. ShowQuotesShining a spotlight on the work of weaversBesides Das and the Dastkari Haat Samiti, there have been other attempts to put the weaver centre stage. During the India Art Fair in Feb, fashion brand Johargram showed the labour that goes into weaving this cloth. “We showed the entire process to the visitors. So, people actually understood Jharkhand’s loom, the clothes in red and white, and the story behind it,” says designer Ashish Satyavrat Sahu, who launched the brand right before the pandemic hit and kept himself afloat by making gamchha masks. The company now has an annual turnover of Rs 50-70 lakh and patrons like cricketer MS Dhoni and actor Rasika Duggal.Among Johargram’s notable collections is ‘Jani Shikar’, which draws inspiration from a powerful historical event where tribal women went out to fight against invaders wearing men’s clothing. The collection features shackets, bomber and biker jackets with dyed gamchha and metal accessories.“Historically, textiles have been used to tell stories, assert cultural identity and challenge oppression. From homespun khadi that became a symbol of independence from colonial rule to the AIDS Memorial Quilt which honoured lives lost to the disease in the eighties, textiles have the power to hold collective memory and inspire action. The gamchha operates similarly, though in a more understated way,” says American artist Elise Vazelakis, who sourced used gamchhas from Dubai’s construction labourers for The Gamchha Project.The National Crafts Museum exhibition had giant gamchha sculptures ‘floating’ from the ceiling, mimicking aerial roots of a banyan tree and flying origami art. Architect Suparna Bhalla, who mounted a curled gamchha installation using bamboo and metal at the exhibition, says, “Why can’t the gamchha be this garment of our independence, where we can be who we want to be without our pretensions, without our baggage?”