Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how the crafts that were being lost to time were revived with the help of leading design institutes and design studios and are a major contributing factor in contemporary Indian Fashion.

Paper long abstract:

India has a strong history of crafts and craft traditions. These craft traditions especially in the Indian Textile sector led to India being one of the top most countries when it came to textile exports even before the British Raj, and probably leading to it.

Due to modernisation and mechanization a lot of crafts were slowly beginning to get lost in history, but the love of craft, design and tradition helped the revival of Indian Craft Industry. It has now become the USP of Indian designers. The Surface design is the major contributing factor in value addition when it comes to Indian designers, Ritu Kumar, Rohit Bal, J J Vallaya are to name but a few. This has attracted the domestic as well as international designers towards the Indian textile crafts. It moves the designs from mundane to special and has become the backbone of Indian Fashion Industry.

Design intervention in terms of latest trends, technical knowhow and contemporary fashion needs have helped the crafts and craftsmen gain a foothold in the Indian Fashion Industry. This paper is a study of the rebirth of these dying crafts as pillars of Indian Haute- Couture.