Fabrics and textiles from India that will be available at Bespoke's Silk & Spice event January 26.
Cherokee Street's Bespoke is bountiful with various garments. Fabrics and textiles—ranging in colors, textures, and prints—hang on walls and line tables. The range is unlike anything you'd find locally.
"We're always trying to offer things people can't get in the stores, one of the things being natural fibers and things that are washable and easy to take care of. I don't find those in the American market," owner Dorothy Jones says. From there, Jones admits that "buying just fabric is hard. Americans don't sew that much."
This has led Jones and her husband Mark to travel to New York City, Los Angeles, and most recently Mumbai, India to their fill custom clothing and pattern store. Now, the two want to share their recent finds—230 yards of traditional textiles and fabrics—with the St. Louis area.
At their free event Silk & Spice, January 26, 6:30–10 p.m., attendees can see the rich history and variety of these fabrics, ranging from opulent silk with cross-dyes, light-as-air brocades, iridescent metal threads, and chanderi, with such details as hand-stitched embroidery or hand-beaded adornments, and more.
"When you have a culture this old with these kind of sophisticated methods, they just produce things of such incredible beauty," Jones says.
Courtesy of Bespoke
Dorothy Jones examining sarees embroidered with elephants at a shop called Sanika in Mumbai, India.
On their trip in November, the Jones saw firsthand how Mumbai acts as an anchor for the textile market with many of the country's fabrics and textiles coming into the markets and merchants they browsed.
"I'd walk past shops and go 'Oh, that's nice. That's nice. Oh, God. What is that?' And I'd have to stop," she says.
From there, Jones remembers the experience being very intimate, where merchants showing fabrics felt as if they were showing pictures of their grandchildren. The couple would sit down and the merchants would bring various products, allowing the two to really examine the pieces. "It was a really cool way to do business," Jones says.
With Silk & Spice, attendees can see that classic and traditional Indian fabrics can be used in modern designs. In particular, Jones points to a dark green and metallic paisley brocade made into a tailored women's suit. "Fashion wise, some of the traditional garments and a lot of the traditional fabrics have never really gone out of style, you're starting to see them in contemporary business wear," she says.
As for a favorite (and one that could make for a great wedding dress), Jones pulls out a piece of chanderi in an old style of brocade, from Varanasi, India, where they embroider in the design, clip away the extra, and then tie it in. "That's an amazing amount of artistry and control," she marvels.
For Jones, appreciating the craftsmanship and country's textile history with honor and respect is the most important part of being able to show these pieces to an American market.
"[India's textiles and fabrics] seem like an overlooked gem," she says. "We use India as a manufacturing place, without a lot of regard to how much richer and more sophisticated those textiles and fabric abilities are. '[India is] you know, where the factories are.' No. It's where the history is."
