Many friends of mine ask me the difference in good Chikan & bad Chikan. I wish to convey them that there is no such thing as bad Chikan. There are basically 3 types of Chikan, one for the masses, one for the classes and one for the pioneers.
Chikan for the masses is made by learners ie. girls who are learning or womenfolk who just want it to be done for the sake of earning the bread. The image below shows the best quality of this kind of Chikan, which when seen from a distance gives a good feeling that it is a piece made by hand, its delicate and it is famous. Many actresses (as I have posed in my earlier posts) know this as Chikan.
When we see it from near (magnified in the image below here just 4X), it tells its tale itself. Let me again remind here that it is the best in its class.
The other form which is for the classes is depicted here in the images below. The second image is also magnified 4X to show the comparision.
The third kind is sometimes a quality in between these two or more – less of the second kind. The difference between the 2nd and the 3rd kind is that the latter is created by the designers for special clientele They usually don’t have that technical knowledge of all the processes that are involved in the making of Chikan and end up, in terms of quality, between the 1st and the 2nd type. These famed designers usually find their connoisseurs (read good pay masters) in larger cities specially Mumbai where they have to settle themselves to be available any time. The potential of Mumbai is well known to almost every Indian. It is a good point for them to get the raw materials, imported as well as locally made. It is a largest market place of India.
This is the plus as well as the minus point for them especially while designing with Chikan. Good quality Chikan needs checks at every process which is almost impossible to handle from 1400kms. distance. The case is fairly visible on Bollywood top actress Priyanka Chopra’s white and navy blue lehnga designed by designer Manish Malhotra. She wore it at Shabana Azmi’s Mizwan show. This quality can be said as in between the two mentioned above. It is made by almost all high class Chikan makers attempting it on pure georgette.
Some of the previous works of designer Abu Jani are really gems. I have not studied their new works from as near as I had the opportunity to access others’ works. They have till now closely guarded their works very efficiently. It were really them, copy of whose works is still giving bread to thousands in Lucknow.
krishna chikan 