Textile Tuesday: Abr Silk of Uzbekistan
24.01.12
1Fashion
The silk trade of Central Asia has been well documented for centuries - but it wasn’t until the eighteenth century when ikat-dyed silk cloth emerged.
Ikat is a dyeing technique used to pattern textiles and employs a resist-dyeing process commonly on the warp - but also sometimes on the weft fibers. It is produced chiefly in Uzbekistan - but contemporaneously emerged in countries such as Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Guatemala, Mexico, Argentina, and many others.
In Uzbekistan the term used to describe ikat is abrband, which literally translates “to tie a cloud” - referring to the cloud-like appearance of the patterning. Abr silks are by far some of the most sophisticated and visually-dramatic textiles. Janet Harvey, author of Traditional Textiles of Central Asia remarks that abr silks, “owe their beauty to the technique of binding and dyeing the patterns on the warp threads before they are set on the loom. Like clouds, the motifs appear to float unbounded, their edges blending into the adjacent colors.”
Since 2005, Oscar de la Renta has been incorporating extremely luxurious ikat fabrics into his designs. Having traveled to Uzbekistan himself - and working closely with Rasuljon Mirzaahmedov - a fifth-generation ikat weaver - de la Renta says that the fabric undeniably “appears to be a print but is really a woven fabric...unbelievably rich in color and extremely creative.”
Since de la Renta’s appearance of ikat season-after-season on New York’s runways, other designers such as Thakoon, Proenza Schouler, Kaufman Franco, Philip Lim, Tibi, Matthew Williamson, Dries van Noten, Gucci, Giambattista Valli and Shoshanna Alyce – have followed suit.
Motifs of abr silks are highly variable - but they often call upon an artistic tradition that is several thousand years old, according to Harvey. She notes that workshops developed individual styles and motifs. Lola gul (tulip), kutch karagul (ram’s horn), daira gul (tambourine), and shona jul (comb-flowers), are typical designs from Bokhara, with reds and yellows predominating. The designs of Ferghana and Khojent abr are smaller and less dramatic, and more subdued in color. One, named kychik (tickling), is a cheerful zigzag pattern. The abr of Samarkand are simpler, relying on blocks of colour for effect. Frequently designs are of a single motif but on different scales and sometimes of different - very vibrant colors.
Ikat is still practiced today - sometimes on semi-mechanized looms - and to a lesser extent by abrband masters. The technique of creating abr patterns is extremely complicated - but is being revived by many people - both within Uzbekistan and around the world where ikat has historically been practiced.
For more information, visit: http://www.source4style.com/trends/the-academy/abr-silk-dries-van-noten-de-la-renta-textile-treat/
