Silver Grey Embroidered Silk Saree with Gold Zari Border – Bhagalpuri

Parna

A soft silver grey, scattered with gold ferns, and bordered on both sides in a broad band of gold tissue zari. The pallu opens into wide gold bands and closes with a twisted fringe.

About the embroidery

The butis are fern sprays, embroidered in gold thread — each one a stem with paired fronds running off it, set far apart so the grey stays quiet between them. Nothing is crowded. On a saree this restrained the spacing is the whole design decision, and it has been made well.

About the fabric

Pure handloom silk, woven in Bhagalpur. It is smoother and finer than the tussar pieces — a soft, even hand with a low sheen that shifts between dove and pewter as the light moves. It drapes close and falls without stiffness.

What it's for

Grey with gold is the most versatile pairing there is. This carries a formal working day, a daytime function and an evening equally well, and it takes gold, pearl or oxidised silver without arguing with any of them.

Details

• Fabric: Pure handloom silk
• Colour: Silver grey with gold
• Work: Gold embroidered fern butis
• Body: Scattered embroidered butis, widely spaced
• Border: Broad gold zari, both sides
• Pallu: Wide gold zari bands with a twisted fringe
• Saree length: 5.5 m · Width: 1.10 m
• Blouse piece: 0.80 m, matching, unstitched
• Package contains: 1 saree with blouse piece
• Wash care: Dry clean only

On handloom

Every metre of this saree passed through a pit loom worked by hand and foot. No motor is involved anywhere in the process — the weaver sets the pace, and the cloth carries that pace in it. Bhagalpur has been weaving silk this way for generations, and what comes off its looms does not resemble what comes off the looms at Varanasi or Chanderi. The yarn is different, the water is different, and so are the hands.

On colour and variation

These sarees are dyed in small lots and woven one at a time, so no two are alike — and no single piece is quite uniform from end to end. You may find the shade deepening a little along the length, a slub where the yarn ran thick, or an edge that wanders by a thread. None of that is damage. Screens also render colour differently, so expect some drift from what you see here.