NATURAL DYES FOR THE PLANET
This festive season, celebrate Nature through naturally-dyed and colourful ensembles
Flowers are an integral part of festive celebrations. Be it garlands or the flower motifs in the rangoli, flower decorations add an element of colour and fragrance to the festivities. During a festival, the marigold flower is considered auspicious and its orange and yellow shades make any festival bright and beautiful. Such is the power of Nature and yet we fail to acknowledge it. Fashion without colour is like breathing without oxygen.
Fashion designer Sabrina Fernandes shares that a number of different colours can be created with flowers and flower parts. “Although many herbal/natural dyes have been replaced by synthetic varieties, some natural dyes are still used to add colour to fabrics. Natural colours always offer contrasting shades and a range of hues, which are impossible to achieve with artificial colouring,” adds Fernandes.
Nature offers a beautiful array of colours, and the dyes extracted from flowers represent Nature’s beauty — robust, beautiful, serene and soothing, believes Rupa Trivedi, founder of Adiv Pure Nature.
According to fashion designer Medhavini, natural dyes depend on a lot of different factors such as absorbency of the fabric, number of dips, amount of dye substance, time required for sun drying etc. “It is very unlikely to get the exact same colour with natural dyes even if the exact same procedure is followed. And this is the USP of natural dyes. The imperfections of the process make it more beautiful and sustainable,” adds Medhavini.
NATURE FIRST
According to Trivedi, the prime need of the hour is a Herculean effort to sustain and try to reduce, if not reverse, the irreparable damages done to the Earth. “Firstly, natural-dyed products aren’t simply a product for fast consumption or momentary thrill. They are a lifestyle choice of opting for beautiful, hand-dyed artisanal textures on natural fibres that is kind to your skin, mind and the earth. For now, designers need to learn about dyes and how to work with them. ‘Natural dye’ is a beautiful concept, full of challenges. It’s a small step but with the amount of damage fast fashion has done, it’s a much-needed step that works in sync with other sustainable practises,” adds Trivedi.
GO NATURAL
Victoria Vijayakumar, programme coordinator, Aranya-Natural dye unit, believes that one should have an innovative drive and passion for the art of natural dyeing. She lists a few pointers for budding fashion designers who want to take it up:
Continuous learning and practise are important. Investment depends on the number of workers as it is a laborious job. Passion for promoting natural products. Drive to innovate new ventures.
Interest to learn new techniques and skills.
It’s also high time we understand the ill effects of artificial dyes. Fernandes points out that our skin is the largest organ of our body and that the clothes we wear are in direct contact with our skin. “Because clothing comes into prolonged contact with one’s skin, toxic chemicals are often absorbed into the skin, especially when one’s body is warm and skin pores are open to allow perspiration,” says Fernandes, adding, “We make sure that we use chemicalfree, skin-friendly dyes in order to create our colours. Nature has vibrant colours to offer through roots, flowers, stone, etc, and we use these organic colouring agents as much as possible as they don’t harm us or the environment.”