Embroidered Striped Cotton Ruffle Shirt Dress

A technique that demands an enormous amount of skill, training, precision and patience. Talented craftspeople must concentrate on following the fine outlines of a design, while creating subtle gradations of colour required to fill in the motif. They must ply the Aari needle, the ‘Aar’ which is a small hooked needle or awl, at a consistent pace ensuring that each stitch is the same size and placed correctly, so that all the eye sees is the seamless beauty of the final design.

The Aari technique is widely used through all of Varana’s collections. The traditional use of Aari is ornate and elaborate, while Varana’s pared down aesthetic interprets Aari with ultimate simplicity revealing the fineness of the skill in each delicate stitch.