Item #154131 Colours of the Indus: Costume and Textiles of Pakistan. Nasreen Askari, Rosemary Crill.
Colours of the Indus: Costume and Textiles of Pakistan
Colours of the Indus: Costume and Textiles of Pakistan
Colours of the Indus: Costume and Textiles of Pakistan
Colours of the Indus: Costume and Textiles of Pakistan
Colours of the Indus: Costume and Textiles of Pakistan
Colours of the Indus: Costume and Textiles of Pakistan
Colours of the Indus: Costume and Textiles of Pakistan
Colours of the Indus: Costume and Textiles of Pakistan
Colours of the Indus: Costume and Textiles of Pakistan

Colours of the Indus: Costume and Textiles of Pakistan

London: Merrell Holberton Publishers / V&A, 1997. Hardcover. Black cloth/boards; gilt lettering on spine. Color-illus. dj with white lettering. 144 pp. with 224 mostly color figures and occasional color maps. VG- clean and tight but with museum ex-lib. marks (lower spine stickers, bar code, title page blind stamp, publication page pencil notations) and some edge/corner wear to dj). Item #154131
ISBN: 1858940443

When dentist, Dr. Nasreen Askari, was working at the Civil Hospital in the 1970's, she was drawn to the elaborately embroidered garments worn by the women who came for treatment. Noting her interest in their clothing, patients responded with gifts of textiles as a tribute to her healing skills. These gifts and later additions, along with the V. & A.'s own collection, became the nucleus of ''Colors of the Indus: Costume and Textiles of Pakistan." Curated by Dr. Askari with Rosemary Crill from the V. & A., the exhibition reflects the passion for textile collecting that was ignited in Dr. Askari and her belief that after 50 years of independence, Pakistan is a country and a culture to be seen on its own terms. Her patients' clothing, Dr. Askari came to learn, captured the multifaceted nature of Pakistani society. Patterns and palettes varied according to social differences and narrowly defined geographic areas. The wife of a potter, for example, dressed differently from the wife of a tanner. ''In traditional Pakistani communities,'' she observed, ''women wear what they are.'' Taken together, the 200 articles on view, dating from the 1850's to the present, tell a complex story of the cultures, both nomadic and urban, that have migrated through this crossroad of a country. ''The influences that traveled into Pakistan over generations became crystallized into local and regional traditions,'' said Dr. Askari, who now studies textiles full time. One of the great sights of Pakistan is the Indus River, whose gray waters meander from the mountainous Northern Areas near China to its outlet on the Arabian Sea, and the curators use its image as the motif to travel upriver through the four major regions of the country: Sind, Baluchistan, Punjab and North-West Frontier Province. Many of the pastoral and agrarian tribal areas have remained untouched by any international fashion intrusions, particularly in the northern areas, where the first highway link was built only 45 years ago. The cities, too, which gained from the Muslim migrations at partition in 1947, have maintained the sophisticated floral and geometric motifs of Mughal culture. Although the national dress for men and women has settled down to the shalwar kameez, full trousers cuffed at the heel and a tunic, the variety of shapes and the densely embroidered designs are a visible expression of a rich culture that prides itself on being dressed properly for the milestones and ceremonies of life. - from the NY Times. Sumptuous color photos.

Sorry, this book is not available.
Notify me when this comes back in stock.