Apparel July 2019 Apparel July 2019 issue | 页面 172

FEATURE
THE RESURGENCE
OF INDIGO
In recent times, fashion industries the world over have been cultivating a
growing awareness of and appreciation for the beauty of the natural indigo dye.
Brinda Gill notes.
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I APPAREL I
Fragments of cloth dyed with natural indigo date
back to ancient times, frescoes painted with
natural indigo in ancient and medieval times,
paintings and prints of natural indigo on paper
and cloth go back by centuries, and fabrics
woven with indigo-dyed yarn tell the story of the
enduring and inextricable presence of the plant
as a natural dyeing component in India. The
word ‘indigo’ is said to have been derived from
the Greek word indikon, meaning ‘from India’,
conveying that the natural dye was first known to
the West through India.
Over the centuries, as a spectrum of beautiful
and soothing shades—from pale white to hues
of black—was obtained from natural indigo, the
dye came to be much sought-after by textile
artisans, and later on, started being exported
too. Subsequently, indigo came to be used
for colouring cloth, tie-dye, block printing, and
painting (kalamkari) techniques, and also for
July 2019
dyeing yarn. Indigo-dyed yarn (both fully dyed
and resist-dyed) has been extensively used for
weaving (as best seen in patola textiles and
jamdani nilambari saris) and embroidery.
A PLANT-BASED DYE
Indigo is derived from leaves of certain plants. In
India, the primary source of the dye is the Indigofera
tinctoria species that grows naturally in the country,
and is also cultivated. Cultivating the plant and
extracting indigo is a time-consuming process and
this makes the dye expensive. Thus, historically,
the colour was used relatively less or used for finer
or more expensive textiles. Further, dyeing yarn or
cloth with natural indigo is also time- and labour-
intensive. This is because the yarn or cloth has to
be repeatedly dipped in the dye for an increased
depth of colour, with a considerable time gap
between each dip to allow the colour to be oxidised
and the yarn/cloth to dry.