Kota Doria Dress Material Slate Blue Floral Jaal

This two piece unstitched dress material kurta top and dupatta the sheer graph check cotton from Kaithoon near Kota in Rajasthan On a white ground a dense allover floral jaal runs across the top rose pink blossoms drawn with dusky slate blue vines and outlines The sheer matching dupatta carries the same floral fine gold zari border stripes along its length scattered slate blue leaf buti and a slate blue floral border at each end The proof of a genuine Kota Doria is its khat the fine net of tiny squares made by alternating finer and coarser cotton yarns across the loom Handwoven the squares swell and shrink by a fraction across the width because each is beaten in by hand The floral is hand block printed in two passes the slate blue outline first the rose pink fill second so look closely for the tiny offsets where the two colours meet and the soft registration shifts from one stamp to the next a screen print would lock the colours together with mechanical precision and sit flat on the surface The thin gold border is real zari thread woven into the cloth not printed on and the colour of the print soaks through so the motif reads from the reverse A GI protected craft Kota Doria is woven by the weaver families of Kaithoon on pit looms as it has been for generations and the floral is stamped by hand one wooden block at a time in the Rajasthani printing tradition The cloth is prized for a rare pairing of qualities sheer and cool enough for the fiercest heat yet firm enough to hold fine print and a zari border and to drape with a clean crisp fall Made up as a straight kurta the fresh white ground with its blue and pink floral and glint of gold zari reads light and summery equally at home for daily wear and daytime functions The breathable cotton stays cool through the heat and the palette pairs easily with silver or gold and with white blue or rose accessories