Autumn-Winter is major wedding season in my hometown, Manipur. The wedding function is very traditional (or at least it used to be). One of the many things that I love about our traditional weddings is that as a guest, we ladies get to dress-up in beautiful and opulent Manipuri handloom wear. The tasks are majorly done by the women in Manipur. They weave silk, do hand embroideries, design the patterns, color the silk and threads. The designs and ideas that they come up with is just incredible and their talent is undeniable. They put a lot of hard work as these products are made using traditional wooden or bamboo tools. Hours invested to produce these incredibly beautiful silk or cotton phi/scarves and phanek/sarongs.
Because of its quality, design and its opulent characteristic, these phis are given name as “Rani Phi” which also roughly translates as – Scarf worthy of a Queen. The name given is indeed deserving.
The price of these silk phis differ with the amount of work done on the design and type of the silk woven. Some silk are less soft and less densely woven, such phis cost lesser. Densely woven silk with fewer design & details, too, tend to cost lesser. A raniphi which is really soft and detailed costs around INR 15,000/USD 200/GBP 160 or way more. Yup, Raniphi can be costly.
Native designer like Robert Naorem creates some unique yet traditional designs and color combinations. Being a designer label, his collections are pricier than the ones you get in the bazaar and smaller hand-loom stores. In these recent years, I see that brides-to-be have a craze for his unique collections for their wedding events’ outfits. Afterall, every bride wants to be a Princess on their big day, why not don pieces that’ll make them feel like a Queen!
Another hand-loom house making headlines is the Wangkhei Phee Mantri. This house produces some impressive designs. And yes, on the costlier end.
All these houses release amazing designs every month. In my opinion, most designs are non-classic, they come and go. When it comes to such piece, I prefer traditional, classic designs over trendy designs. Sharing on this blog are some classic Raniphis that are yonks old yet still gorgeous and draw eyes when worn. The designs and the details are impressive in these pieces.
This piece belongs to my friend’s mother, who has had it for years (almost as old as me). I love this classic design, the sparsely distributed floral body, the color combination. Everything!
I matched my blouse with that of the border color of the raniphi and also wore a phanek of that similar color. I find this outfit a colorful with touch of neutral. The kind of wedding guest outfit I mostly prefer. A piece similar to this one, would cost a bomb these days whereas years ago this costed around INR 1,000-1,500.
My love for neutrals will always be there, however from time to time, I love wearing bold color outfits and dark colors as well. This raniphi is precious gem for me. My paternal aunt made this phi in the early 90’s and it got passed on to me few years ago and I have been wearing this time and time again. I love the violet color teamed with red.
Recently, wearing black or dark gray has become a fashionable trend as wedding guest outfit. This raniphi is my take on the dark color trend. I took the dark trend seriously and I decided to go for this dark berry lip color. Then, added a statement necklace piece from Zaveri Pearls.
Okay, now time for the color you often see in my blog – bright colors. How lovely is this yellow raniphi? I paired it with a yellow phanek. Go bold or go home? The silk is not woven so densely, and the texture is slightly rough on this one. However, no less stunning. Price wise this cost lesser because of the weave and design. A yellow raniphi pairs well with red, pink, yellow phaneks. Here I paired with a yellow phanek, as I wanted this look to be bright and bold.
When the wedding falls on a Wednesday, you have to wear pink, right? Mean Girls, apart, how stunning is this pink raniphi and phanek? The golden embroideries and borders scream opulent to me. I went all out pink with this outfit, with pink makeup! In Chandler Bing’s words “Could I be more pink?” I absolutely love this pink shade. This piece also falls on the pricier end due to the details, texture, weave and the soft silk. This color is most brides favorite, nonetheless, a guest can still wear this.
Yup, the makeup is pink too! A nice base with pink eye makeup and pink blusher. The soft rose lipstick is from Wander Beauty.
Which one do you like the most? Tell me in the comment below 🙂
And thank you for reading!
xo
Sulo
The Petite Damsel
The Petite Damsel 