Chikankari — From Lucknow's Bylanes to Global Red Carpets

The White-on-White Wonder: Chikankari's Journey from Mughal Courts to Global Fashion

In the narrow bylanes of Lucknow's old city, in workshops that have been producing embroidery for generations, women sit with fine white fabric stretched across their laps and needles threaded with white cotton thread. What they are creating — stitch by painstaking stitch — is chikankari: one of India's most delicate, most historically significant, and most globally celebrated embroidery traditions.

From the courts of the Nawabs of Awadh to the red carpets of Cannes and the Oscars, chikankari has made a journey that few Indian craft traditions can match. This is its story.

The Origins: Mughal Refinement in Lucknow

The origins of chikankari are debated — some historians trace it to the Mughal emperor Jahangir's court, others to the influence of Persian embroidery traditions brought to India by Mughal artisans. What is certain is that chikankari reached its full flowering in Lucknow during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, under the patronage of the Nawabs of Awadh.

The Nawabs of Awadh were among the most sophisticated cultural patrons in Indian history — their court at Lucknow was a centre of music, poetry, cuisine, and the decorative arts that rivalled anything in the subcontinent. Under their patronage, chikankari was refined from a relatively simple embroidery technique into one of the most complex and beautiful needlework traditions in the world.

The Technique: 32 Stitches, One Tradition

Chikankari is defined by its extraordinary technical complexity. The tradition encompasses 32 distinct stitches, each with its own name, its own visual character, and its own appropriate application. Some stitches are worked on the front of the fabric; others are worked from the back, creating a raised texture on the front. Some create flat, shadow-like patterns; others produce three-dimensional floral motifs that stand away from the fabric surface.

The most celebrated chikankari stitches include tepchi (a long running stitch used for outlines), bakhiya (a shadow work stitch worked from the back), murri (a French knot-like stitch that creates small raised dots), and phanda (a tiny raised stitch used for flower centres). A single piece of chikankari may incorporate a dozen or more of these stitches, each chosen for its specific visual effect.

The embroidery is traditionally worked in white thread on white or pastel fabric — creating a subtle, tonal effect that is the antithesis of the bold, colourful embroidery traditions of other Indian regions. This restraint is chikankari's defining aesthetic quality: it is an embroidery that rewards close attention, revealing its complexity only to those who look carefully.

The Fabric: Muslin, Georgette, and Silk

Traditional chikankari is worked on fine white muslin — a fabric so sheer that the shadow work stitches are visible from both sides. Contemporary chikankari is worked on a wider range of fabrics: georgette, chiffon, silk, and cotton, in a range of colours beyond the traditional white and pastel palette. Aharin's Embroidered Sarees collection features pieces that honour the chikankari tradition while bringing it into a contemporary context.

Chikankari on the Global Stage

In recent decades, chikankari has made a remarkable journey from Lucknow's workshops to the global fashion stage. Indian designers have incorporated chikankari into their international collections; global celebrities have worn chikankari pieces to major red carpet events; and the international fashion press has recognised chikankari as one of India's great contributions to global fashion.

This global recognition has been enormously beneficial for the chikankari craft community — increasing demand, raising prices, and attracting a new generation of artisans to the tradition. But it has also brought challenges: the pressure to produce at scale has led to the proliferation of machine-made chikankari imitations that undermine the market for genuine handmade work.

Recognising Genuine Chikankari

Genuine handmade chikankari can be distinguished from machine-made imitations by several characteristics: the slight irregularity of the stitches (a mark of human craft, not a flaw), the texture of the raised stitches (which should be firm and three-dimensional), and the quality of the fabric (which should be fine and even). A genuine piece of chikankari is also significantly more expensive than a machine-made imitation — reflecting the hours of skilled labour that went into its creation.

Explore Aharin's full range of Indian luxury textiles at aharin.com — and wear the craft of Lucknow's master embroiderers.