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What Is Ikat? The Resist-Dyed Weave, from Pocha...

Ikat is one of the few textiles you can recognise from across a room: diamonds, chevrons and hooks whose edges seem to shimmer, as if the pattern were slightly out...

What Is Kalamkari? Pen and Block Kalamkari, Exp...

Kalamkari is the hand-drawn, naturally dyed cotton of Andhra Pradesh, and the name tells you how it began: with a pen. If you have met the word on a saree...

What Is Shibori? Japanese Resist Dyeing, and Ho...

Shibori is the Japanese family of resist-dyeing techniques behind those soft-edged indigo patterns of rings, stripes, grids and spider webs, and it is often loosely filed under tie-dye. This guide...

What Is Khadi? India's Hand-Spun, Hand-Woven Cloth

What is khadi? It is the word on a kurta label, a shop sign in every Indian town and a line in India's history books, and it means something precise:...

What Is Batik? The Wax-Resist Dyeing Technique,...

What is batik? Batik is a way of patterning cloth with hot wax and dye, and the word has become shorthand for a whole look: veined, slightly crackled motifs in...

What to Wear in Saudi Arabia: Dress Code and Pa...

What to wear in Saudi Arabia is clearer than its reputation suggests. Women visitors do not have to wear an abaya or cover their hair, but there is a real...