At its best, fashion is not only about what we wear, but also about the stories we choose to tell through our clothes, be it the memories they hold, the voices they carry forward, or the cultures they keep alive. Shanti has always sought to inhabit the space where design moves beyond surface beauty into something enduring. With its new collection, Chhau, the luxury fashion label looks to one of India’s most hypnotic dance traditions for inspiration, partnering with artists from Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Odisha to reinterpret movement, mythology, and theatre through the lens of the Banarasi sari. And in doing so, it reminds us that fashion’s truest role may be less about adornment and more about heritage, culture, and preservation.
A creative homage
Chhau, the centuries-old dance form from the villages of Eastern India known for its charged rhythm and theatricality, became the unexpected muse for Shanti’s latest collection of banarasi sari. At its core, the dance form is an act of storytelling through movement, a performance tradition that has carried mythology across generations. By collaborating with twelve of its practitioners, Shanti has ensured that the art form isn’t treated as a backdrop, but as the core of the narrative.
The photos from the collection come across more like a visual poem than fashion photography. Shot by Pranoy Sarkar in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, the images are arresting and artful, staging the sarees and dancers around landscapes that shaped their art. This collaboration also reflects the three guiding ideas that are central to the Chhau tradition and also to Shanti’s brand philosophy. Nature as teacher speaks to sustainability initiatives and the instinctive link between craft and environment; community as strength echoes the intergenerational networks that keep both weaving and performance alive; and heritage as resistance showcases how preserving craft is itself an act of cultural defiance in an era of disposability. Together, they form a framework for thinking about fashion not just as design, but as dialogue.
Saris in motion
Forget everything you knew about Banarasi saris. Chhau by Shanti’s take on the classic drape comes alive in fluid fabrics like crepe and georgette, chosen for their lightness and ability to move. These pieces are light and intuitive, almost choreographed to echo the movement of the dance that inspired them. The palette of the collection is another highlight. It’s striking without being heavy-handed, with bold, high-contrast tones that mirror the theatricality of Chhau but translate seamlessly into a contemporary wardrobe. Anchoring it all is the traditional work on the saris. The label’s use of real zari gives the collection its classic Shanti signature.
What this stunning collection by Shanti ultimately demonstrates is that a saree can be more than an object of beauty. By placing a living performance tradition at the heart of the collection, the label shows how fashion has the ability to preserve as well as reinvent culture. It’s at this intersection of art, identity, and preservation that Shanti finds its sharpest, most relevant voice yet.
Explore Chhau by Shanti at The Wedding Collective and discover Banarasi sarees through a new lens.
