How to wear the Kashmiri phiran in summer

Richa Dogra started her womenswear brand House of Moxa online during the covid-19 pandemic in 2021, spurred by how Instagram was helping homegrown labels find and build an audience. Her personal style has always been about comfort first, and she would prefer to get her clothes tailored than buy them off the rack. This is reflected in the brand too, which has relaxed fits in jamdani, linen and cotton.

A silhouette that stands out is their jamdani phiran. “The cut suits that fabric. We call it a phiran kurta because it is worn like a kurta—phirans are typically worn over a garment—and has a slight A-line shape,” says Thane-based Dogra, 38, who worked in an alcobev company for a decade, heading learning and development, before starting House of Moxa.

Also read: ‘Barff’: Saurabh Shukla’s thrilling play draws inspiration from Kashmir

As a summer garment, phiran is ideal: it’s fluid, easy to wear, has deep pockets and can be paired with a variety of pants.

People typically think of the phiran as a winter garment. But in Kashmir, chittae (printed) phiran with thread or tilla (silver/gold thread) embroidery is worn in summer, mostly by elderly Muslim women and in rural areas. The ankle-length cotton phiran worn by Kashmiri Pandit women fell out of use in the 1990s. Unlike the winter phiran, which is popular and has been donned by celebrities such as Diljit Dosanjh, Hina Khan and Kangana Ranaut, chittae phirans were considered old-fashioned, even within the valley. Over the last four-five years, with designers and brands creating it in different fabrics and designs, the silhouette has found takers within and outside Kashmir.

Take the online brand Roza Pret, which has comfort-fit clothes in linen and habutai silk. These include phirans. Delhi-based Pankhuri Grover, 40, who started the womenswear brand in 2018 along with her mother and sister, says, “We wanted something which looked smart and was an easy-breezy, relaxed fit.” Available in multi-designer stores like Elahe and Anantam, these phirans are good for semi-formal occasions like brunch with friends, office meet-ups and holidays.

Grover makes another point: she has never found a winter phiran that was tempting enough to buy. “Though the cut was tempting, the designs were not. Take the aari embroidery phirans. They are quite monotone and not suited to every customer’s choice. I thought, why not open up a new dimension for customers so that they don’t associate phirans with just winter.”

Dogra says the demand for this comfort fit is borne out by the fact that they have a return customer rate of 42%; most of whom buy phiran kurtas. “The preference for this cut, which suits a pear-shaped body well, is not limited to any particular geography. We get orders from (NRIs in) Canada and the US,” says Dogra, who also sells through multi-designer stores like Options, Nativist and Verandah.

What makes the garment popular is that it can be accessorised with, say, chunky silver jewellery or embroidered juttis to become festive. “Dress it down, and it is something you can easily carry to your workplace as well,” says Dogra.

TRADITION MEETS MODERNITY

Delhi-based Anju Malik, 55, who makes bespoke silver mojaris for bridal wear, wore a steel-grey silk phiran with hand-embroidered tilla on Eid last month in Dubai and another one in blue velvet for a lunch meeting. “The air-conditioning is always on full blast at most places (in Dubai), so it’s comfortable and stylish to dress in these phirans,” she explains.

I meet her at Samina and Sophiya Khan boutique in Delhi’s Shahpur Jat, where she’s getting a silk phiran in fuchsia pink customised with antique tilla. At the boutique, besides saris, gowns, kurtas and kaftans in traditional Kashmiri embroidery, there is a whole stand filled with phirans for evening wear: some with vintage tilla, others with sozni or sozni-tarkashi embroidery.

Samina Khan, 60, who runs the boutique along with her daughter, explains the difference between a kurta and a traditional summer phiran: The chubagli, or the cut in the armhole, is deeper in a phiran, there is only one pocket—on the right, no side slits, and it is shorter in length, ending around the knee. Worn with a headscarf and salwar, the phiran is layered over a kurtain (shirt), which usually has cuff sleeves and a band collar.

The modern phiran comes in a range of fabrics as per the season, a variety of hand or machine embroidery, has pockets on both sides, side slits, is far less boxy and the length can vary.

For Khan, the emphasis is on reviving traditional tilla embroidery motifs like paisely, pamposh (lotus), bulbul and chinar leaf. She has replicated the embroidery from her great-grandmother’s, mother’s and her own trousseau phirans. The cuts are contemporary.

Khan, whose Eid collection had tissue phirans with farshis, says that when she first made cotton phirans around five years ago, they were an instant hit with the NRI Kashmiri. She’s now customising handblock and handprinted cotton phirans in dovh tilla (tilla intertwined with thread).

PHIRAN’S HOMETOWN

“Now it gets very hot in Kashmir too, and this garment is comfortable and modest,” says Mufti Sadia, 32, who runs Hangers the Closet boutique in Srinagar and has made phirans in ikkat, blockprint, ajrakh and more. For the coming wedding season, she has stocked three-piece phiran sets, including pants and dupatta, in brasso velvet and Banarasi.

She says for the young generation of Kashmiris and those living abroad, the phiran is a cultural marker, reflecting a sense of identity. “Now you don’t have to even explain to a non-Kashmiri customer what a phiran is. The customer who bought a winter phiran, wants a summer phiran too.”

Mufti also credits the Instagram for making the silhouette trendy. She says tourists visiting the store pick up tilla phirans as souvenirs. Tilla gives a rich look, and machine-embroidered phirans are pocket friendly too, some starting from ₹3,000.

Harneet Marwah, 42, who runs the online brand The Koshur World and has recently opened a boutique in Srinagar, credits the NRI Kashmiri for making the summer phiran trendy. “When they wear a customised phiran, it generates a lot of interest.”

Marwah, who is planning phirans as co-ord sets, and paired with tulip pants in the coming months, says her clients include young mothers who want matching outfits for their daughters for festive occasions.

“Floral-print cotton phirans with light aari embroidery can be paired with jeans, flat sandals and silver earrings for both college or casual wear,” she says. Amp up the embroidery, and you have evening wear. According to Marwah, very short phirans with farshis are trending right now, and she has made them in crepe and satin with sozni and tilla work.

Some Pakistan brands are also making phirans “though they can’t replicate Kashmiri embroidery,” says Mufti, referring to Pakistani actress Hina Khwaja Bayat, who, in an Insta post in February, unboxed a shimmering emerald-green tilla phiran from designer Natasha Kamal’s Eid collection. “I get inquires from Pakistan too, if I can deliver to them,” laughs Mufti.

Phirans have been around for centuries, outlasting trends. It’s versatility makes it easy to adapt to seasons and occasions—you need to style it right and make it your own. Maleeha Gul, 45, assistant professor of marketing management at the University of Kashmir, has summer phirans in solid colours with a hint of tilla. She pairs them with palazzos for the office. “They look very smart. I usually don’t style them with a dupatta because I think that takes away from the grace of the overall look. I do get judged, but then I don’t comply with such norms.”

Also read: Stay warm, look cool in a Kashmiri pheran