The cool "ber" months call for comfy wraps for travel, evening wear, or any airconditioned room. The pashmina, a special wool gathered from Himalaya mountain goats, not only lends warmth and style, but also a layer of understated luxury, to any getup.
Back in the '90s, pashmina wraps were fashionable for their lush texture. Pashmina was then a catch-all term for any fashionable cover-up. However, sellers in Manila took advantage of the trend by selling light wool shawls for P20,000 to P30,000 which they claimed to be pashmina. The trend died down when women learned that they were overpriced fakes.
Kashmiri entrepreneur Latif Bhat and his Filipina partner Romella D.Santiago are offering genuine pashmina and embroidered wool tunics and kaftans that highlight the weaving and embroidery traditions of Bhat's home region, Kashmir.
The newly opened Naram Pashmina is a stall at Shangri-La Plaza mall that offers affordable pashmina wraps ranging from P7,500 to P50,000, depending on the embroidery. Bhat comes from a family of weavers in Kashmir who runs a workshop for embroiderers and a factory that packages the pashmina products.
"Naram" means "soft" in Hindi, Persian, and Arabic. Pashmina is derived from the word "pashm," the under-fleece of the Chyangra goats that live in high altitudes. The mountain goats grow a thin covering of hair that keeps them warm during the extreme winters in the Himalayas. This inner layer of hair is harvested to make the pashmina.
Though each hair strand is a fraction of the width of other hairs, it is sturdy, exquisitely soft, and soothing to the human body. Hence, in Kashmir, pashmina means "soft gold" because of its plush appeal and premium price.
For centuries, the fleece of the Himalayan goat has been used to make premium fashion wraps and shawls made in Kashmir. One goat can yield as much as eight ounces of fleece. After the coarse wool is processed, it softens to become cashmere. Pashmina is the finer and silkier version of cashmere.
In Kashmir, pashmina is an art piece, with shawls created by weavers who have received their craft from their ancestors. The most popular shawls are designed with floral borders, paisleys, and leaves that are native to the region.
Naram Pashmina shawls offer a range of traditional embroidery styles. One type features needlework of paisleys and flowers on both sides of the shawl. More expensive shawls come with needle embroidery of leaves and flowers that fills up the entire cashmere. Then there are repetitive decorative floral designs along the borders. The hand-painted designs use bamboo and wooden-cut pens dipped in vegetable pigment inks.
Up close, Kashmir's embroidery patterns are rich and inspired by nature — flowers, leaves, bouquets, zigzags, and stripes along the border.
Naram Pashmina also sells embroidered cotton kaftans, embroidered pure silk jackets, embroidered tunics, and embroidered pashmina robes. The prices vary according to the simplicity or complexity of the embroidery.
Pashmina can be washed in cold water and mild soap or baby shampoo. As with any wool item, the shawl should be laid flat to dry and not wrung. The pashmina should then be kept in a bag away from moisture, light, and insects.
The pashmina not only adds a dash of luxury to any casual attire or formal wear. It can also keep you warm anytime, anywhere.