Fashion Inspirations from The Mughal EmpireThe Mughals established one of the greatest empires in India. Their leisurely and relaxed lifestyle provided the artisans of the time with an atmosphere of creativity and experimentation with contemporary ideas and philosophies. Besides their impassioned interest in painting, architecture, jewellery making and poetry, the Mughal emperors paid special attention to textiles patterning, cuts and delicate hand work on their garments. The trends and styles that they developed were modern and contemporary to the Sub-continent and are still replicated by architects, artists, film directors and the fashion designers, around the world.Textiles flourished remarkably under the Mughals. Various techniques of crinkling, dying, patterning and embroidery were explored. Lahore received special attention and grew into a leading center of textile production. Twenty varieties of woolen cloth alone were exported from Lahore to different parts of the Sub-continent and abroad.For weaving shawls there were one thousand karkhanas in the city. Silk weaving also received special encouragement and silk cloth produced in Punjab gained fame throughout the world.Because of its finesse, Indian cotton became very popular in Europe as it was not only colour fast but also far cheaper than the linen available there. This remarkable influence in European markets resulted in many Indian clothing and textile terms entering English and other European languages e.g. bandana, calico (plain-weave cotton fabric with simple block printed design), cashmere (wool from Kashmiri goats), cummer band (a waist band or girdle), dangree (coarse cloth woven with two or more threads per weave), khaki (dust coloured cloth used for military uniforms), muslin (thin cotton fabric), pajama, shawl etc.The priceless legacy of miniature paintings and chronicles from the Mughal era provide an insight into the dress code of the nobility at the time. By examining them one can easily determine that costume designing was a major art form that received special encouragement by all the Mughal emperors. Interestingly, each emperor maintained his own contemporary style of dressing in court and otherwise. Babar who was brought up in the cooler climate of Turkistan, retained the costumes of his homeland; the most popular garments in his period were chafan (long coat) and postin (sheep skin coat). It can be said that he must have worn them for traditional rather than practical reasons.Humayun introduced Persian elements in the costumes. He was notorious for seeking the help of planetary movements (every day) in choosing what to wear. He also maintained a special treasure house in his palace to accommodate textiles and garments.Akbars long reign was largely a peaceful one. In this period there was a combination of Indian and imported skills and techniques, which lead to the flowering of classical forms and shapes and later became an integral part of Indian dress design. Akbar took the initiative of introducing local textiles, which were best suited to the hot climate of the region. He himself took interest in the fashioning of court dresses and introduced the Chakdar jama to his court, which is a cross over tunic, with slits around the skirt and an asymmetrical hemline. Although it was in fashion in India since medieval times, Akbar restyled the garment and developed it into a formal gown by removing slits, rounding the hemline and increasing the fullness of the skirt.The emperor was smart enough in maintaining the freedom and religious identity as the Hindu Chakdar Jama was fastened on the left side of the body and Muslims fastened it on the right side.Akbar also developed a vocabulary of clothing and textile. Some new terms were introduced; jama was renamed sarbgati meaning, that which covers the entire body, izar (drawers) was renamed yar pirahan meaning companion of the coat, burqa and hijab (over garment covering the body and face) were named hitragupta (Sanskrit word) meaning that which hides the face and shawl took the name paramnarm meaning extremely soft.During his reign, emperor Jahangir initiated the printing, weaving and embroidering of Kashmiri flora on textiles. He introduced a garment called nadiri (literally mean rarity) which was a type of overcoat worn over the jama. The garment was designed exclusively for him. In the museums one finds only two surviving garments from his period; a Bikandar coat and a riding coat.Shah Jahans reign marked the height of aristocratic elegance and opulence in all the forms of art. Mughal ornamentation, especially those for the garments, received fresh impetus. The royal garments became more decorated and lavish with heavy embellishments of floral designs. Motifs were outlined with gold thread coupled with pietra-dura effect of the precious stones. The intrusions and wars of course left no marks of those garments.Aurangzeb also promoted the same lavish style on clothing, and paintings dating back to this reign reveal the evidence of Indianisation of Persian fashions in the royal court.The Mughal rule is considered a golden age of textile crafts in the Sub-continent. By the seventeenth century, jamas, choghas and angrakhas remained the height of fashion along with accessories for men such as the atamsukh (a long, loose garment worn like an over coat in winters), turban (the style of tying the turban varied according to social status), patka, jutis (shoes) and farji (kind of a coat) etc. The intricate patterning of clothing and the delicate embellishments done by hand marked the finesse, luxury and exuberance of the garments.