The old streets of cities hold treasures that are otherwise impossible to discover, unless, you keep digging for the gold. In the olden times, the tradition was easy to find, but as we were taken over by fast fashion, the eternal was kind of lost, somewhere, along with the lane.

We scraped through the old streets of Jaipur & came to a stop at Mangalmayee, a store that was found back in 1911. The brand uses zardosi and aari work that was used back in the Mughal era. I got in touch with Sunita Burad and Sandeep Burad of Mangalmayee, who explained us about the intricate art they craft at Mangalmayee.

For years now, Mangalmayee has been designing Poshaks for royal families around the country. Sunita expanded from Mangalmayee into Jaipur Pink, a boutique store. I dug in for more gold.

Me at Jaipur Pink

Me: You were married into a family that took pride in creating poshaks, sarees and more, especially for Rajputs around the country. Did you always see yourself getting into the profession?

Sunita: I’m a fashion designer by profession. I used to run my own store in Calcutta before I got married. That’s where my journey began. When I was in class 6, I remember drawing figures of women wearing beautiful clothes at the back of each one of my copies. For me, it was very clear from the beginning that I wanted to get into clothing.

My entire energy was directed towards it. I wanted to do Indo-western clothing, and gradually it became my forte. Calcutta didn’t require traditional wear much, and honestly, I didn’t even look into the direction. I was very fond of Indian craft and tradition, and since Day 1, I have always wanted my garments to be perfect. My entire life, I’ve gotten clothes stitched, and would rarely pick out clothes from different stores.

When I got married, I left everything behind, yes. A couple of years into the marriage, I began taking interest in my husband’s business and kept sharing my ideas with him. Slowly, Mangalmayee also developed a touch of me.

Me: Was it easy to do with two children?

Sunita: My mother-in-law’s support made things easier. At the same time, I taught my children to be independent since the beginning. They knew that if their mother was traveling, they had to pack their own tiffin boxes, get ready themselves, clean their room, etc.

Me: A poshak story that happened right here?

Sunita: Dr. Swati Piramal got in touch with us when her brother-in-law’s son was getting married. They invited us all to put up a show with all of our poshaks and clothes. When we did, they were so fascinated that they wanted all the relatives at the function to wear poshaks.

The challenge was that they had a huge list of foreigners that were coming for the wedding. They had people coming from all around the world, and it was next to impossible to get the right sizes. Soon after that, we sent them faxes with designs, colors, different styles of poshaks, asking for their measurements.

Trust me, it wasn’t an easy task & took a long time to get things right. Fortunately, the result was wonderful, and we were able to take it on board perfectly. Yes, the foreigners fit perfectly into Bandhgalas and poshaks. The Piramal wedding was beautiful.  

Looking for the perfect Poshak? You can get in touch with Mangalmayee, here.

Photo Courtesy: Chhaveesh Nokhwal