Kangana Ranaut hogs limelight with Kulvi attire

Abhinav Vashisht

Kullu, April 15

The traditional Kullvi attire Pattu is in the limelight after BJP candidate from Mandi parliamentary constituency, and Bollywood actress, Kangana Ranaut has been sporting it during her election campaign in Kullu and Manali.

Clothing & ART

• Pattu is worn by women belonging to the hilly areas of state — commonly in the higher reaches of Kullu, Mandi and Kinnaur districts.
• Women usually wear the attire — made of sheep wool — during the winters. Pattu is worn over a suit or a sari to beat the cold.
• People of the region treat the attire as art and wear it with much pride and respect.

Pattu is worn by women belonging to the hilly areas of the state — commonly in the higher reaches of Kullu, Mandi and Kinnaur districts.

Women usually wear the attire — made of sheep wool — during the winters. Pattu is worn over a suit or a sari to beat the cold. However, people of the region treat the attire as art and wear it with much pride and respect.

Naggar village resident Rahul said, “In the rural areas of Himachal Pradesh, women have been wearing Pattu for a long time. Earlier ,it was worn only by women of rural areas. However, with time, its popularity has increased and now it is popular in the urban areas too.”

Earlier Pattu was made only on handloom machines made of wood, known as ‘Khaddi’ in the local language.

Kullu-based weaver Hiralal Thakur said, “It takes a lot of time and skill to prepare Pattu on handloom, but now it is being prepared by powerlooms too. It takes at least 20 days to make Pattu by hand, whereas the powerloom takes much less time. The quality of handmade Pattu is better and it is more expensive than powerloom-made Pattu. Even today, many artisans of Kullu make Pattu on handlooms.” Ramesh Thakur, retired general manager of Bhuttico, a handloom society, said, “Pattu came into existence in the 1940s. When the weavers of Rampur and Kinnaur came to Kullu valley, they further refined the art of making Pattu. Pattu, which was once plain and of just a colour or two, started being offered in many designs and colours after the arrival of these artisans. Today, Pattu is available in many designs in the markets of the region.”

He said the price of a basic and simple Pattu started from around Rs 5,000. However, the price of the fabric could go up to Rs 40,000 or more depending on the design, colour and quality of wool etc.

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