Creating ornate outfits for the deity form of Sri Krishna
The Lord of Love, sweetest form of Sri Krishna Vanamali, with ornate outfits and soft and simple options to dress Krishna deity in.
Perfectly formed in every particular, this divine murti of Sri Krishna has been hewn from a solid block of white marble. Delicately translucent in the light, white marble particularly lends lustre to a gentle blue colorwash to represent our Lord’s bluish hue.
His outfits are in a mood of softness, sweetness, and being the darling boy of Braj. Dressed in multi layers of pearl and sapphire jewellery, and lavishly adorned in gold layers.
It seems to me that the sweet Krishna actually guides the creation of His outfits, it’s not really resting on me and my own design ethos, but on His will instead.
I’ve had this idea, (don’t know if it’s a good one or not?!) of creating a wardrobe of 7 outfits for the Lord which are all incorporating yellow.
Following on from that idea, and because we know that Sri Krishna wears the pitambar yellow cloth, I think it sounds nice to create a variety of yellow based outfits for His wardrobe of seven. Anyway, I haven’t been bold enough to execute it so far, and I did wonder if Sri Vanamali Krishna, would like to have the 7 outfits all in yellow.
The first outfit I made Him was this yellow dhoti!
As I was working through the process of creating His outfits, the all 7 yellow idea fizzled. Instead, this deity form of Krishna has got a varied selection with most colors covered! This will really increase the mix and match potential of His wardrobe, which is so important when you start out worshipping the deity. For the Lord’s delight, especially is the possibilities visible in this next outfit!
A Very Fancy Outfit, is this Spring Rasalila inspired ensemble. You can see how it can be styled so many different ways, just within the elements that combine to make it up! There is a soft minty green silk charmeuse full harem pant. Paired with that are the optional mint green chiffon wide shawl and sash with pearl tips. Perfect as is for cowherd days.
A soft pink turban and a long sleeve waist length kurta (jacket) can be mixed in as season demands. Whilst a very, very, abundant full long pink skirt is optional. You can leave it down, the sides swing out, or you can tuck it up at the back creating a peacock effect, or in mid dancing swirl.
After the rasalila, the gopis and Sri Krishna, took a refreshing swim in the river Yamuna. This after the rasadance yamuna swim inspired the outfit “Moonlit Yamuna Whispers”.
The flowing sheer overskirt cascades over a delightful pearl beaded full pant. This one is stitched with pearls and stonework, layered with zardozi gold metalwork all on a creamy gleaming pearlescent sheer chiffon. Some of these photos are during creation – the final jacket had embroidery on both sides of the waist, and also the overskirt had another layer of braid at the hem.
A long sleeve raw silk tunic, hip length and trimmed in gold braid with gold embroidery on the shoulders and sleeves, and at the waist. Having an optional long sleeve jacket in cream is perfect for pairing with other pieces in His wardrobe, covering cold season dressing. The beaded pearl belt can be layered over the skirt, or leave off the skirt and style this outfit with the blue and gold chiffon shawl and soft silk sash with pearl ends.
Fresh innocence in the SOFT COWHERD BOY outfit – a yellow dhoti in a glorious woven brocade with a soft chiffon yellow sash and shawl with gold threadwork.
Peaches and Dream is a buttersoft silk dhoti with a delicate print paired with delightfully airy sash and shawl.
Oh! Rosy Pink Darling! Embroidered in a deep pink brocade, the dhoti has a dramatic side flare, and is styled with a radiant pink chiffon sash and shawl. Having a matching sash and shawl makes it easy to take the elements and combine with different dhoti or pants for a very harmonious look.
In honor of Lord Balaram, we have Dauji’s Day – this outfit was a sneak-in! Originally it started for a dark Krishna (Gopinath Krishna) but it looked so magical of beautiful Vanamali Krishna that it has stayed in His wardrobe!
The beautiful teal blue has a delicate gold woven pattern and is paired with a shawl of heavy ornamental beadwork and a lush coppery gold fringe. Style it with the pearl belt, which is beautifully offset on the teal blue.
Before the final outfit was completed, I want to share a little story about HOW it came to be.
There’s this yellow embroidered silk fabric I have been waiting to use, and when I was creating for Him, I thought, maybe it would be a nice chance to use it. He did already have 2 yellowish garments in His clothes. . .but I thought it could be one of His Spectacular Occasion outfits.
Here it is! I do adore it! Although I wonder if that shawl is a bit granny??!! Lace can be tricky I think. If you don’t get it just right it’s like Granny’s kitchen lace curtains.
So I made it up, changed the shawl a bunch of times, and put it into His pile of clothes. Kept making His clothes. But something weird was happening – I can’t tell you how many times I had to keep counting and recounting His garment bags.
It became so confusing,that I had to keep the bag with the whole collection right beside my desk – because I was reaching to recount them so often. . . And I made more outfits. And counted and recounted. And finally, recounting so many times with different results and finding that the bag with the disputed outfit, the embroidered yellow, was actually not in the proper place but elsewhere in the studio, I surrendered. It felt like Mother Yasoda endless lengths of rope – maybe He just didn’t want that outfit. And I had a very strong inspiration like a little nudge from His desire, to create an outfit in this purpley blue. Accepting His divine guidance, I’ve created the purple outfit and oh! It really does suit Him so perfectly, don’t you think?!
Finally I created for Him, this pretty Manjari Blooms. This lovely outfit is a simple dhoti with a delicate tulsi Manjari type design. The long dhoti is accented with a soft chiffon silk sash and shawl in chiffon, which harmonize with the tulsi blooms painted at His feet.
After Janmastami, I’m a little in awe of dear sweet Krishna’s planning! It turned out that I needed a secondary Janmastami outfit for my Lord to wear, before we did a Maha Abhishek! And guess which one was perfect? That’s right, the one He had rejected from Vanamali wardrobe. Instead, I was able to offer it to Sri Vanvihari, my personally worshipped archa-vigraha deity.
You probably want to see, don’t you? I would! I’ll share a photo to my newsletter subscribers – if you aren’t joined yet, you can sign up for VIP cutesy Krishna shares!