Staying rooted to traditional practices is important now more than ever as people seek anything symbolic of their cultural identity in far away lands. Why is it that we hunt down an Indian restaurant even while on holiday? Why is it that our eyes spark up when we hear someone speak our mother tongue while on a train journey in a foreign land? Why is it that we still get excited to watch the latest Bollywood movie at the theatre when we no longer live in India? Is it because no matter how far we go, how many languages we speak, we still want a piece of our tradition that marks our unique identity?
The Mangalsutra is symbolic of the historical position a woman holds in her family and society. While we want to honor our cultural upbringing, it has also become increasingly important to the women of today that they lead a life formed by their own individual choices and opinions. The balance between traditional and modern is a pursuit that we have all undertaken and cannot escape from.
When most of the brides who came to us didn’t find Mangalsutras that satisfied their modern day lifestyle needs, their emotional breakdown was confirmed (and our design opportunity but we’ll come to that in just a bit). But of course, they bought what was available just to satisfy their in-laws for that period of time. And then forget about it because yes, who wants to be caught wearing a bulky and non-versatile piece of jewellery when they’re in a fancy cafe in Bali while on their honeymoon? Instagram, for sure will not approve. And we won’t, either.
We wanted the modern mangalsutra to give women the power to reclaim their narrative in society.
As this opportunity started to take shape in front of us, we understood two important factors that formed the core of it:
- There are certain traditions like the Mangalsutra which SIMPLY cannot be ignored.
- While the tradition remains such, there is no rule set in stone that the Mangalsutra HAS to be in the form of a long chain.
We then took this challenge and added it to our list of design problems to solve. So we decided to:
- The Basis. Retain the core elements of the Mangalsutra.
- The Look. Make this high tension inducing piece of jewellery an easy, comfortable one for daily wear that’ll go with ALL your wardrobe choices – little black dress, printed kaftan, boyfriend jeans to the most relaxed t shirt and shorts.
Now picture this.
The CaratLane Mangalsutra is our attempt at making traditions relevant and wearable all over again. We can all live happily ever after because that’s what weddings (and life) is all about, right? 🙂 CaratLane Mangalsutra is our attempt at making traditions relevant and wearable all over again. We can all live happily ever after because that’s what weddings (and life) is all about, right?
P.S: Send us those pictures already! Our Instagram approves
