At 16, Jayalalitha, the present chief minister of Tamil Nadu, would call me to her house on Greams Road, to take her measurements, and ask me to stitch clothes for her. She loved to wear western dresses, like skirts, pants, top, jackets, sports wear, Delta Burkee Plus etc,” says 81-year-old Shanker, an expert in making Western dress designs. He began his stitching career when he was barely six years old, in 1936 and he continues to stitch clothes even today inside his front corner tailor shop at Fountain Plaza, Egmore. Born in Ariceekarai in Karnataka to a Maharashtrian couple, Shanker shifted his house to Perambur a few decades ago. He is a well-respected western dress designer in Chennai and the fifth generation tailor in his family. A few decades ago, before the arrival of readymade clothes, Shanker was a household name among the Anglo Indians in Chennai. He says he has stitched more than a lakh of Western clothes till date. “I can’t go on leave for even a day, because I want to give a personal touch to the clothes I make,” says Shanker. This spirit of work compelled the former Miss Universe representative from India, Christabelle Howie, to get her clothes stitched for the pageant from Shanker. His son Ashok states, “My father learned stitch western clothes from the British when they were in India, and I learnt the art from him.” Ashok has a daughter but she’s not interested in this line of work. “Perhaps with my generation, the era of stitching western clothes will come to an end,” he avers. Shankar never thought of keeping archives of his designs for high profile clients, which is probably why there are no photographs jumping off the walls. However, he fondly recalls those who appreciated his work, including Balaji’s daughters, Jayalalitha, Naga Reddy, (film producer) Meenakshi Ramanathan, (owner of Abirami Mall), Goenka’s Family (The New Indian Express), Wittal Acharya’s family (owner of Mayajal Mall), Vijay Amirtharaj’s family and many more. One change that he has seen is that in the past, only Anglo Indians would wear western clothes. “Now almost everyone wears pants, short skirts, shirts, etc,” he smiles. “What pains me is that nowadays, people don’t have the patience to wait for their clothes to be stitched. They go for readymade dresses, which kills the creativity and the personal touch in dress making. If this trend continues, in 15 years, there will not be any tailors left who can stitch western clothes at reasonable prices.” Shanker has stitched clothes from party gowns and maxi tops to maternity wear. However, his greatest joy is stitching wedding gowns (from `5,000 onwards) though it’s a laborious process that takes seven to eight days to complete. If you take a moment to eavesdrop, you can listen to fascinating stories that women shared with Ashok’s dad, as he went about an elaborate exercise of planning a wedding dress to be made from a mere 20 metres!
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