Zari is gold, and zardozi embroidery is the glitteringly ornate, heavily encrusted gold thread work practised in Jaipur and a few other cities of India. To most foreigners - used to sleek, understated wear - the north Indian bride’s lehanga, choli and dupatta, heavily emroidered with gold and silver threads comes as a visual shock. Either real silver thread, gold-plated thread or an imitation which has a copper base gilded with gold or silver colour, is used for zari.

Traditionally made for Mughal and Rajput nobility, it has now been officially adopted as bridalwear by anyone who can afford it. of course, the days of using real gold and silver thread are now history. What you can get, however, is synthetic or ‘tested’ zari embroidery. Metal ingots are melted and pressed through perforated steel sheets, to be converted into wires. They are then hammered to the required thinness. Plain wire is called badla, and when wound round a thread, it is called kasav. Smaller spangles are called sitara, and tiny dots made of badla are called mukaish.

Akin to applique, gota work involves placing woven gold cloth onto other fabric to create different surface textures. Kinari, or edging, as the word suggests, is the fringed or tasselled border decoration. This art is predominantly practised by Muslim craftsmen.

Zardozi, a more elaborate version of zari, involves the use of gold threads, spangles, beads, seed pearls, wire, gota and kinari.
Zardozi work makes a garment quite heavy so do try it on before buying. Besides, the metal thread work can make your skin feel itchy, see if you can handle that.