Temple motifs

Temple work is the traditional vocabulary of this district: the gopuram, the lamp, the elephant, the kolam border.

Where it comes from and where it belongs

These are the motifs on the temples people here are married in, which is why they read as correct on a muhurtham blouse in a way a trending design does not. They sit best in gold zari on a traditional ground: red, maroon, deep green or mustard, on a good silk.

Formal designs suit formal shapes

A high neck or a collar is the shape this vocabulary was made for. Work on the band itself and a separate design at the yoke reads as deliberate rather than crowded. A square neck also carries temple borders well because the corners give the repeat somewhere definite to turn.

Worked properly, or not at all

A gopuram is a lot of straight lines and a lamp is a lot of symmetry, and both are unforgiving. Uneven spacing that would vanish inside a floral design is plainly visible here. That is a reason to use it and a reason to look closely at somebody's finished work before ordering it.

Common for temple weddings at Suchindram and across the district, and usually ordered alongside the jewellery rather than after it.