Mirror-Work and Thread Jewellery for Navratri: The Gujarati Garba Look

What is mirror-work (abhla) jewellery?

Mirror-work jewellery, also called abhla jewellery, is made by stitching small mirrors into colourful thread embroidery on a fabric base, then finishing it with a cord tie and sometimes bells, coins or shells. It uses the same technique as the mirror-work on Gujarati chaniya cholis, which is why it is the jewellery most closely tied to garba.

Abhla is the Gujarati word for these small mirrors, and abhla bharat is the embroidery that holds them. Traditionally each mirror was a small piece of silvered glass held in place not with glue but by a ring of stitches worked around its edge: the stitching both frames the mirror and stops it falling out. The craft is strongest in Kutch and across Saurashtra, where different communities have their own stitches and motifs, and it turns up on skirts, blouses, quilts, bags and the torans hung over doorways.

Mirror-work jewellery takes that textile and wears it at the neck, wrist or waist. It is fashion jewellery rather than heirloom craft, and it belongs to Navratri the way a jhumka does: it is part of the picture most people have of garba in Gujarat.

Our Abhla thread and mirror necklace set is the direct version: hand-worked thread and mirror on a fabric base, tied with a knotted cord, with matching earrings. Each colour is its own design rather than one design dyed eight ways. The multicolour has square motifs and oxidised chandbali earrings, the yellow carries cowrie shells, the white has rainbow triangles, and the red pairs a bandhani print with cowries. The Aaina mirror choker set comes at mirror-work from the metal side: an oxidised choker of rectangular mirror plates with bell drops, plus matching mirror drop earrings. At ₹499 it is the least expensive set in the store.

Mirror-work necklace sets

Thread Necklace Sets

Abhla Thread & Mirror Necklace Set

₹699₹999Save ₹300

Oxidised Choker Sets

Aaina Mirror Oxidised Choker Set

₹499₹699Save ₹200

Thread jewellery or metal: which is better for garba?

Neither is better across the board. They behave differently once the dhol starts, and the differences matter over three or four hours of dancing.

Weight is the point people get wrong. Fabric is light, but a thread necklace is rarely only fabric. The Rangeela fabric thread necklace carries oxidised medallions, a large round pendant and coin and bell drops, and is listed at about 92 g. The Sikka coin thread choker set is a thick braided thread choker hung with a fringe of oxidised coins, closed with a tie cord and sold with matching oxidised jhumkas, in pink or black. Read the weight on the listing where one is given, rather than assuming thread means light.

Sound is the other real difference. Thread is silent, so on a thread piece the chime comes from whatever hangs off it: the Sikka coins, the small bells on some Abhla designs, the bell drops on Aaina. If you want a quiet neck and a ringing wrist, that is easy to arrange with the Toran kada further down.

Thread with oxidised metal

Thread Necklace Sets

Sikka Coin Thread Choker Set

₹649₹899Save ₹250

Statement Necklaces

Rangeela Fabric Thread Oxidised Necklace

₹899₹1,249Save ₹350

Why are cowrie shells worn at Navratri?

Cowrie shells, kodi or kauri, are small, glossy sea shells with a toothed opening along one side. They were used as small change in many parts of India for centuries, and they still carry that link with wealth: many families keep cowries with their Lakshmi puja at Diwali. In Gujarat and Rajasthan they are sewn onto embroidered textiles, bags and torans alongside mirrors.

On garba jewellery they do two things. They add a natural, earthy texture beside bright thread and glinting mirror, and they read as unmistakably folk: nobody mistakes a cowrie necklace for cocktail jewellery. The yellow design of our Abhla set carries cowries, and the red design pairs them with a bandhani print, the tie-dye pattern of Gujarat and Rajasthan.

• Each shell is slightly different. Cowries are natural, so size, shade and the pattern of the opening vary from shell to shell. That is the material, not a defect.
• They are hard but not unbreakable. A cowrie can chip if it is knocked against a dandiya stick or a tiled floor. Store the piece so the shells aren't pressed against metal.
• They sit on thread. Whatever holds them, the base is fabric, so the never-wet rule applies to the whole piece.

Matching mirror-work jewellery to the Navratri 2026 colours

Because each Abhla colour is its own design, it can match a Navratri day more closely than oxidised metal can. Navratri 2026 runs from Sunday 11 October to Monday 19 October, and this is how the designs line up with the commonly followed colour list.

If you are buying one piece for all nine nights, choose the multicolour Abhla design or the Aaina choker. Multicolour thread reads as ornament rather than as a colour that has to match, and Aaina's silver-white mirrors sit with all nine. The maroon design is the spare: it isn't on the list, but it is the one to pick if your festival wardrobe runs to deep reds and wines. For a complete look on a budget, see a full Navratri look under ₹1,500.

Mirror and thread don't have to stop at the neck. The Toran thread-work ghungroo kada is a wide kada with a band of colourful thread embroidery and small mirrors, edged top and bottom with rows of oxidised ghungroo bells that chime with every clap. It is sold singly, in one standard size and five designs. The Kesar pompom kamarbandh takes the same palette to the waist: an oxidised waist chain on a thread tie, hung with drops, in designs including Mirror Pompom and Multicolour Tassel. How to wear one is in our kamarbandh guide.

Mirror and thread beyond the neck

Kada

Toran Thread-Work Ghungroo Kada

₹649₹899Save ₹250

Kamarbandh

Kesar Pompom Oxidised Kamarbandh

₹599₹849Save ₹250

Wearing and caring for thread and mirror jewellery

Three styling rules

• Mirror on mirror cancels out. A heavily mirror-worked chaniya choli with a mirror-work necklace gives the eye nowhere to rest. Pair thread-and-mirror pieces with a plain or lightly printed choli, and keep plain oxidised metal for the heavily mirrored ones.
• Check the neckline. Sikka and Aaina are chokers and need open skin to sit on. Over a high-necked kediyu or a closed kurta, a longer fabric piece like Rangeela lies better. Our chaniya choli neckline guide goes through it shape by shape.
• Tie cords with a double knot. A cord tie is adjustable, which is useful, but a bow works loose in a fast round. Tuck the ends under the knot.

Care: the never-wet rule

1. 1Never wet thread jewellery, not to wash it and not to spot-clean it. Water can lift colour from the thread and let metal parts mark the fabric.
2. 2Perfume first, jewellery after. Fabric absorbs scent and holds it against any metal it touches, so let perfume dry before the piece goes on.
3. 3Air it the same night. After garba, lay the piece flat in the shade for twenty to thirty minutes so sweat can dry out of the thread before it goes into a pouch. No sun, heater or hair dryer.
4. 4Brush, don't rub. A soft, dry brush lifts dust from embroidery. Rubbing a cloth over mirrors and stitches can pull threads loose.
5. 5Store flat and separate. Give each piece its own pouch, away from hooks and clasps that snag thread, and don't wind cord ties tightly.

Oxidised parts, such as coins, bells and the Aaina plates, need only a dry wipe. The full routine is in how to clean oxidised jewellery and on our jewellery care page.