The Maharaja’s New Clothes is a project to authentically recreate the clothing of Maharaja Churachand Singh and his Maharani Dhanamanjuri Devi for an exhibition at Alford Manor House Museum in Lincolnshire.

Alford born John Higgins served in Manipur for over twenty years, during this time his family developed close connections with the Manipuri Royal family. Inspired by a black and white photograph we set out to discover the true colours of the beautifully woven and embroidered clothes of Manipur.

Our colleagues in Manipur have already undertaken a lot of work on this project. The traditional processes of spinning, weaving and dyeing used in the creation of the Royal clothing have been carefully documented. Leading experts, including the Royal family, have been interviewed to establish the original colours and details of the attire.

As research into the Queen’s attire was completed a donation to the project enabled work on the creation of this garment to commence. In July 2016, weaving began on the authentic recreation of the Queen’s Thambal Leikhok phanek.

We now hope to complete the project by recreating the clothing of the Maharaja as seen in the photo. This will require additional funding to pay the artisans undertaking the work in Manipur, to cover shipping costs to the UK, and the provision of suitable display materials.

The items created and the accompanying photos will be on display at Alford Manor House Museum in 2017. The Maharaja’s New Clothes will then be available for loan to other museums.

We would like to showcase the beautiful handwoven textiles of Manipur within our exhibition and then elsewhere.

Please help us to bring the vibrancy of Manipur back to Higgins' home town.

This project has been produced in association with Imasi: The Maharaj Kumari Binodini Devi Foundation