Fashion with a soul

Top Stories

Fashion with a soul

Published: Thu 15 Feb 2018, 11:00 PM

Last updated: Fri 16 Feb 2018, 1:00 AM

Fashion Forward Dubai (FFWD) recently announced that the next edition of this region's most important fashion event will take place in October; in other words, there will be no Spring edition. And while FFWD is not a fashion week, it is the closest the region comes to having a fashion week. The fact is that fashion week, as a concept, is in desperate need of reinvention - Milan has seen women and men's fashion weeks combine themselves even as a handful of smaller fashion weeks have shut operations.
After five seasons, I attended Mumbai's Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) earlier this month. In India, LFW has been all about "Gen Next"; it was where you spotted new talent. It seems that the fashion week is now trying to redefine itself as the place of "green" fashion or "slow" fashion. In fact, the second day was even dedicated to sustainability. It started with a talk supported by both the United Nations and British Council that championed textiles from the Northeast. The LFW offered a platform to designers from six states from the region - Manipur, Assam, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh. Called "Northeast Mojo", six fashion designers from the region showed capsule collections - Meghalaya's Daniel Syiem focused on a silk fabric called ryndia. Nagaland's Jenjum Gadi collaborated with Exotic Echo Society and used a technique known as loin loom. In Nagaland, traditionally, you can tell which tribe a person belongs to by the weave they wear. Loin loom has a backstrap and its width is narrow, so you need several pieces to put together one garment. This show presented some pieces that seemed modern - shift dresses, jackets, jumpsuits and kaftans were favoured shapes - yet had a feel of the crafts. Since most of the designers were young, their pieces did lack refinement, but with mentoring and experience, it is obvious that crafts from the much-ignored Northeast have the potential to go mainstream. This show has started conversations that are sure to develop into something that has momentum - especially since Lakme and IMG Reliance (the two forces behind LFW) announced they will be working with the United Nations to promote Northeastern textiles.
Another show on Day 2 of LFW that stood out was the one presented by Usha International; India's leading manufacturer of sewing machines worked with IMG Reliance for the Usha Silai Project. Four designers were chosen to work with women at Usha Silai Schools in Rajasthan, Bengal, Gujarat and Puducherry. Soham Dave, an Ahmedabad-based designer, provided the moment that became the definitive picture of this season's edition. The designer presented some fuss-free chanderi ensembles that stuck to a monochrome palette. He walked the ramp with two of the women from the Usha Silai School in Gujarat's Dhokla cluster who had sewn his collection. What's more, both women were physically disabled. Thanks to their training at Usha, these women can also look after their households now. It was such a moving moment that it prompted me to make a trip to Soham Dave's newly-opened store in Mumbai's Kala Ghoda district. It was a reminder that fashion is not just about clothes.
LFW, it seems, is conveying an important message - that a fashion week can be more than a business trade event, it can also be a forum for the industry to introspect.
sujata@khaleejtimes.com

By Sujata Assomull

  • Follow us on
  • google-news
  • whatsapp
  • telegram

More news from