Fashion show walk hand-in-hand organized to revive heritage textiles

A fashion show, ‘Walking Hand-in-Hand’ was held at Cept University on Thursday organized as part of Archiprix 2017, the show, conceptualized by Crafts+Design+Society (CDS) Art Foundation. It presented a line of couture which were co-created by textile craftsmen and fashion designers to revive and promote heritage textiles.

The line of garments were created using traditional heritage textile crafts such as ajrakh, bandhani, ikat, Maheshwari weaves, Banarasi weaves, Kashmiri weaves and embroidery, among others. Before presenting each collection, the craft was explained in brief, with details of its origin.

Asif Shaikh, founder, CDS Art Foundation said that the idea of walking hand-in-hand is to let craftsmen and designers collaborate and co-create the line of garments and make both of them walk the ramp so that the textile craftsmen get their due credit. Moreover, this recognition goes a long way in encouraging others to learn the art and keep it alive, while innovating.

Fabrics are an integral part of architecture and therefore, Archiprix 2017 is a good platform to showcase traditional Indian textile crafts before world renowned architects, shared Gauri Wagenaar, committee member, CDS Art Foundation.

Designer Padmaja Krishnan whose collection, ‘Light of the Sun’ was presented at Walking Hand in Hand said that local communities from Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh were engaged to create a line of garment, for which she collaborated with Sally Holkar, the founder of WomenWeave Charitable Trust.

Padmaja have been working with Women Weave for a long time now and the idea is not just to support these communities but also to come up with a contemporary line of garments.

Holkar said that the philosophy of walking hand-in-hand goes with their concept because at Women Weave, they have engaged women from marginalized sections right from harvesting cotton crop to processing, spinning, weaving and turning it into fabric.