Vrindavan widows to make clothes for West

For the hundreds of widows residing in Vrindavan, the land of Lord Krishna, the International Women’s Day (March 8) used to be just like any other day in their lives - dull and drab and devoid of any excitement. This year, however, it turned out to be very different.

A top US fashion designer on Friday launched a skill training programme for the widows at Vrindavan to enable them to design clothes for the US and Australia fashion world . The widows of 

Vrindavan would be designing and putting together outfits for ‘high-end’ class people in USA and other parts of the world.

The programme had been launched following the initiative taken by the NGO, Sulabh International, which is providing the widows financial and other support to enable them to live a dignified life.

As part of this initiative, New York-based fashion designer, Kopal, formally launched the training for widows at Meera Sahabhagini Ashram in Vrindavan on Friday.

“It will provide the hitherto ignored widows an opportunity to learn a new skill to serve the world of fashion and glamour,’’ said Sulabh founder director Bindeshwar Pathak.“The widows will prepare outfits – mostly Western wear – as per designs developed by this fashion designer,” Pathak said.

“I had an idea about the plight of thousands of widows living in Vrindavan, so I instantly accepted the request from Sulabh to do something for them,’’ Kopal said.

She said that she had spent several days with a group of widows from Vrindavan. “They will prepare ladies wear and fashion accessories as per my design which will be marketed throughout world under my label,” Kopal added.

Eighty-year-old Manu Ghosh, a widow, looked confident to create Western outfits for women for summer on the tips provided by the US-based fashion designer. “It's a new experience for us, but it’ll give us immense satisfaction to design such a dress to be worn by a Western lady,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes.

Kopal, a product of New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) started her professional career at Bottega Veneta. She has worked for labels like Ralph Lauren, Kenneth Cole and Converse.