JOIN USDesigners have used their collections as mediums for socio-political commentary, and the fashion industry in current times is no exception.
The question whether fashion can have a socio-political conscience is a recurring one and has been answered time and again by those in the industry.
However, the industry’s perceived lack of knowledge towards social and political realities surface regularly in the media. In the recently concluded Deccan Herald Metrolife Fashion Show, the one thing that was commendable and drew all round applause was the manner in which participating students used the platform to highlight social issues.
It was not a surprise that the ‘women’s movement’ was a hot favourite for the students of Delhi, a place which has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.
The Nirbhaya gang-rape which shook the capital has had an ever lasting impact on the Delhi’s women and in the years following the brutal incident, the city has seen a surge in movement for women rights. The students who used the stage to send out a message is one such manifestation of the same.
The National Institute of Fashion Technology focussed on ‘emotions of a female’. The garments used were hand-crafted by the students of the institution and aimed to delve into the dynamic nature of women which at times is eroded and reduced by the current social order. Amity University’s theme was about the ‘liberation of womanhood’.
Of course, women’s issues were not the only ones raised by the over 200 participants of different colleges of Delhi. Education for all, environmental pollution, recycling waste products and corruption formed the themes of almost all of the participants.
Maitreyi College, which was declared the winner of the fashion show, raised the banner against hunting and poaching of tigers. The students, through their performance, appealed to the audiences to put an effort to bring an end to the trade of products like skin, bones, claws and even whiskers of the animal.
Interestingly, the Aam Aadmi Party which swept the Delhi Assembly elections also seemed to bear some effect on at least one particular team whose theme was the ‘defeat of Cleopatra, the Pharaoh of Egypt’.
Of course. the Pharaoh ‘eviction’ was led by none other than the ‘common man’! During their performance, students of Lady Irwin College, portrayed how the proud queen had to overcome her ego to ‘bow down in front of the common man’.