Technopark, with all its stiff dress code diktats, is not exactly fashion central. Well, beneath all that drab formal wear, it seems there are plenty of techies on campus who are die-hard fashionistas, just waiting for the opportunity to showcase their stylish selves. They call themselves ‘Technopark Freakers’ and have taken to Facebook to show the world just how stylish they can be. In the month or so that it has been in operation, the Facebook page, which features photos of Technopark’s most stylish gals and dudes, has gone viral and garnered over 9,000 likes.
‘Technopark Freakers’ is the brainchild of youngster Arun Raj R.V., a creative designer at Mirox Cyber Security and Technology, an IT Security and networking solution-based company, Technopark’s TBI. “I’m fresh out of animation school [Arena Animation] and when I started working at Technopark late last year, I was taken aback by the lack of opportunity to showcase fashion on campus. Most companies, save for a handful such as Toonz, have dress codes that employees have to stick to. If someone has a mod dress that they want to show off, funky make-up, cool new shades and so on, they can’t really do so. That’s when I thought of a page exclusively devoted to showing off photos and selfies of them at their stylish best. After all everybody likes a good photo. Truth be told, I wasn’t expecting the page to be this big a hit!” says Arun.
The youngster is the page’s administrator. “I myself am not yet a freaker. I'm coming into my own though, after seeing the style mantras of fellow techies,” he adds.
Most of the techies who’ve posted their photos on the page appear to have their eye on modelling contracts. Says Philip John who works at Toonz: “It’s a cool page, especially for a modelling aspirant like myself who want to get noticed. The response to my photo has been phenomenal and I’ve got a lot of positive feedback. I even got a chance to work in an ad thanks to the page!” His colleague and avid photographer Unni K. Sunny adds: “The page has really come as a boon for those want to model. Ever since I put my picture up on the page, I’ve had people come up and ask me ‘Aren’t you one of the freakers? We’ve all become instant celebrities.”
However, not everyone can upload their photo on the page. Only photos that have been sent from personal ids with a request to publish online will be uploaded. “All these photos will be watermarked with the ‘Technopark Freakers’ logo. Personal details will only be added on request,” says Arun. Comments too are moderated. Arun says that already he is in talks with a few modelling firms for tie-ups with the page. Currently Mirox, which has been providing support for the page, is running a photo contest.
