Mandeep Nagi may be a designer, but she insists that she doesn’t dabble in fashion. To be specific, she’s talking about the sort of ‘fashion’ that is associated with opulence that rarely makes it off the ramp.
Naturally then, Nagi’s work at her company Shades of India is a little different. She founded the textile firm with her husband David Housego more than two decades ago, focusing on wearable apparel. Additionally, a running theme in their work is sustainability and body positivity.
“Our work reflects our belief in the concept of conscious living,” Nagi says. “Our clothes are not necessarily fashion; they are easy to wear and yet very stylish. They are not made for special people or bodies; they can be used by anyone and everyone.” For this reason, Nagi had never felt the need to showcase them at a fashion show.
Yet, when Gautam Vazirani, fashion curator with IMG Reliance, approached Nagi with a unique idea to showcase her Summer/Spring collection at Lakmé Fashion Week ’17, Nagi couldn’t refuse. Vazirani convinced the designer to model her creations on girls from the non-profit organisation Kranti.
The initiative fit perfectly with Shades of India’s ethos. Previously, Nagi had asked her neighbour’s domestic help, Kamala, to model her Cinnamon collection. In the end, the photo series went viral, with headlines appreciating the unconventional model. It also fit in with LFW 17’s theme of ‘inclusivity’, which will see the likes of Nepalese transgender model Anjali Lama and gender-neutral model Petr Nitka from the Czech Republic take the ramp.
But the highlight of this season is the format of Nagi’s show. While on stage, the young ladies don’t just model Nagi’s clothes. They also offer a strong message to the audience through the art of storytelling, through their play Lal Batti Express or Red Light Express . The production, which throws light on their lives in Kamathipura, toured the U.S. in 2015.
Kranti, founded by Robin Chaurasiya and Bani Das, works as a home and family for daughters of sex workers and domestic help from Mumbai’s red-light district, Kamathipura. The girls are educated and encouraged to be agents of social change. “This is a side of Bombay that is not known,” says Shweta Katti, one of the girls from Kranti. “Sex work is stigmatised and the place is shown to be sad and dangerous,” she says, adding that every society, like a coin, has two sides. “Mainstream media forgets to portray the love and the compassion that exists there.” Kranti, with the help of the young girls, hopes to change this perception through Nagi’s show and their play. “It's a huge platform that will help us reach a lot of people who wouldn’t otherwise have heard of Kranti,” concludes Katti.
The sentiment aligned with Nagi's intent: to get Kranti the attention it deserves. When Kranti went on stage two days ago, the audience wasn’t sure what to expect with Lal Batti Express . Especially with the girls in Nagi’s Bagh collection of handwoven soft, sheer material layered with embroidered slips. They began by leading the audience through stories of their childhoods and life in Kamathipura, outlining their experiences of assault and abuse as well as love, friendship and a whole lot of laughter.
They walked into the crowd, encouraging audience members to share their childhood stories. “What happened to you when you were ten?” they asked.
Inspired, people in turn volunteered their own stories of insecurity and assault. Though the play might sound slightly disturbing, the performance highlighted the fact that these girls are regular people, and that sex work was an honest job like any other. Their success stories and the solace they found in Kranti has been heartening, and founder Chaurasiya smiles as she says, “All of us need healing.”
Shabana Azmi, who was a part of the audience, comments on the importance of placing a show like this at an event like LFW. “I think it’s marvellous that Kranti and Mandeep came together to bring this out in the mainstream,” she says. “When we talk about inclusivity, we have to realise we all exist side by side.”
Correction
This story was corrected for an error .
