Mumbai based fashion designer Suvrat Anand has come up with men’s wear collection dedicated to the victims of acid attack and child sexual abuse. The collection featuring 18 ensembles was made in collaboration with NGO HAVOC (Helping All Victims of Our Community), that has been working for the rehabilitation of women and children affected by sexual abuse and acid attacks.
“Recently, there has been a spate of acid attacks across the country. Child sexual abuse and rape are also becoming common. But these are often sidelined as ‘mundane’ in the glamorous world of fashion. I thought one should bring out these issues on the ramp,” says Suvrat, who worked on the collection for a month. “Fashion is considered a happy subject talking only about beauty and aesthetics. But it is also a wonderful way to portray grim issues of the society.” According to Suvrat, fashion in India is yet to become cause-driven. “In the west, every collection has a cause to speak for. Eco-friendly fashion was one of such a concept,” he says. “Initially, when the luxury brands stood up against animal skin, it wasn’t received well. And now, it’s a major trend. High fashion is an effective way to take social issues to the elites of the society.”
Though acid attack and sexual abuse majorly concerns women and children, the idea behind making a men’s wear collection was to make men a part of the campaign, says the designer. “The show was a fund raiser and the proceeds go to the victims.” Suvrat says he has focussed more on the colours to bring out the effect. “I have used solid blocks of brown and black in every ensemble. The only area I have played around is the silhouette,” he says. Baggy trousers, floppy collars, ruffled-up cuffs, complimentary panels and bold chunky buttons are the highlights of the collection and as a whole reflect an Indo-western sensibility.
“I wanted to translate the work of the NGO on to my clothes. The outfits are aimed to showcase to the viewers the severity of the issues which the dark colours do. And at the same time the trendy silhouettes of the clothes make the wearer feel fresh and happy about themselves. This is what HAVOC is trying to do – to make the victims feel better and hopeful,” says Suvrat.
He also says that another reason for playing around with the silhouettes was to come out of the regular label image of pencil-fit trousers and slim-fit shirts. Suvrat says he wanted to reinvent the house's Columnar look, defined by boxy shapes on top and tapered, slightly cropped trousers below, around which other markers of casually elegant men's dressing were assembled. “Men’s wear has hit a saturation point. There are hardly any innovations and deviations made in the silhouettes,” says Suvrat. Unlike women’s fashion, there is limited scope to experiment in men’s wear. But since it is haute couture, one can always let creativity run wild. “I have done exactly that,” he adds.
