Bangladeshi fashion designer Bibi Russell, who is on a mission to reinvent khadi, feels that the fabric which was once the icon of the Indian Swadeshi movement in the 1920s is also the fabric of the future.
Having given a makeover to the Rajasthan government's textile division with her label Rajasthali by Bibi Rusell, the former international model will be showcasing her latest collection at the seventh season of the India Runway Week that begins here today.
"Khadi is the ultimate fabric there is, it is the fabric of future. Only it needs the design element to be dynamic like the times and trends. That's what I have attempted to do," she says.
Russell's idea of reinventing khadi involves contemporizing it in a way that would make it wearable for the current generation while retaining the traditional processes of production.
She says, "Reinventing is respecting the age-old technique and modernizing it to not only fit but flourish in current times. To gain knowledge from the absolute grassroots and figuring out how an intervention can be done without interfering."
Every piece in her collection is made out of the handspun and hand-woven fabric that has been diversified by art and design intervention to be made more suitable in the modern context.
The textiles of Rajasthan are among the major sources of her inspiration for the collection which she says will be "100 per cent Rajasthani."
"Each and every thread used in the collection is from Rajasthan. So I would say that the collection is Rajasthan incorporated.
"And the craftspeople of Rajasthan are very close to my heart. They are so talented and deserve to have their work put out for the larger market. That's what I'm trying to do through art and design intervention, redefine the market for Khadi," she says.
Russell, who was awarded with the Designer for Development
(1999) by the UNESCO, says that fashion is not just the clothes one wears but an entire cuture.
"Human dignity is a principle that lies at the heart of my work. It is about the freedom each of us has to express ourselves, to voice our dreams and share our aspirations. No society can flourish without culture, and no development can be sustainable without it."
The collection which promises a mix of both traditional and modern, will have simple, ready-to-wear designs in vibrant colours.
"Tradition is something I deeply respect everywhere I go and something I never leave out of my collections. A little modernization to appeal to the younger generation is needed to diversify the market for Khadi," she says.
She explains how khadi's versatility particularly in its thickness, coarseness and weight, the fabric can be used "to improve current fashion trends by bringing the organic factor in."
"But people don't know about this, that is why there is greater need for creating awareness (about Khadi)," she says.
