THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Weavers Village Show, a sustainability-based fashion show held at Nishagandhi auditorium under the handloom boutique Weaver’s Village and Kerala Olympic Association won a spot in the Asia Book of Records and India Book of Records. The Kerala Olympic Association had organised a 12-day long Kerala Games 2022 expo in the capital city recently to raise funds for enhancing infrastructure and training opportunities among underprivileged young athletes.
The fashion show, held as part of the expo, won a record for having the maximum number of models in a sustainable fashion show, wherein the models wore sustainable handlooms, weaves and wedding designs depicting the theme Weaves of India. The record-winning fashion show featured more than 250 models, including transgenders, housewives, children, the elderly and differently-abled persons, apart from professionals. The show upheld a message of inclusivity in terms of colour, body type, gender and age. Designs of popular national and international fashion designers like Rajesh Pratap Singh, Payal Pratap, Urvashi Kaur, Jebin Johny, Santhosh Kumar, Abhini Sohan Roy and others were part of the show choreographed by Dalu Krishnadas and Jude Felix.
According to show director Sobha Viswanathan, the event was an effort to break the existing taboo and stereotypes in the fashion industry. “The record was an attempt to showcase the importance of sustainable fashion and our traditional handloom from a global perspective. We even had cancer survivors as our models. One of the showstoppers apart from actors Parvathy Jayaram and her daughter Malavika was Tiffany Brar, the visually challenged activist who won the Nari Shakthi award from the President of India recently,” says Shobha.
The fashion show, which was attended by thousands of spectators, featured three rounds of handloom designs - Weaves of India, Handloom of Everyday and Wedding Collections. Sobha says the show was also an opportunity for amateur models to spend a day walking the ramp wearing designer clothes. “It was also a tribute to weavers across our country, to create awareness about the usage of handloom in sustainable clothing. Apart from handlooms from Balaramapuram, fabric from other states was also included,” she says. Sobha plans to attempt the Guinness World Record by conducting a sustainable fashion-related show soon.