Tripura designer Aratrik Dev Varman and UK designer Bethany Williams will come together for a project named ‘A Telegram from Tripura’ to explore new fashion approaches with female textile artisans in the Northeast region.
This project is a result of the British Council and IMG Reliance signing an operational alliance agreement for a project to support female textiles artisans.
Under the agreement, British Council’s global ‘Crafting Futures’ programme will be coming to India in collaboration with IMG Reliance.
Indian designer Aratrik Dev Varman comes from the label Tilla.
“The aim is to grow their livelihoods and economic opportunities through responding to a creative brief set by fashion revolution. Works in progress will be presented at the August 2018 Lakmé Fashion Week, and final work will be presented at the February 2019 Lakmé Fashion Week before appearing in Fashion Revolution’s biannual fanzine. Fashion Revolution is an organization that celebrates fashion as a positive influence, while also scrutinizing industry practices and raising awareness of the most pressing issues facing the fashion industry,” a statement said.
The work will showcase how design innovation can promote a more inclusive fashion industry. The creative brief toolkit will become available publicly and for schools, allowing young activists, designers, students and practitioners to experiment with new design-based interventions.
Jaspreet Chandok, vice president and fashion head, IMG Reliance said, “We are glad to partner with British Council and work towards building the economy of the Northeast. To create a call to action for structuring collaboration models between the Northeast and the industry has greatly excited all of us.”