Entwining the nation’s textile history, designer Ritu Beri unveiled a playful collection for children. Unnati Joshi reports
Children wearing vichar vastra — the simplest of tops, the commonest of comfortwear that can be teamed with both Western and traditional wear — strutted the ramp, the girls wearing floral tiaras, the boys holding bouquets. Ace designer Ritu Beri, who is trying to give khadi a makeover, launched a wearable collection for kids rooted in tradition under her label Baby Beri this Sunday.
Playing on the Prime Minister’s quote that khadi was just not a fabric but a vichar (philosophy), the collection reinvented the spun cloth in a variety of colours. The show was a fun collection of occasion wear with four different themes, covering the span of indoor and outdoor activity.
“My vichar vastra is a single, simple, easy-to-wear garment that can be worn by anyone and can be paired with pants, salwar, skirt or jeans. The idea is to promote khadi among masses and encourage them to make it a part of their everyday life,” Beri explained.
Nowadays, she is not just into fashion for fashion’s sake but linking it up with causes. “Baby Beri works for a very sensitive issue — autism. It is a complex, the most misunderstood, a life-long disability affecting a person’s communicative, inter-personal, imaginative and social abilities. What’s heart-rending is that the awareness of autism in India remains abysmally low. But I know if we join hands we can change a lot. Dr Harsh Vardhan eradicated polio from India and if something like this can be done for autism, I would be really very happy,” said the designer.
The fifth edition of the charity show was attended by Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Chairman KVIC, VK. Saxena, Member of Parliament,Vijay Goel and Meenakshi lekhi among others.
Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “I feel obliged to be a part of this function. I must have attended about 2,000 functions all around the world by now but this function has given me the utmost satisfaction.”
Meenakshi lekhi spoke about khadi being transformed into a fashion fabric through the efforts of KVIC and Ritu Beri. “I was just thinking that why are we (Ritu and her) so close and then I realised the causes we share are common. Whether it’s the cause of khadi or for the country, Ritu is very passionate and she will go world over and proudly say that we are a luxury brand,” she said and hugged the designer.
The designer, known for her love for khadi, tried to give the ethnic fabric a global image, to adopt it to different forms of creativity, rather than limiting it to the old yesteryear image.
Post the show, singer Jasbir Jassi sang his hit numbers and the kids gambolled on the ramp.