In November this year, an NGO in India released an Instagram video of a fashion shoot with a difference.
For 41% of India’s urban population “home” is a slum. (A slum is defined by the World Bank as a group of individual people who live under one roof and lack one or more of the basic necessities of life, and by the United Nations as having inadequate access to safe water, sanitation and other infrastructure along with poor structural quality of housing, overcrowding and insecure residential status.) While forty-one percent is a huge number, it is a fall compared to the 55% who were located in slums 22 years earlier, in 2000. For these people the stigma often associated with their living conditions affects daily life and slums are often dismantled and residents moved on to places where they are less visible.
Innovation for Change is a Non-Governmental Organisation in Lucknow, a city of more than four million people. It works to provide food, education and training for underprivileged communities. In November it put up an Instagram post of a fashion show, and that post became a viral sensation. The fashion shoot was created by children and teenagers and the footage was filmed and edited by a 15 year old. Inspired by the Indian fashion designer, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, and taking the designer’s heritage wedding outfits as a starting point, the group cut and stitched outfits in a few days before stepping out for the show. The project is called “Yeh laal rang” meaning “this colour red”, an auspicious hue in Hindu weddings and it has propelled the group into collaborations and stardom. Despite some concerns about possibly promoting the idea of “child brides” that were swiftly dispelled by Innovation for Change, the project has become a source of pride for the country. You can see why in this video.
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