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Elegant: From Bibi Russell’s Spring-Summer Collection.

Putting personal tragedies aside and aiming at inspiring people around her, Bibi Russell, Bangladesh’s top fashion designer and cultural ambassador, said, “The show must go on. I cannot sit back when I see thousands of poor weavers who suffer in my country. I would have been doing them great injustice by calling my show off.”

Her project, “Fashion for Development”, aims to work with the weavers in Bangladesh’s remote villages and taking alternative ways to not only promote the industry but also see that the profits go back to these workers. “Each piece in my collection is hand stitched with techniques and patterns that are impossible with machines. Each product is carefully monitored till the finish.”

Having taken such pains to put a collection together, she showcases at the some of the world’s most prestigious fashion events like Paris, Milan and elsewhere.

“It’s important for people to know that nothing can beat the work of human hands; that, in this day, when sophisticated machinery has replaced every thing, there are hundreds of poor villagers who hand stitch to earn their bread,” she emphasises.

Her project has adopted hundreds of villages across the country. “It’s like the automobile industry. You have everyone making their respective spare parts and then finally it’s assembled. It’s only in the assembling process that my expert team of designers comes in.”

Her spring-summer collection at the Colombo Fashion Week included jewellery recycled from coconut shells to paper bags to elegantly embroidered cottons and free flowing silks. “I love coming to these fashion events more because I want to tell people that it’s important to work with local talent. Sri Lanka has one of the most interesting histories of textile; but today, sadly, there is nothing. It’s for the revival of this lost tradition that I want to work,” she continues.

So where does all this unending energy and inspiration come from? “From my workers. They are my stars. They have the most difficult times in their lives. As a responsible fashion designer; I take it upon myself to do my bit for them,” says Bibi.

Hailed as Bangladesh’s most popular cultural icon, Bibi continues to be as unassuming and humble. “I dream of seeing countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other south Asian countries emerge as super powers in world fashion, because we have always had a rich cultural heritage of textile and apparel history,” she adds with a hopeful smile.

So where is fashion in south Asia heading? “Well, I showcase my work across Europe and they hold our handicrafts in high esteem. If I can sell entire collections of mine there, it speaks a lot about the amount of trade that can happen. It’s sad that we here don’t give it that much importance. We end up NGO-ising them or sticking to westernised sycophancy. This must change,” she says.

This is the third year that Bibi Russell has been invited to participate at the fashion week and she showed off her latest collection inspired by the folklore and rural culture of Bangladesh.

“I come here year after year, even if I give up shows in Europe, to tell the Sri Lankans that they have had a glorious history of textile inherited from India; that they should make a market out of reviving it. I come here to encourage young designers to take up local resources and spread them,” she says.

This year, even as the high-nosed critics sat with their brows raised, most of her collection sold out like hot cakes. “Well, they have some of the high priests of Indian fashion like Prasad Bidapa and others putting this show together, there is bound to be an increasing rate of success,” she adds, speaking from her past experience of working with Indian designers.

E-mail: vijaysai.vs@gmail.com

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