New Delhi: The most prêt statement to be made at the Lakme India Fashion Week (LIFW) came from leading fashion designers and a pop icon here this evening. They said “NO TO SHAHTOOSH” and urged people not to prey on the endangered Tibetan Antelope just to make a vain, but gory fashion statement.
The heart-rending cry of the Tibetan Antelope, also known as the Chiru, found a resonance in a paean sung by Indian Pop icon, Usha Uthup. This is the first ever song composed to conserve wildlife in India.
The event which, was a part of the ongoing Lakme India Fashion Week was organised by Wildlife Trust of India.
Mrs.Uthup, taken by the plight of the Chiru which is brutally slaughtered and its wool is plucked to weave the exquisite Shahtoosh shawl, decided to do her bit to conserve the Chiru after a chance meeting with WTI officials in Kolkata recently. She promptly penned the lyrics and composed the tune for “My Shawl”, which she rendered on the stage.
Kiran Uttam Ghosh, recently appointed WTI’s “Ambassador Against Shahtoosh” called the shahtoosh just a limp mousy brown shroud, and asserted that there was no need to change oneself in death. She felt it was not only illegal, immoral and expensive, but ugly too.
Leena Singh contended that fashion was just not about the body, but something that went beyond the soul. Singh confessed to the audience that she had saved two-three shahtoosh shawls for her daughters wedding. But, following the latter’s insistence, she renounced the idea of ever harbouring such shawls.
Anjana Bhargav, who had been held back at home throughout the day, said something deep inside pulled her to the seminar. Bhargav said fashion was believing in what is right.
Sathya Saran, editor of Femina, pointed out that non-violence was always a tradition, and urged the media to sensitize the wealthy about the violence that was perpetuated on the Chiru to weave the Shathoosh.
