Role of successful ladies lauded in Seminar

Kolkata, Jun.22 (HS): Internationally reputed fashion designers Sharbari Datta and Agnimitra Paul who have introduced an indelible presence of ethnic and Indo-Western wear for both men and women,feel that such ‘unparalleled art-wear have thundered into the fashion landscape like an irresistible gust of wind and blew away age-old notions and left everybody breathless’.

Participating in an interactiove session on ‘Women Achievers–Showcasing Excellence in Fashion and Creativity’ , Organised by the city’s premier Merchants Chamber of Commerce and Industry(MCCI) here today they said ethnic wear in India and the traditional handicraft of ‘Kantha’ of rural Bengal had received a face-lift by making it cool, trendy and fashionable across the globe and bringing it to the forefront in rest of India.

According to Datta, when she started her career in 1991, no one thought that designer menswear could be a viable career. Her love for her heritage enabled her to design men’s fashion and she is a self taught designer.’I myself designs directly on cloth and does not employ any creative assistant’, she said.

Simlarly, for Agnimitra Paul, who started her career six years later with her designer label ‘INGA’, said her designer ensembles were displayed at many prominent exhibitions. ‘Celebrities from both the Mumbai and Kolkata film industries feel proud to wear my signature labels’, she informed.

Claiming that her ‘heart cries out for people in need’, Paul said she started a project in Kolkata’s Alipore Correctional Home where she regularly taught stitching to female convicts and gave them work. ‘I am also the Brand Ambassador of Loreto Rainbow Homes where slum children received skill development, education, employment, shelter and security’, she said.

‘We have also started a project in the Sundarbans where we teach stitching to underprivileged women’ she said adding if the first part of her career was about films and shows, the second part would be about people and society.

Also present on the occasion was Malika Varma,a well known Kantha Exponent and Social Entrepreneur, who has revived  the heritage of hand embroidery of Bengal.  As the Trustee and Director of ‘SHE Foundation’ which is working for the empowerment of women in villages, Varma is also  involved in various social work in and around the city. ‘We support 800 to 1,000 girls through my Self Help Enterprise and  kantha business’, she said and informed that now her daughters were also empowered in similar projects.

Earlier, welcoming the guests, Prapti Jhajharia, Chairperson, MCCI Ladies Forum (MLF) regretted that in spite of their tremendous success rate, women leaders only made up 25 per cent of  senior level positions within the Indian industry.