ISLAMABAD: Impressed by the embroidery and design that is native to the women of the rural mountainous areas of Chitral, Kalash Gilgit and Baltistan, a leading Italian designer, Stella Jean, has decided to incorporate their craft in her spring/summer 2020 collection at Milan Fashion Week, which would commence from Sept 21 (Saturday).
“The Ministry of Commerce, in collaboration with Stella Jean and United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), has launched an initiative to empower the women of Chitral, Gilgit, Hunza and Kalash,” said Commerce Secretary Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera in a statement issued on Thursday. “Through this initiative, Stella Jean has incorporated the embroidered items by ‘Chitral Women’s Handicrafts Centre’, an NGO run by Karishma Ali of the ‘Fortune Magazine Under 30 Fame’ as well as ‘Karigar’, a women empowerment initiative in Gilgit-Baltistan by the ‘Aga Khan Development Network’.”
The commerce secretary said that the spring/summer 2020 collection would be showcased at the Milan Fashion Week, which is “the most important annual international fashion event”.
He said that the projection of Pakistan’s textile products on the world stage would create great awareness and market access for the women working in the mountainous areas of the country.
“This exemplary human cooperation has made possible the creation of a virtual ‘laboratory of nations’ wherein traditional artisan skills of Pakistan have joined forces with those of Italy,” he remarked. “Despite thousands of miles of distance, dozens of women have worked together with the common goal of caring and preserving an endangered global culture heritage.”
He said in order to compliment the above endeavour and provide Pakistan fashion industry with a platform, Stella Jean has invited some of the top Pakistani fashion models to join international models on the runway to showcase her collection.
Sukhera and Ambassador of Pakistan in Italy Nadeem Riaz will be present at the event to meet with the leaders of the fashion/textile industry of Italy.
