Fashion rings the bell

“If you know that a woman is getting beaten up by her husband, don’t turn your face, because you need to intervene,” said a passionate Mallika Dutt at an exclusive fashion event hosted by Muse in Mumbai.

Dutt is the founder of Breakthrough, an international human rights organisation, that launched the multi-media campaign Bell Bajao to stop violence against women.

In order to create more awareness about the campaign, Breakthrough joined hands with three prominent male designers – Aki Narula, Lecoanet Hemant and Narendra Kumar – who custom designed items in support of the Bell Bajao campaign.

Mallika informed it was a conscious effort to involve male designers since they want more men to participate in fighting violence against women.

Aki Narula shares, “It is very upsetting to realise that domestic violence may not happen in your house but it may take place in your neighbourhood. This is the first time that I am designing for a cause and it gives me immense pleasure to do so.” Aki designed a roomy, white tote that can be carried for bar to the beach, and from class rooms to office. The tote has six pockets with designs of various bells. (See pic above)

Narendra Kumar who designed a unisex t-shirt believes that it is important to create awareness about violence against women among adolescents and teenagers because that’s when impressions form and when they grow up these teens can be agents of change. The t-shirt has the design of a crossword which depicts the intellect according to Nari. The designer has priced his tees at Rs 500 per piece because he wants to keep it reasonable so that more people can purchase it, thereby creating more awareness. (See pic above)

Hemant Sagar’s t-shirt represents the female expression ‘Stop’ with a design of a woman’s hand decorated in mehendi. The designer explained, “If you ever witness domestic violence, don’t turn away. Deal with such issues hands-on. The hand on the t-shirt can also be interpreted as the hand of Fatima and mehendi is symbolic of a married woman.”

These creations that were designed with so much thought are available at Muse throughout the month and will then be sold online on www.breakthrough.tv. Proceeds of the sales will be directed towards supporting the organisation’s human rights initiatives.

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