Creative-Idle mentioned on British Council website

 

Bangladesh; a blogging workshop

At the beginning of the month I was thrilled to be recruited by the British Council to undertake some freelance work in Bangladesh. A country I had only ever dreamed of visiting, this was the perfect opportunity to travel to an exotic land and learn about a new culture whilst shedding some light on the West’s love of blogging and the rise of online fashion journalism.

Held in conjunction with the British Council’s touring exhibition, Reconstruction: Cultural Heritage and the Making of Contemporary Fashion I was flown in to host a two-day workshop for local journalists with an aim to open further dialogue between British and Bangladeshi fashion professionals and consumers, communicating word of the indigenous great fashion and heritage in crafts and fabric production to the wider world.

One of the main topics I set out to discuss in the workshop is the lack of information widely available about Bangladeshi fashion. As a Brit looking to swat up on the aforementioned topic, when it came to putting together a presentation I thought the Internet would be a great ally, but it proved fruitless as I found no dedicated fashion content online or in print, native to Bangladesh. This is something that we discussed widely in the workshop, debating whether there is enough national interest in fashion to warrant dedicated consumer magazines, particularly when it comes to menswear.

Currently fashion is documented in a couple of choice lifestyle print magazines, with the most successful and fashion heavy being Canvas, founded by an attendee of the workshop Saifur Rahman, who is Executive Editor of the monthly magazine. Primarily speaking, fashion is covered in national newspapers when high profile events takes place, and is otherwise allocated a few pages in national and regional news supplements.

Whilst articles on events and pieces with a clear journalistic approach are often published in online editions, the scope of Bangladesh’s burgeoning fashion industry and rich heritage in fabric production at present remains a topic of immense national pride, and rightly so, however it is perhaps Bangladesh’s best kept secret.

The first workshop of its kind in Bangladesh, I was privileged to be chosen for the job and was eager to discuss ways in which the aspiring fashion journalists could network and promote their work to a global audience. Everyone was familiar with Twitter and Facebook and these basic social networking tools are widely used on a personal level, but rarely employed for business purposes.

On the morning of the first day I talked mostly about the advantages of blogging, the networking infrastructure open to bloggers and the general opportunity to create a platform independent from regulated media where journalists, commentators and fashion lovers alike can discuss and debate anything and everything, but most importantly blogs can act as a springboard to encourage change and to reform the industry from within.

Covering the basics such as how to review an exhibition, analyse a street-style outfit and write about a fashion show, I hoped to make the structure of the workshop less rigid than those I have attended, giving the attendees ample opportunities to float questions and encourage debate, compare industries in the UK and Bangladesh and generally get more hands on through a series of interactive exercises – producing photographs and taking a fieldtrip to the National Museum in a procession of rickshaws, to name but a few.

Something I personally enjoyed was critiquing the published work of the attendees in a group: the class were split in two and each sub-group nominated a piece of work to be presented to the group, one in Bangla written by Saifur and another written in English from my group. It was great to hear such positive feedback and constructive criticism from all corners of the room.

Perhaps my favourite point of the workshop came on the afternoon of the second day when we were joined by a very special guest; fashion designer, lecturer and contributor to Canvas, Farzana Yusuf. Educated in Bangladesh, India and the UK, Farzana was the perfect guest to speak about her view of the fashion industries in the East and West, perfectly positioned to discuss the mechanics of the industry as a designer looking for sponsorship and press coverage and as a journalist working from the other side to promote home-grown brands and design talent.

Intended as a demonstration of how to conduct an interview, before Farzana arrived each member of the workshop wrote down a few questions which I then posed in an organic and conversational manner. What I enjoyed most about this (other than having a revered designer in our midst) was the debate that ensued in response to some of the questions. For example, everyone had an opinion on whether the Jamdani (a traditional fabric of the Bangladesh loom) should be modernised or altered. Unbeknown to me at the time, this is a really contentious and current issue seeing designers divided on whether to preserve or reinterpret something so close to the country’s national identity.

I also felt it was interesting for the attendees to hear myself and Farzana talk about how smooth the fashion machine runs in the UK, where PRs help to establish designers, find them stockists, increase their profiles in the media and even introduce them to celebrities who will promote and wear their fashions on the red carpet. Also in the UK graduates are supported at every stage and given great access and opportunities to work with reputable brands and head designers to further learn their craft on the job – in essence, things we take for granted in the West. Bangladesh and Dhaka in particular, is moving in the right direction; however everyone was unanimous that there is a long way to go before everyone in the industry understands the importance of their role and the knock on effect they have in the process of promoting fashion.

Something beautiful I observed throughout my stay and indeed in the workshop is how fiercely patriotic the people of Bangladesh are. I loved learning about all of the cultural and religious festivals, traditionally celebrated with costume; different colours are adopted for different times of year and it is seen as a demonstration of unity. February is the month of language and is represented by text on garments and the colours black and white.

Spread evenly throughout the year there is always something to look forward to with celebrations that bring everyone together in a way that I can’t ever imagine being a success in the UK. We are good at uniting for one-off occasions such as the royal wedding of 2011, and this year will see more street parties and local events in celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, but this is by no means on a national scale and held in such a high regard.

What I learned most in just a few short days is that the West at large greatly underestimates and perhaps even undervalues the knowledge and skills of the East. We all know of the exploitation that goes on, but how often do you hear of the rich heritage in craft, for example, being celebrated. The British Council do an amazing job to build relationships between the UK and countries across the world and the installation of Reconstruction: Cultural Heritage and the Making of Contemporary Fashion in the traditional Bangladesh National Museum is a major coup and a step in the right direction, bringing high-profile British fashion to Bangladesh’s doorstop and by return generating a buzz this side of the world for the wealth of talent within this great nation.

This trip to Bangladesh was an invaluable experience that I’d be excited and keen to repeat. I’ve made several friends along the way and am very much looking forward to contributing to Canvas Magazine in the near future.

Thanks to Alex and Kendall in the UK British Council team, to Eeshita for looking after me so well in Bangladesh and for facilitating the workshop, to Farzana Yusuf for kindly donating her time and answering our probing questions and also to Saifur Rahman for taking me shopping and going out of his way to show me the real Dhaka.

Scrapbook Bangladesh: British Council Hay Festival installation

 

  

'My Beautiful Life' fashion show in Dhaka, Bangladesh

On my first night in Dhaka I was lucky enough to be able to attend a high profile fashion show held at the Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel. In aid of acid burn victims there were over 200 guests in the audience ready to part with their hard-earned cash for a good cause.

Comprised of a fashion show lasting a good hour, followed by an auction and then dinner, this was a fashion show like no other. A true spectacle, there was regional tribal dancing between each section of the catwalk showcase and live music to conclude by internationally acclaimed artists Rupankar and Pintu Ghosh, with the extravaganza broadcast live on Desh TV.

 

Although fashionably late myself and Eeshita - of the British Council - were escorted past the cameras and to a table right in front of the catwalk, giving us some of the best seats in the house, so close to the runway that I could feel the heat of the lights. With a star host for the evening, there were several famous faces of Bangladeshi TV and Bollywood actresses, Paoli Dham, Locket Chatterjee, and Rituporna Sen to name but a few who took to the catwalk in aid of charity.

Organised by Indian fashion designer Agnimitra Paul, the mood was jovial with Dhaka’s elite out in full-force wearing their most beautiful clothes. The catwalk show itself was spectacular with rich colours and textures of soft cotton, georgette and Jamdani like I’ve never seen before, with models swathed in a diverse selection of hand-painted and hand-embroidered fabrics, worn in the form of the national dress, the sari.

 

When highlighted by my companion I discovered that there was a clear divide in the styles represented on the catwalk. Saris from eastern Bangladesh were beautifully understated and showcased traditional crafts beautifully in subtle colours that were undeniably elegant. In contrast designers from west Bangladesh used a lot of gold and silver in their collections (in a variety of flashy fabrics, sequins and trims [“par”]), creating undeniably beautiful pieces, which were reminiscent of couture in the sense that they were so OTT they were impractical at best, unless of course you are a Bollywood actress with a plethora of events at which to dazzle!

Hair was elegant and understated in buns and twists, frequently decorated with floral hairpieces and slides, adding extra colour and femininity at every opportunity. Make-up was thick for the TV cameras, however models still looked gorgeous, with heavily made-up eyes in a kaleidoscope of bright shades. All lips were red and skin demure and pale.

What impressed me most about the evening was how it celebrated a diverse selection of Bangladeshi fashion and I can’t think of a better possible introduction to the industry in Dhaka. I loved how it was treated as a big party with jovial models clearly happy to be taking part and donating their time and a British auctioneer who, although kept eyeing me suspiciously, was hilariously trying to induce higher bids, mishearing cash announcements from the audience and looking forlorn when the brashier looks from the west and less traditional outfits sadly received no bids.

Sponsored by Gallery Apex and a renowned menswear brand it is unclear at this stage how much taka was raised on the night, however several beautiful saris sold for 30 – 40,000 taka each. To add to the excitement of the evening there were several bidding wars which saw one woman win on two occasions paying 200,000 and 230,000 for two saris – the equivalent of £1,500 and £1,700 respectively.