PINTADO WOMANO – CURATOR – JDADA2019

“Coming together is a Beginning; Keeping together is Progress; Working together is Success”

—- HENRY FORD —-

Designers Sindhu Kamal and Apurva Ravi’s collection “Pintado Womano”, means hand painted (Pintado in Spanish) and the amalgamation of woman+man (Womano). It is an antithesis to conventional power dressing which is devoid of bold colorful prints. In order to breathe new life into conventional corporate dressing, the designers collaborated with “Aravani Art Project”, an NGO aimed at providing livelihood to the transgender community through the medium of art. The designers through their collection have tried to portray the talent among the third gender which can be utilised by the Indian fashion and textile industry. This will help open avenues and try to uplift the stigma associated with being a part of the transgender community.

The “Aravani Art Project” has been instrumental in creating some thought provoking murals found in Bangalore. The murals created by the members of the art project are bold and colourful, which forms the inspiration for the collection. The incorporation of bold prints on work wear will not just re-define power dressing; it will help give the wardrobe a makeover from drab to fab.

The objective of the “Aravani Art Project” too is to give the marginalized transgender community an outlet to express themselves and earn livelihood with respect and be a part of the mainstream.  Thus, the union of art and fashion has led to a collection wherein the members of the “Aravani Art Project” members have hand painted their murals on the garments of the collection. The art project team usually collaborates with artists, journalists and scholars, this is the first time that the members of “Aravani Art Project” have collaborated with Fashion Designing students for a fashion collection.