Designer Stella Jean collaborated with the Kalash people for her Spring Summer 2020 collection, presented on Saturday, September 21st, during the recently finished Milan Fashion Week. The collection explores culture and heritage of Pakistan.
Spring Summer 2020 Womenswear
“For the SS20 collection, Stella Jean on her ninth mission, has worked with the reality of an Emerging Pakistan. She collaborated on the ground with some exceptional communities, some of which are at risk of extinction. This includes the Kalash people, located in one of the most remote areas of the world–an isolated valley at an altitude of 2000 meters in the Chitral region, on the border province in northeast Pakistan.
The Kalash are an ancient population who hold a unique heritage For this reason, the government has provided them with an extraordinary amount of safety, protection and recovery. We are talking about a geographical situation that is currently home to only about three thousand people; it is literally near extinction. They speak their own native language and have unique traditions, which so far have not been completely lost.
For the first time in history the Kalash women have embroidered their traditional motifs for an international audience through the project: ‘Laboratorio delle Nazioni ‘. These embroideries have left the Kalash valleys this very first time, to enable the world to partake in this women empowering path. Many thanks to Karishma Ali, a 22 year old woman who started from her very own vilage: Karimabad. And despite the thousands of difficulties she encountered, she persisted, and this warrior became a national women’s football champion. Now, here at more than three thousand feet, She coaches girls and trains mothers, in the Chitral Women’s Handicraft Center which she founded. This Center has produced part of the collection’s embroideries.“
Courtesy of © STELLA JEAN / Emanuela Schmeidler Agency
