Gulmung Fashion Show Sparks Row in Kashmir administered by India


Corylann Mollan

BBC back, Mumbai

Team Shivan & Narresh is a model shows a Gulmarg coat against a snowy backdropTeam Shivan & Narresh

Designers’ fashion show Shivan and Narresh showed the brand collection of brand

A fashion show held last week in a beautiful city, town-entered by Indian administered by Kashmir who has stuck a primary controversy who is still being damned.

The show, by the famous fashion brand shivan & narresh, held Friday in a ski resort at the Gulmarge to collect their skiewear. The label is the first big, non-local brand to hold a fashion show in Kashmir, a wonderful Himmir region that sees decades of violence.

But soon the hostility of the local, politicians and religious leaders of the social media are underwear or bikinis. Locals also get angry with a video – shared with online liveestyle asia – at a party held after the show, showing people drinking alcohol.

Many have made the show done in the holy month of Ramadan – a time to fast and pray for Muslims – and reports their faith “and” mocking the local culture “.

Some have explained that hostility arose not only from religious concervance, but also from a fear of cultural imposition from “outsiders”. Kashmir witnessed decades of armed separatist insurgency against Indian rule since the late 1980s.

Backlash prompts Elle India and Asia to delete their videos. Shivan Bhatiya and Narresh Kukreja, the designers behind the label, also apologizing, saying that their “one purpose is to celebrate creativity” and they do not desire to feel the feeling of religion.

Team Shivan & Narresh is a picture of Shivan models and Narresh Fashion ShowTeam Shivan & Narresh

Models are injured in snow against a Winttrop backdrop

Kashmir – known as the land of Saints and Sufism (Islamic Mysticism) – There is a lot of spirituality to influence many parts of people’s life. Traditional clothing is modesty, with local – male and female – often wearing in the phere, a long, weak robe.

The row also moved to social media and a discussion about the show and the party’s finish caused a ruckus in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

The opposition criticized the government, accusing to give consent for the incident yet known local sensitivity. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah departed his government from the event, said it was organized by private entities, and asked local authorities to investigate the matter and submitting a report.

“If the law is breached, the tight action is obtained,” he said to the assembly on Monday. Police have not given the details about who organizes the event and what laws, if there is, breached.

The fashion brand does not respond to BBC’s questions about performance, including about the permissions it has taken.

GETTY PICTURES A woman wearing a protective face mask walking along a road in strinar, jammu and kashmir, on January 15, 2025. Getty images

Kashmir locals often wear a long robe called Pheran

It’s not surprising that the beautiful Gulmarg – is one of the few destinations of Indian skiing and a favorite of tourists – is to choose the place for a collection show.

The Fashion Journalist Shefalee Vasudev says unusual for designers who want to appear in the shashion shows in resident locations.

In fact, international designers like Alexander McQueen and Karl Lagerfeld remembered more than their creation, their iconic plots.

But experimentation carries the risk of controversy and therefore, it is important to think of political and cultural sensitivity in an area, Ms. Vasawev told BBC.

And it is more true in a place like Kashmir, witnessing wars and decades armed conflict.

Both India and Pakistan claim Kashmir altogether but it is controlled in parts only. Since the partition of India and the manufacture of Pakistan in 1947, nuclear neighbors fighting two territorial wars.

Thousands of people have been killed since the late 1980s, if a separatist’s injury was destroyed against Indian rule. Although separatist movement has lost steam for many years, many locals continue to see Delhi administration without trust.

These feelings deepened since 2019 when the Federal government, headed by Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Party, stripped the region of its autonomy.

So some locals tell the BBC they are not surprised at performance reactions.

“Everything in Kashmir is political; people see things through a political prison,” said Mir, a professor at a local university (he asked his last name to restrain his identity). He added that people doubt about major corporate events such as fashion shows and – even if they are organized by private players – they believe that the government is trying to dissolve their culture.

Ahshid Ahmad, a researcher, uses stronger words to express an angst person. “The government is trying to boast the spirit of resisting Kashmiris,” he said.

This is not the first time an event is held by non-locals who are rooted in a Kashmir controversy. In 2013, separatists and human rights activists in the region protested against a show through famous conductor Zubin Mehta. they As It’s a government test to show the world that everything is good in Kashmir if people “suffer and die”.

Getty Images models wearing black and white clothes walking on a long runway that spotlight oh the Great Wall of China, looking at the lines of people sitting and watching the people sitting down and watching the people sittingGetty images

In 2007, Fendi and Designer Karl Lagerfeld holds an iconic fashion show on the Great Wall of China

Some of the new numbness around culture and identity can also be tied to the rise of Kashmir tourists from other Indian states. The federal government often connected This tourism boom to eliminate Article 370, with the region of its autonomy.

The Nousheen Fatima, 34, saying for government messaging, people outside Kashmir today see the region shorter and “more assimilated in India”. But he declared that many tourists did not respect the culture of the region.

Last year, a Video showing tourists Drinking alcohol on a boat ride to the famous Dal Lake of Strinagar destroys anger from political and religious leaders, calling the “un-islamic and head behavior

In February, Locals put posters In Srinagar, tourists are asked to “respect local cultures and traditions” and “avoid alcohol and use of drugs”, but it is later pulled by police.

To a edotatoiso For the voice of the fashion magazine, MS Vasawev argues that disgust should be checked from a critical lens. He asked if the show was shown well in another city in India instead of Kashmir, where Muslims were also observed in Ramadan. And if it is acceptable to display kashmir performance if it has only outfits to know moderation.

He also fits that Kashmir is at home with the “best wool in the world; some of the best handspun, handwoven pastation creatures and its artics”.

“What is Kashmir doing and can’t be replicated anywhere. Doesn’t it supposed to show a fashion with a 100% clothing with a 100% fabric in the way before the methods before the ways in no way in no way?” he asked.

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