Umbara Designs- clothing- be spoken!

  When I raise this question, perhaps the first thing that comes to your mind is sustainable clothing, eco-friendly attire that is a way of giving back to Mother Earth. I am addressing a different aspect, read on. For a long time, the connotation of fashion was propagated by media; that it is about you, clothing and accessories that make you a larger person that what you think yourself to be. Fashion thus helped one to embody oneself into a role – as a home maker, a working woman, a religious leader, a politician. It is almost as if fashion helped create ‘uniforms’ for professions, vocations and walks of life! (You can see a visually rich narrative of this thought in https://youtu.be/b8fsap7xQuQ?si=4F7T1i1hVCADy8gx) So, the question is, can we move away from the concept of fashion being a self-esteem and image booster? Can it go beyond proclaiming who you are? There is a trend of celebrities acknowledging their hair dressers, their make-up artists etc. Similarly, should we no...

  For decades, fashion has been associated with image. It was an empowering tool that women used to project a larger version of themselves. Be it researchers, socialites, home makers, they all used fashion to embody themselves in certain ways, building their own self esteem. For example, a working woman would use sun glasses, make up, well cut clothing to play her role effectively. I have elaborated more in this video .  Have women spent more time and effort honing professional skills than self presentation skills? Umbara works with women who need help in reflecting themselves in an authentic way in their clothing.  The interesting part is that the Umbara staff themselves are empowered too, in the process. It has been my experience that the process of making clothes helps a woman break out of her situational challenges much in the same way as a well-tailored outfit instills confidence in a lone woman in the boardroom. The empowering is two-fold, transforming both the...