Collective Conscience

Three enterprising creatives are using fashion and design to bring women together. The result is a powerful, united voice for change that’s already being heard.

SURABHI CHAUHAN, SARI SUNDAY

When documenting her efforts to wear a sari, Surabhi Chauhan had a bit of an epiphany: “I knew the only way to learn was to try, fail, try again, and do it at my own pace on a leisurely Sunday. I soon realised that the sari is much more than a draped garment—it’s welcoming of different sizes, personalities, cultures, and moods of a woman.”

Founder of Delhi-based brand consultancy service Lovestruckcow, marketing and communications professional Chauhan started an Instagram account called @SariSunday in 2015. A search of the corresponding hashtag today leads to over 4,000 images of bankers, doctors, teachers, mothers and daughters, even some men, from Rourkela to Texas, all draped in the sari.

Chauhan is clear that Sari Sunday isn’t just a way for fashion bloggers to share their latest outfit-of-the-day, it’s a community dedicated to celebrating womanhood—“We want to share inspiring stories and in the process, connect with more people.” The account features crowd-sourced photos of women in saris, pop culture imagery celebrating the drape, and information on iconic, sari-wearing women through history. Such as Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy, the first female legislator in India, who won a Padma Bhushan in 1956.