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The Shivan & Narresh co -founders, whose recent fashion show triggered controversy and public debates in a ski area in India during the Ramadan, discussed the consequences with which they are now dealing with.
The designers confronted themselves after the Slopeside Runway Show in the Gulmarg ski area on Friday, some government and religious civil servants, consumers and others criticize. The pushback was due to the event during the Ramadan and for what some viewed as inappropriate clothing-bikini-oberen parts and a few other body cheap styles paired with their ski clothing. In order to try to dismiss the counter -reaction, co -founder Shivan Bhatiya and Narresh Kukreja gave an apology to X and removed all the pictures from the show or refer to them from their social media channels.
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Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar year, is a sacred month of fasting and the spiritual reflection for the Muslim world. In India this year’s annual compliance with Ramadan began on March 2 and it is expected to end on March 30 or 31.
The public outcry by leaders such as Prime Minister Omar Abdullah has also led to an official investigation. Abdullah had not recognized a media request on Tuesday. Bhatiya and Kukreja said they had given the permits and other related information for the investigation.
In a post on X on Monday, Sarah Hayat Shah, state spokeswoman for the Jammu Kashmir National Conference said that the show was not organized by the government and that no government allowance or no infrastructure was used. According to reports, the situation has led to “heated discussions” in the legislative assembly of Jammu and Kashmir. (In the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, Jammu and Kashmir had a special status by Article 370 of the Indian constitution until 2019.) The controversy about the show also triggered a public debate about fashion as well as cultural and religious sensitivity.
In Neu -Delhi on Tuesday, Shivan & Narreshs co -founder reached the situation as “oversight”. They said they had invited almost 100 guest members of the media, influencers and customer-to-do Gulmarg Skigebiet to celebrate the 15th anniversary of their company. Shivan & Narresh started as a luxury swimming and added skiwear five years ago, but the fashion show on Friday was the first to show his skiwear. Kukreja said: “It was clearly a sound show. But it was regrettable that the religious feeling was an oversight for our side, ”he said. “Ramadan was obviously held in the holy month, so we have to do what is needed.”
When asked whether he or Kukreja Ramadan observed, Bhatiya said: “We are not a Muslim. We don’t watch it. We are Hindu. But the show was in a region that is very Muslim.
Kukreja said: “The spirit was organized to celebrate creativity. We celebrated 15 years in the fashion business. We are known for [designs for] Summer vacation. We now wanted to do some icon to celebrate the milestone of our company, so we thought we would make a presentation in a ski area and our excursion in winter holidays, skis and an apres ski line with marking [fashion] show.”
Shivan & Narresh had skiing the Gulmarg ski gig area for four days, Picknick lunch, snowmobile, fashion show and other activities for the guests who were flown to “completely bought” for “cross -experience”, which “The Expericial Trip” were “completely bought” in its overall. “They were able to do. It’s not like someone is not aware of the facts. “
A media request to the Gulmarg ski area was not returned.
The luxury label spent around 1,500 US dollars per person for the almost 100 guests. “Our idea was to put Gulmarg on the tourist card. When you see the show, it looks like it could be anywhere in the world. We have worked very hard in the past four months to enable the show, ”said Kukreja and added that the publicity plan for Gulmarg“ backfired ”.
Kukreja recognized the “public outrage” and said that he “personally likes not to work on anything that is political. We do an honest business. The idea is to push the envelope and push the envelope to where society leads. The segment of the people we adapt is very, very small and that includes Indians who have settled all over the world. “
According to industry sources, Shivan & Narresh generates annual sales of almost 45 million US dollars. With an online shop and five free -standing shops, the Luxury Bado and Skiwear brand aims to expand into other categories and regions, including the USA
When asked about the negativity in social media, Kukreja said: “Yes, that was a day. But there was also a lot of support. It is healthy at the moment and we still have no personal craziness. “
He added: “I don’t see what we did was terribly wrong. It was a completely private event only for our guests. Unfortunately the place was something that was an supervision for our site [given that Gulmarg is in a region where Ramadan is largely observed]. “”
After one of the models had been questioned by a stranger for eating peanuts in Gulmarg during Ramadan’s fasting lessons, the model replied that according to Kukreja, he did not watch the fast. “We were also surprised [by that]”, He said.
The founders said they had never advertised their luxury bath clothing as “excess sexy”. Despite the controversy, the latest skiwear collection is sent in November to collapse with the start of the ski season. “Then the rest of the country would like to buy ski goods from us,” they said.
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