London: Hundreds of women, mostly doctors and bankers showed up at Britain's most valued Royal Ascot race meeting, in traditional sarees today. This event is often attended by the Queen who recently celebrated her platinum jubilee. The saree-clad women of Indian origin displayed India's culture on a global platform of fashion to highlight the condition of Indian weavers, particularly after the Covid pandemic.
The sarees featured a variety of themes ranging from health workers to hijab. The diversity of Indian states was at full display at Britain's Ascot, an event where the most fashionable people of the world meet.
Sanchita Bhattacharya, a media professional, wore a Madhubani hand-crafted silk saree that featured the Pandavas and Krishna from the epic Mahabharat. Chinu Kishore, a civil engineer at British Railways wore a 'Mekhala sador', an Assamese traditional weave, to represent her North Eastern state on a global platform.
A young woman who wore a white sari with a tricolor border said, "They are calling me Miss India here because I have the flag and tricolor on my sari, I feel so proud."
Over 1000 NRI women, most of them NHS doctors or bankers and professionals took a day off, to attend the event and showcase the sarees.
Each saree at the Ascot today had a story to tell. “We are here to represent two things- diversity and inclusion,” said Rina Dutta.
The saree show is the brainchild of NHS Doctor Dipti Jain. “We are saree-loving girls and the idea came up after setting up a charity to help artisans and weavers, especially after the pandemic in India," said Ms Jain.