The Wendell Rodricks Kunbi Tribe collection for Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week is the fruit of many years of research and a catalyst to revive the art of Kunbi weaving in the state of Goa.
Marginalized by main stream society, denounced to the lowest rung of the caste ladder and used today by the Goa Government for dancing entertainment, the Kunbis deserve to be addressed as the original inhabitants of the land. Even today their forests are cleared for projects in the name of ‘development’.
Since July 2009, Wendell Rodricks has begun a grassroot campaign to revive the Kunbi sari in a designer avtaar. Sourcing weavers and looms was a daunting task. The collection is a result of many months of labour and has resulted in a fabulous collection of ethnicity and moderning. Expertly mixing cotton and silk, woven and knitted textures, the Wendell Rodricks Kunbi Tribe collection is a celebration of revivalism. Goa finally takes its place along the other celebrated saris of India with this path breaking, tribal empowering collection.
