Kurta with a difference!

This kurta will put the 'Lakhnavi' ones to shade. Bedecked on glass nylon fabric are rolled and semi open condoms interspersed with coloured beads. And, the condoms - 1025 to be precise - give the kurta a unique and aesthetic look.

This kurta will put the 'Lakhnavi' ones to shade.

HT Image

Forget the embroidery - it does not have any. Instead, it has what others don't. Bedecked on glass nylon fabric are rolled and semi open condoms interspersed with coloured beads. And, the condoms - 1025 to be precise - give the kurta a unique and aesthetic look.

This designer kurta, which has been completed in roughly four weeks, is NIFT fashion designer M A Rahman's (29) initiative to promote awareness about HIV/AIDS on the World AIDS Day today.

The kurta has already caught the fancy of the United Nations. Executive Director of UNAIDS Michel Sidibe was quick to respond, as he warmly appreciated Rahman's effort to create awareness about the disease. Rahman had e-mailed UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon a photograph of the designer kurta.

But back home, the Ministry of Health is not amused. "I got a very cold response from the Union Health Minister when I approached him to tell about my novel initiative to create awareness about HIV/AIDS," said Rahman while talking to Hindustan Times from New Delhi.

Based in New Delhi, the East Champaran-born Rahman has specialised in designing traditional dresses for leaders of different hues. He had earlier designed a kurta-pyjama for US President Barack Obama. Closer home, railway minister Lalu Prasad wore his crafted kurta and pyjama to the Parliament on the Railway Budget day last year. Among the other frontline politicians he has catered to be Ram Vilas Paswan, Sharad Yadav, Shahnawaz Hussain, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Jyotiraditya Scindia and former Bihar governor
Shafi Quereshi.

Notwithstanding the Health Minister's tepid response, the newsmaker is optimistic his effort will not go waste to thwart the scourge of AIDS.