The story of muslin’s past, present and future was revealed against the historical and palatial backdrop of Ahsan Manzil, the residence of Dhaka’s Nawabs during the 19th century.

A dramatic re-enactment of muslin’s rise under Mughal patronage and subsequent extinction at the hands of the East India Company was presented by Lubna Mariam’s Shadhona dance group. This was followed by a fashion cat walk show featuring current jamdani saris from Aarong and futuristic usage of muslin using 200-count cloth woven by Drik’s selected weavers. Twelve designers from three countries took part in the fashion show. The countries (and designers) were from Bangladesh (Humaira Khan, Kuhu Plamondon, Roxana Mariam, Tenzing Chakma), from India (Aneeth Arora, Darshan Shah, Santanu Das, Soumitra Mondal) and from the UK (Lucky Hossain, Rezia Wahid, Saif Osmani, The Muslin Trust) who displayed muslin’s abundant potential for traditional saris as well as contemporary haute couture ensembles. The idea was that ‘new muslin’ should be portrayed in both in its past glory and also as a usable fabric for the new generation, both male and female.

The dance drama, scripted by Saymon Zakaria, was performed by Shadhona while Azra Mahmood choreographed the fashion show with music was composed by Nirjhar Chowdhury, which capped off an enchanting evening of education and entertainment.

The event was inaugurated by Assaduzzaman Noor, Hon. Minister of Cultural Affairs; RK Menon, Hon. Minister of Tourism; Gowher Rizvi, Int. Aff. Adviser to the Prime Minister; S Khokon, Mayor of Dhaka (South) and FL Choudhry, Director BNM.

The event was attended by over a thousand special guests who enjoyed the evening’s show against Ahsan Manzil’s magnificent façade, on the banks of the river Buriganga in Old Dhaka.