Has Prada walked Indian footwear into the mainstream?
The fashion giant put its models on the Milan runway in slippers that looked eerily Kohlapuris. Could the 800-year-old tradition finally receive recognition?
When Prada put its models on the Milan fashion week runway in flat leather slippers that looked suspiciously like the traditional footwear handmade by poor craftsmen in a particular part of India, it triggered much caterwauling about cultural appropriation.
Fashion giants routinely cash in on Indian and South Asian heritage without credit or compensation, conscientious objectors lamented. As for me, I pulled out my trusty pair of Kohlapuri chappals and did a little jig in them, luxuriating as always in the familiar feel of soft real leather expertly crafted into the sleek design that makes these slippers so distinctive.
