Fashion2 min
Kurukshetra University Ratnavali fest: 50 students walk ramp in Haryanvi dress
At a state-level youth festival, ghagras, turbans and chundris took centre stage, while 42 student stalls turned campus creativity into small business practice.
More than 50 students from over 15 Haryana institutions walked the ramp in traditional Haryanvi clothing on the second day of the Ratnavali Festival at Kurukshetra University. The fashion show mixed folk heritage with a contemporary, stage-ready look.
The wardrobe covered both men and women. Participants wore ghagra, dhoti-kurta, chundri, vayal, daman, khayar, dupatta, kurti, gaati, turban, ghaghri, saunpli and dukaniya, among other garments. Organisers said the line-up was meant to show the variety of designs and the cultural meaning behind each piece.
Vivek Chawla, Director of Youth and Cultural Affairs, described the show as a broad look at Haryana's heritage. Registrar Virender Pal said the university wants young people to feel connected to those traditions, not just read about them.
The show is not new. Maha Singh Poonia, Director of Public Relations, said it was added to Ratnavali five years ago. He said it has helped raise the popularity of traditional Haryanvi attire across the state, encouraging its production and sale and creating work for hundreds of young men and women. Those figures come from the organisers.
Outside the ramp, the festival doubled as a student marketplace. Forty-two stalls offered products, food ventures, handicrafts and technology projects. Chawla said students were making, displaying and selling their work, which taught them how to read customer tastes, pitch an idea and build confidence. Vice-Chancellor Som Nath Sachdeva said Ratnavali goes beyond cultural performances and gives students room to test business ideas.
Engineering students from the University Institute of Engineering and Technology brought their own start-ups. Team Black Pearl displayed a Formula racing car. Hamsetu, founded by Sohan and Mohan, runs a business-to-business model serving raw material plants, manufacturers and new start-ups. Vimanshala, a drone start-up focused on Made-in-India products, offers drone training and instructor support. eWastify 5 collects discarded electronics, repairs faulty devices and sells refurbished ones at affordable prices.
The takeaway is simple: a folk costume show and a start-up bazaar shared one campus, and both pushed students to turn what they know into something people can wear, use or buy. Source: The Tribune.
