Asian Fashions
From the collection of
From the collection of
John Swallow visits the Alankar House of Sarees in Leicester to report on the rise in their popularity. Apparently saris are are becoming increasingly fashionable amongst non-traditional wearers of the garment and, although the mac wearing Swallow may not be the most knowledgeable on the subject, he finds out how women should wear the brilliantly coloured fabric.
From local news to feature film, through home movies and TV documentaries, this collection showcases South Asian Britons in front of and behind the camera. The contribution of colonial troops is illuminated through the earliest newsreels, while hardhitting current affairs programmes highlight the struggles faced in the 1960s, 1970s and beyond. Public information films produced for South Asian audiences feature alongside Hindi-language films made in Britain and interviews with prominent Asian-British figures. A bold wave of British Asian filmmaking in the 1990s is represented through early works by the likes of Gurinder Chadha and Asif Kapadia.