Australian Fashion Designers Exhibit Pakistan’s Chitral Collection

Braid and Ainsworth – both Australian, both 27 – live and work in a mountain village in the Chitral valley, a region of north-west Pakistan considered one of the most volatile places on earth. In April, just before the Caravana collection of vivid embroidered skirts and little wrap jackets, made by local women, was to be shown at Sydney’s fashion week, deep snow closed Chitral airport and sealed off the only road out. Now Caravana works in partnership with Pakistan’s largest NGO, the Aga Khan Foundation, and offers hundreds of women the chance to bring money into their households.