Can fashion tell the story of a people, their culture and their relationship with nature? Bangladesh’s fashion brand Twelve Clothing explored the idea through a special photoshoot in Rangamati marking World Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
Moving away from conventional studio settings, Twelve chose the hills and the waters of Kaptai Lake as the backdrop for its latest fashion initiative. The brand’s contemporary clothing was photographed amid the blue waters of the lake, green hills and natural surroundings of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
The photoshoot featured local indigenous models, giving the brand’s clothing a distinctive visual identity. Photographer Arian Anderson, who himself comes from the hills, captured the images, allowing the natural landscape and the models to remain central to the presentation.
Rather than reproducing or imitating traditional indigenous attire, Twelve presented its contemporary clothing within the cultural and natural environment of Rangamati. The approach sought to highlight the coexistence of modern fashion with the diverse cultural identities of indigenous communities.
Bangladesh is home to numerous indigenous communities, each with distinct languages, lifestyles, traditions, handicrafts, colours, weaving techniques and clothing styles. Their cultural practices have evolved with changing lifestyles and modern needs, but many traditional patterns, colours, crafts and weaving techniques continue to survive across generations.
Twelve said its Rangamati initiative was intended not merely as a campaign for World Indigenous Peoples’ Day but as part of a broader vision to explore Bangladesh’s cultural diversity through fashion.
According to the brand, Twelve regularly develops new collections and campaigns around festivals, seasons and special occasions. However, the Rangamati project is being viewed as the starting point of a longer-term effort to showcase the creativity and cultural diversity of different communities across Bangladesh through contemporary fashion.
The brand said its current clothing featured in the photoshoot is available at Twelve outlets across the country. In the future, it hopes to draw inspiration from the traditional colours, patterns, fabrics, weaving techniques and handicrafts of indigenous communities while developing new designs.
Twelve also aims to introduce Bangladesh’s diverse artistic and design traditions to a wider audience at home and abroad while maintaining respect for the heritage and identities from which such inspiration is drawn.
The initiative reflects a broader understanding of fashion as more than clothing. Garments can also carry stories of people, landscapes, lifestyles, cultural heritage and social change.
Against the backdrop of Rangamati’s hills and Kaptai Lake, Twelve’s photoshoot has thus sought to create a visual dialogue between nature, people, culture and contemporary fashion, offering a fresh perspective on Bangladesh’s rich and diverse cultural identity.
