Every year, International Women’s Day arrives with polished campaigns celebrating empowerment, strength, and sisterhood. But beneath the glossy visuals lies a question that designer Sureena Chowdhri has been thinking about for years. If fashion truly designs for every woman, why do few women see themselves reflected in its imagery?.
This question sits at the centre of the brand’s latest campaign, which features Zainika Jagasia, a model and Down syndrome advocate whose presence brings both honesty and warmth to the project.
Rather than positioning her as a symbolic figure, the campaign allows Zainika to speak directly to the viewer through a reflective monologue. In it, she gently challenges the language that celebrates inclusivity while still leaving many women unseen.
Visibility matters as much as design
When Sureena first started her label, inclusivity was built into the brand’s foundation. The goal was straightforward: to design clothes that work for different bodies and different women. But as the brand grew, she realised that design alone was not enough.
“For me, I knew when I was starting the brand that it had to design clothes for every type of woman and every body,” Sureena explains. “But sometimes we forget that if we do not visually show that diversity, people may not realise the space exists for them.”
This understanding has slowly shaped how the brand approaches storytelling. Fashion imagery, after all, often determines who feels invited into the conversation. When those images remain narrow, so does the perception of who fashion is truly for.
Watch the Campaign here
In the new campaign, the set reflects that idea visually. It imagines a vibrant, almost utopian space where visibility and belonging co-exist. Zainika moves through this world with a sense of ease, her humour and personality leading the narrative rather than fitting into a predetermined role.
A continuing conversation
The campaign is not the brand’s first attempt to widen fashion’s visual lens. Last year, Sureena collaborated with 70-year-old fitness enthusiast Roshni Devi Sangwan in a campaign that quickly became one of the label’s most talked-about projects.
The campaign was striking. Sangwan, dressed in a traditional kurta set, confidently deadlifted 75 kilograms at the gym. The juxtaposition challenged two longstanding assumptions at once, that strength belongs to youth and that traditional clothing exists only within domestic spaces.
Watch the campaign here
The project generated more than 4 million views and sparked conversations across social media about ageing, visibility, and how the fashion industry represents women at different stages of life.
For Govind Chowdhri, the brand’s CEO and co-founder, these moments are less about making bold statements and more about correcting an imbalance in how fashion sees the world.
“In fashion imagery, certain narratives repeat themselves,” he says. “You rarely see someone with Down syndrome, or a woman in her seventies lifting weights at the gym. Yet these women exist in the world around us. For us, representation simply means allowing fashion to reflect the breadth of lives that are already being lived.”
The women behind the brand
Representation for the label also extends beyond the camera. The brand has an ecosystem of 100 women artisans who are keeping traditional textile techniques alive.
Whether it’s her campaigns or otherwise, Sureena walks the talk when it comes to bringing more voices to the forefront. And in the fashion landscape that chases perfection, this shift feels radical.
