Tarun Tahiliani’s couture blanket for elephants is picked up by Sarah Ferguson Fashion pundits may cry purple is the colour of the season, but in these times of environmental sensitivity, green is the way to go. Top-heap couturier Tarun Tahiliani was invited to take part in Conservation Couture 2008, an art, fashion and conservation mélange, whose proceeds will go towards the charity, Elephant Family.Thirteen international designers were asked to design a blanket for life-sized topiary elephants. (Topiary is the art of creating sculpture from clipped trees and shrubs.) Besides our homegrown haute star, Alberta Ferretti, Diane von Furstenberg, Ralph Lauren, Carolina Herrera, Donna Karan, Julien Macdonald and Alice Temperley were there, among others. The elephants toured the UK, with a unique blanket beautifully created by each designer. Tahiliani used the tree of life as a metaphor for our threatened ecosystem. “The tree of life must be respected and the creatures must be protected. Man does not have the right to tamper with the ecology for his greed,” says Tahiliani, who used silk dupoin and spent 140 hours making the blanket. The blanket was auctioned for an undisclosed amount. All that is known is that it got the second highest price and was picked by the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson.
