EIGHT GIFTED CHILDREN REDRESS FASHION WITH STYLE

Autism RuL3s Fashion – A community project for and by members of the B40 community merging fashion and art in an effort to humanise autism in Malaysia

Eight autistic, gifted children have redefined the local fashion scene by producing spectacular artwork for an exclusive community project, Autism RuL3s Fashion. The artwork generated by the children was the catalyst to spur JK Signature’s founder and designer – Jayakumar Vanialingam- to create a stylish and exciting fashion collection, that debuted on March 30, 2019, at the Dorsett Grand Subang Hotel as a prelude to World Autism Awareness Day taking place on April 2, 2019. 

As Autism RuL3s Fashion is inherently a project that combines art with fashion, JK Signature collaborated with PERSAMA-2gether4autism to embark on this noble project. Jayakumar or Jay as he’s fondly known in the fashion industry, who is also an official associate of PERSAMA-2gether4autism, drew upon his experiences working with autism projects and utilised his passion for art and fashion as a platform to create awareness about autism among children. 

In January this year, an art workshop organised by JK Signature and facilitated by Thila Laxshman, founder of PERSAMA-2gether4autism, brought out each participant’s creativity with vibrant strokes, splashes and abstract patterns. The children aged between 7 to 18 - let their imagination soar under Thila Laxshman’s guidance creating a series of stunning artwork experimenting with colours and expressing themselves artistically for the launch. 

Thila Laxshman has worked tirelessly over the years to uplift, specifically the B40 families with autistic children. The select group of seven autistic children from these families have also successfully completed a 6-month art therapy program – highly encouraged for children with autism as art calms the active mind and increases focus and attention. 

Through Autism RuL3s Fashion, JK Signature has constructed a new platform for autism awareness, catapulting the art and design works by PERSAMA-2gether4autism’s children into the fashion industry. Jay hopes the efforts will garner a wider understanding and interest about autism and its challenges on a multi-layered spectrum. 

Jay quoted at the launch “We want to create awareness and change mindsets in schools, neighbourhoods and in society about children with autism. We want Malaysians to reflect and appreciate the depth of talent exhibited by this gifted group of children with autism and at the same time, generate income for the children and their families.” 

He further added, “we are grateful to our sponsors, partners and associates who stepped up to help us with this project for a good cause.” 

The highlight of the launch was a fashion show by JK, featuring exquisite silhouettes – each design ingeniously displaying the fascinating artwork by the children. Jay, who ventured into fashion recently, was crowned the Most Promising Designer at Borneo Fashion Week 2018, and will personally take on the challenge to create a masterpiece collection. The collection was sold at the event and proceeds channelled to PERSAMA-2gether4autism. The event, open to the public also saw see exhibitions and workshops by children and families from the autism community. 

The children were presented with certificates and tokens by Tan Sri Dato Sri Dr M Kayveas, (President of the People's Progressive Party (PPP), YB Kamachi (ADUN Sabai) and Datin Sri Shaila Nair (Advisor to PERSAMA-2gether4autism). Paintings by the talented artists were also auctioned off with proceeds handed directly to the children’s families. 

JK Signature’s collections can be soon purchased online at www.thejkshop.com from mid April 2019. The limited edition JKFemme collection will be available at Metrojaya Mid Valley under the Asian Designers Guild section from mid April 2019 as well. 

PERSAMA-2gether4autism
A non-governmental organisation founded in 2012, has been revolutionising approaches and methods assisting parents and their special needs children of multi-ethnic groups in Malaysia, especially families within the B40 category. The organisation helps families with financial constraints through the provision of specially-curated therapies to assist the needs of these underperforming but gifted children. PERSAMA-2gether4autism has in recent years identified such families and is actively running sponsored art therapy programmes for children. 

Autism/ Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASDs) is a neurodegenerative and complex developmental disorder. Symptoms generally appear in early childhood, between the ages of two and three years, affecting a child’s ability to communicate, triggering difficulties in social skills, speech impairment and repetitive behaviour, as well as unique characteristics. 



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