India, June 27 -- What does it take to change the world?

A book, a song or a poem can do it. A great leader or mass campaign, a lot of guns or a lot of money tend to be even more effective.

What about neat rows of stitching?

We don't often give fashion its due.

Over 125 years, clothes that emerged on the catwalk have moulded economies, altered societies, helped liberate women, reflected. angst, exuberance, new dreams, old fears, rebellion against war, and a yearning, over and over, for peace.

Catwalks have been canvases for art, platforms for new technology and vocal proponents of climate and human rights. They have been stages for some grand questioning: Who are we? What else can fashion be? Who is this for?

And there has been the ...