Pakistan

Whirling dervishes, tribal inspirations and chiffon open the show

Socialites, designers flocked around the cameras as PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week debuted in Karachi.

Saba Imtiaz November 11, 2010

KARACHI: PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week opened in Karachi on Wednesday night. Socialites and designers flocked around the cameras, full of hope for the four-day event ahead.

In attendance were model-turned-fashion editor (for Newsweek Pakistan) Aaminah Haq (in a Khaadi dress) and a contingent of designers, including Sara Shahid, Maheen Kardar, Hassan Sheheryar Yasin, Maria B, Kamiar Rokni, Nomi Ansari, Yousaf Bashir Qureshi, Maheen Khan, Shamaeel Ansari and Deepak Perwani. There was a heavy contingent of foreign buyers and journalists - some clad in eastern wear. Eight foreign journalists are also covering the event, and five buyers will be present to possibly place orders from designer collections.

While the first edition of the Lahore-based Pakistan Fashion Design Council’s fashion week was held in Lahore this February, this season the council has decided to show in Karachi. Some designers said that they were “excited” to bring the event to the city; the official spokesperson designer Hassan Sheheryar Yasin said, “We don’t think we’ve brought the show to Karachi. PFDC is ‘Pakistan’ Fashion Design Council and we have designers from Karachi and Lahore and Islamabad showing so we can have the show in any city”.

Young fashionistas posed in their funky outfits for their male, camera-toting friends and one could hear a mix of faux British accents mingling with the real French and Italian ones in the air.

Lahore’s designers are known for their penchant to turn runway shows into full-fledged theatrical productions, and the opening show - by designer duo Nickie Nina - stayed true to that stereotype. The show opened with a dancer in Turkish-inspired garb who posed as poetic verses were recited to a drumbeat.

Also spotted at the event was US Consul General in Lahore Carmela Conroy, who is a regular at almost every notable fashion-related event in Lahore. “I was invited to attend by my designer friends from PFDC,” she told The Express Tribune. “I had spoken to my counterpart in Karachi about us visiting each other’s cities so he said I was welcome to come, so I’m here.” An organiser was overheard asking Conroy to bring as many foreigners to the shows as she could.

According to reports, it had become impossible to secure a Lahore-Karachi flight early this week, as they were all booked by designers and socialites flying in for fashion week. The usually sedate designer Sara Shahid, who showed on Wednesday night, exclaimed in a harassed tone, “You don’t even want to know how I managed to get a flight!”

Musician Hadiqa Kiani walked out on the runway at the end of Nickie Nina’s show, and yelled out “love you” in response to Yousaf Bashir Qureshi’s call of “Mubarak!”

Songs by Noori lightened up the mood left by Nickie Nina’s not-so Turkish delight at the second show by Saai that brought on a very structured collection catering to the foreign market.

Akif Mahmood, a Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design graduate, debuted at the event and had the audience applauding even before the show started.

Those not in the mood to view fashion busied themselves with their BlackBerries or people watching - two favourite pasttimes for Karachi’s ‘it’ crowd.

The designer collections, on day one, reflected a sense of their need to cater to the foreign market. But given that many of them have not solidified their home base or still run small operations, whether that is possible still has to be assessed. After a short break to catch up on gossip, reviews, nicotine and a short press conference by some of the designers, attendees sat down in their seats for the rest of the shows, including Sublime’s black-and-beige collection, which was set to thumping trance music.

The second debutante, Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design graduate Mohsin, used his own origins of Hazara and the concept of the veil as inspiration. The music turned to haunting winds as the models trailed their abaya-like ensembles on the runway.

Several attendees whipped out their cameras to snap models draped in black fabric.

Fuzon performed during the last show of the evening, a collective of black outfits by over 30 designers, which will be sold for charity at a sale at the Sheraton on Thursday. Stylist Asmaa Mumtaz used the spirit of women as an inspiration and styled the outfits with large beaten gold jewellery and jute rope.

The male models were styled with gold turbans. Whoops were heard from the audience as Fuzon serenaded with their hit “Tere Bina” and a cover of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s “Akhiyan Udeek Diyan”. Attendees are gearing up for the next three days, bound to be an exhausting experience, but full of gossip, drama and fashion and the mutual admiration society delighting in each others’ clothes and accessories.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11^th, 2010.

COMMENTS (2)

Sana Sultan | 13 years ago | Reply Bravo Ms. Imtiaz, I am gladly surprised by your review of the PFDC fashion week in Karachi. We need more journalists in this country who are not withheld by their personal intimacies before they consider writing a proper critique that could encourage the local designers to raise the bar. Sadly our industry is no where near the bar. During my own visit to the fashion week I over heard a foreign journalist raise the question that why do we have two fashion councils to begin with....the expressions on their faces during the four days were a mix of confusion, awe and concern. I see potential in every designer too, however it is their lack of judgement that concerns me as they refrain from high fashion just so that they may cater to the local market which is important as well, just not at the expense of murdering the essence of fashion. I enjoyed YBQ's daring attempt of performing art, Muse's attempt at color blocking (which was completely off) and Kamiar Rokni who carried an international savvy feel in his collection all together. HSY and Amar Belal were the worst of the lot, HSY an established brand name with all his glory, presented a dramatic gimmick with poor/mediocre design elements in the collection. He played too safe for the potential that he depicts to be carrying since the past years. Amar Belal's collection was very artistic however poorly executed, not just because of the design elements but some how merging New York in the collection was quite a turn off. A hidden "wanna be-ish" feel killed what could have been rated fairly if the New York bit was eliminated. I have read quite a few reviews so far which are raving about how spectacular the show went despite the bomb blasts and that every designer was amazing in their own way. I am sorry I beg to differ, journalists who say that we should be content with whatever we have, work on that and not think to the limits of New York/Paris/Milan/Tokyo, have no credibility in my books, after all they are fashion capital. I noticed that a majority of our industry is pleased with being utterly complacent and remaining in-the-box rather than to come out of retailing and indulge in the true essence of fashion. I am a fashion student and have been following European and American fashion since the age of 17. I am now 25 and have had the experience of working as a buyer for a yet to establish international designer boutique. Which gave me a chance this year to interact intimately with companies such as Giorgio Armani, Jimmy Choo, YSL, Celine and Givenchy. Moreover I have also experienced a whiff of the local industry as well. I state this just for you to consider that my knowledge of fashion has a ground solid enough for me to pass the above statement.

Sara Khan | 13 years ago | Reply I find this trend of ripping apart designer's and their collections amongst pakistani journalists appalling. At this nascent stage of the Fashion Industry designers need to be encouraged and applauded for showing a different face of pakistan to the world. I've been following all the reviews in the different daily's and have to say the reporting leaves a lot to be desired. For one a review should limit itself to pointing out the salient features of any collection. It shouldn't be peppered with the journalists idea's on what the designer should or should not have done. No where in the world have i read such prejudiced and biased reviews. Fashion journalists need not overstep their boundaries and try and intimidate designers by the so called power of their pen. This trend should be nipped in the bud..

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