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Make way for Peshawar Fashion Week
"I want to dispel the image of Peshawar as backward," says Peshawar Fashion Council's Waqas Ahmed.
LAHORE: Peshawar is set to host its own fashion week in 2011, but the reaction in the fashion community in Lahore and Karachi has been fairly stereotypical and ironically similar to the stereotyped coverage fashion week received from the international press.
But the recently formed Peshawar Fashion Council is not deterred.
“I had been working with Style 360 for the last six years and even when I approached my friends in the fashion industry, they started to laugh at me. But I felt that if every major city can have a fashion week, why not Peshawar? We also have a lot of talent that just needs to be unearthed and nurtured. There are many women designing and selling clothes from their own boutiques and lots of photographers are here as well. With the right kind of media projection even these small scale designers can become Hassan Sheheryar Yasins and Khawar Riazes,” said Waqas Ahmed of the Peshawar Fashion Council.
“We did not make any formal announcements as yet since we are still finalising the logistics and our media partner. I want to dispel the image of Peshawar as backward which is very wrong. Even last month we had the design students from Iqra University present their thesis as a fashion show,” said Ahmed.
Large-scale events in Pakistan come with security risks, but Ahmed promises to manage security at a private hotel which shall be the venue of the event.
So far Pakistan has four scheduled fashion weeks, two per season from Fashion Pakistan and Pakistan Fashion Design Council, amongst a plethora of corporate-sponsored fashion events and the recent additions of Islamabad Fashion Week and Bridal Couture Week. With only a small segment of the society that can participate and create avenues for business at these events, there is serious concern that the business angle to the fashion industry will be lost with the increasing number of events.
Ahmed defends this concern. He told The Express Tribune, “Everyone associated with the fashion industry, whether they are make-up artistes, models or designers, are making considerable money. If this industry was not profitable, even if it is just for a privileged few, people would have adopted different professions by now. So there is scope for work here.”
“It is just about projecting things in a good way. No profession is good or bad; it is only people working there that make it so. If we make it a respectable forum then good people from honourable homes will come forth to participate in it,” said an optimistic Ahmed. “I am going to try my best to make this venture a success and with the support of a few famous designers and models I am sure we can set this project off on a positive path.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2010.
Reader Comments (27)
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Yes Ahmd ….thumbs up with ur idea ….!!!
Peshawar has the potential,peoplz around da world can barely imagine,what place of natural beauty nd hospitality it has ……let some people learn this way as well,coz this media has become more trust worthy than they see and hear wid their own eyez,peoplz believe more on them,so let it be seen and heard by all ov them….and lets Go Green.Recommend
Great. Its nice that Peshawar is also coming forward.Recommend
My prayers are with you. May you have tons of success by putting Pekhawar on the map of international cities in terms of soft image and tolerant people.Recommend
Go Peshawar Go!!!
Will love to see those designs. Bravo!!!! Recommend
Bravo, man! please go ahead. I have some ideas to share with you. Good luckRecommend
WOW! I say make Peshawar a guy-oriented fashion week. We have yet to see Male Fashion Week in Pakistan. There are no puns intended here.Recommend
copy the west and keep copying.. Allah sey daro… qayamat aur aag barpegi…Recommend
I wish it wasn’t a case but this fashion week has a bulls-eye painted on it. This is a bomb waiting to happenRecommend
*the case, sorryRecommend
I’m thankful.Recommend
I am sorry but i dont understand why we are doing this, to just show the world that we are not backwards we are doing things which is disliked by ALLAH, and i am not just talking about fashion shows, we watch movies and see womens in half clothes dancing yet we dont consider this as sin, we say it’s normal, we lie, we leave our salah and dont feel for it, we deceive people and many more which is harmful for society , yes there are people who watch movies and sometimes miss their salah but they feel guilty from insight and they repent but here i am talking generally. Here is a question. Are we really willing to follow Islam. If we do it doesn’t mean we will not commit sins, we might do but we repent sincerely and we try hard not to it and indeed ALLAH is most mericiful and forgiving. The things i wrote is not to disrespect anyone neither it is just about this article, its just general what i see. I ask ALLAH for forgive all of us and guide us to straight path to follow his deen properly.Recommend
Just yesterday i had a conversation with a lahore based designer that things will really progress if fashion week comes to Peshawar,even tough there were the eyebrow raises but it was a splended idea and i am glad Ahmed you are putting your efforts to bring this into the effect.What really matters is being positive and staying positive and believing in your self.Thumbsup twice.
looking forward for the big event.Recommend
hello just wantd to know if any1 knows how to take part in fashion week peshawar2011
plz if any of u hav any detailed information plz share it here Recommend
Yes, Ahmed you had a perfect start.
Trust!!! it will be a success insha Allah.
@ sam_sar. participation will be easy. once let us finalize things and you will know about it.Recommend
dear Waqas,
best of luck, and i am hopeful & sure you can make this dream of your realised Soon.
if you need any help from me i am always availabe.
SaifRecommend
awsm thinking n project yar i wish to c this all n wana part of ths
best of luck if u need me i vl do so as posble as i canRecommend
All the best, for the effort to bring the city of flowers a bit frsh air in the tense environment.Recommend
Who are Hassan Sheheryar Yasin and Khawar Riaze?
This is silly. Recommend
Peshawar will give a great response at this event. It is a lively City…Recommend
these fashion shows go against islamic shariah women showing them selves to ghair mahram what has the islamic republic of pakistan come to :( Recommend
i likesssssssssssssssssssss Recommend
Pakistan is much more than just “Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi”.Recommend
Great job! Glad to hear it and as a pukhtana, I say there is nothing un-Islamic about it. It’s not a porn show, for God’s sake. Pekhawar zindabad!Recommend
Thumbs Up..
Let’s bring another city of Pakistan into limelight..Peshawar should go ahead with these kind of shows.Recommend
We should only appreciate if these fashion shows go in line with our culture, The kind of Fashion sholw being shown on TV happening in Lahore and Karachi..CAN ANYONE HERE PROVE THIS TO BE PART OF OUR CULTURE / RELIGION??????
What are we trying to give our next generation?? We say ourselves Muslims? Please think…Recommend
‘I wish it wasn’t a case but this fashion week has a bulls-eye painted on it. This is a bomb waiting to happen’
that was the first thought that crossed my mind too…hoping fervently, though, that this remains just a fear.
May God keep Pakistan safe…Recommend
@Ayesha: Are you masterminding some bomb blast? Be optimist and don’t speculate such things. Allah knows better what is going to happen.Recommend