All set: A change of guard

Fashion Pakistan Council (FPC) appoints new heads, month ahead of Fashion Pakistan Week

LAHORE: While the Pakistan Fashion Design Council (PFDC) gears up for the upcoming PFDC L’Oreal Paris Bridal Week (PLBW) in Lahore, the Karachi-based Fashion Pakistan Council (FPC) is breathing the winds of change.

Three months ago, Wardha Saleem and Sanam Chauhdri resigned from their respective roles as CEO and chairperson of the council, ending their three-year tenure.  Too fill up the vacancies, FPC has now elected veteran designer Deepak Perwani as chairperson and the relatively new Nida Azwer as the CEO.



“It has only been a few hours since we took charge and the old board is yet to sit with the new one to hand over the transition,” said the spirited Perwani, adding  that he is most excited about working with Azwer. “It’s the first time a senior member and a junior member are taking over, as opposed to two seniors or two juniors.”

Azwer is also yet to immerse herself fully into the workings of the council. “I only found out yesterday but it’s definitely exciting. The idea for a council is to have all the people in the industry in one place,” she claimed. “I’ve done a lot of shows with PFDC so our relations will hopefully continue to flourish.”

It seems like the new council has it all despite the fact that Chaudhri and Saleem resigned two months before their tenure was supposed to end. Saleem was reluctant to comment on the reason for her early departure but added, “If they need any guidance, we would be more than happy to do help. But we don’t think they would need any help because they are following the structure that we have formed. If the change of guards had happened the way it was meant to, we would have been there to help the process ourselves.”



Shedding light on the lack of representation from Lahore-based designers, Perwani said, “We’ve had representation from Nilofar Shahid and Ather Hafeez in the past and we would have liked it this time as well. There’s so much work to do in all of Pakistan but unfortunately, no one applied.” On the same note, Azwer revealed, “FPC doesn’t have a ceremonial board. It’s one where all the members work for the council and manage their own businesses. Therefore, it’s difficult to shuttle between two cities. That may be why there is no representation from Lahore.”

Nonetheless, the FPC has undoubtedly grown from strength to strength every year, with heavy-duty sponsors, a mixed bag of well-known and upcoming designers and regular fashion shows. However, it remains to be seen whether the council will manage to run smoothly, given its ‘democratic’ tendencies, constant musical chairs and a less than favourable past, as compared to PFDC. The first task in hand for the FPC’s new heads will be to harness the Autumn/Winter Pakistan Fashion Week set to take place on October 30.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2016.

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