The first day of the Karachi Fashion Week (KFW) was an alluring experience as a potpourri of fashion designers — from established ones to aspiring ones to retail brands — all displaying their creativity, with some hitting the mark and other mostly, missing it.
To highlight the diversity of the event, the first night not only saw established brand Fifth Avenue showcasing some of the best of their winter collection, but also gave a chance to upcoming designers, who made their debut in the fashion world. Some of these included Jazib Qamar whose menswear collection sported a casual, funky look and Trevor Castelino whose women’s line exuded an air of sensuality.
Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue’s collection for women was in sober, as well as playful colours — from shocking pink and maroon tops to brown leather jackets — while the men’s collection had a more formal look, albeit with a funky touch. Sticking to their signature style, the collection also saw numerous dinner jackets, all in hues of brown, black, grey and blue.
“With the best fabric and a wide range of materials, what we brought to KFW 2011 was the best of the best from the winter collection for this year,” said Amir Anees, the CEO of Fifth Avenue.
Newports Institute
They might be young, but they know about cuts and style and that showed in their work. A team of students from Newports Institute presented four collections: western-gowns based on the theme of ‘Dreams’; cocktail dresses based on ‘Mughal Art’; dresses based on ‘Science Fiction’ and an eastern bridal collection. While some pieces were eye-catching, the multi-coloured cocktail dresses with a tinge of a Indo-China touch were off the mark and gave the impression that the designers are still in the experimenting phase.
Aamir Baig
Aamir Baig, who has been in the profession for the last eight years, showcased a collection that was a fusion of eastern and western designs, and consisted mainly of knee-length dresses that incorporated classic embroidery along with western cuts and styles. All of his models adorned masks, which added a mysterious touch.
Waseem Noor
Waseem Noor’s collection was a complete fusion of bold designs consisting of western cuts, eastern fabrics, jamawar borders and embellished necklines. Since this was one of the first collections, the knee-length cocktail dresses initially made an impression, but with a number of designers using the same concept over and over again, it became a little excessive.
Sharifah Kirana
Deeply inspired by legendary figure TunTeja (regarded as the most beautiful woman of her time), Malaysian designer Sharifah Kirana brought forward a wedding trousseau collection, which may be suitable for Malaysian brides, but not for Pakistanis. The models were in short white gowns made out of satin or chiffon. One of the trousseaus even sported a motif of a lady’s face, both in the front and at the back of the outfit. The highlights of the collection were the bridal dresses in red and pink, with floral embroidery and embellishments of diamantes.
Jazib Qamar
Jazib Qamar’s menswear collection titled ‘Road Lane’ was, perhaps, one of the day’s most daring experiment. He brought forward unconventional colours along with a bold collection of shoes and funky accessories, which included long lockets and wrist bands. Qamar not only toyed with the outrageous combo of a copper green shirt and pants with florescent green chappals, but also experimented with a bright yellow top and a lungi-ish shalwar with white chappals. However, his out-of-the-box approach seemed to have backfired as the creations did not deliver the impact he had hoped for.
Trevor Castelino
Trevor Castelino’s collection, which flirted with the colours black, deep gold and white, was based on the musical “Moulin Rouge”. A daring mix of western-styled outfits and enchanting silver jewellery by Taneez, the collection was one of the better ones of the night. However the designer, like so many others in Pakistan, is talented but needs to be directed and guided in the right direction.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 8th, 2011.
You can view a slide show of pictures from the first day of KFW here.
COMMENTS (11)
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@John B: Do women in your respective country where high-end designer clothes on the street?
Pakistan is more of a customized market. These designs will be sold to the party who can afford, and if they are having a trouble with wearing it sleeveless, customization will be done.
@GetRidOfFeudalPolitics:
Be realistic. Remember the reality TV actress fiasco?
There are general party dresses of the subcontinent which are abound which I think are better.
Cocktail dresses in PAK? Bare shoulders, bare backs, and free flowing cuts are not PAK style. Not even women outside of PAK prefer these unless they are conservatively cut.
Have fun. No bias here.
@John B: I am sorry that this article did not reinforce your biased image of the Pakistan.
This is fantasy fashion week??? most of outfits are not practical
Love it:)))
Use of masks in your collection is such a dated and 'studentish' idea.
And women in PAK wear these dresses? PAK fashion is an oxymoron.
isnt it a bit shocking that those designers who were branding it as 'Korangi Fashion Week' last year are now them selves participating in it... i wouldnt be shocked if pseudo-fashion journalists will be sitting on front rows, tomorrow , as last year they labelled it as 'political fashion week'.... how suddenly things changed... for good though :)
Sound quite interesting!