Rokni brings modern back

Little bit of risk-taking and colour play pays off as the ‘Modernist’ collection gets great reviews.

KARACHI:

For fashion designer Kamiar Rokni from The House of Kamiar Rokni, it was a ‘pleasant surprise’ to win admiration at PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week held last month. For Rokni, “Fashion Weeks are places where either one gets great accolades or falls flat on their face. I must tell you it was a risky collection to pull off and I was pleasantly surprised when the crowd cheered for it and later talked about it.”

Back to the future

In Rokni’s opinion, the pret-a-porter Spring/Summer 2012 collection titled the ‘Modernist’ collection, “was something new; nothing inspired from the indigenous clothing line that we are known for. It had nothing to do with truck art or folk culture that our clothing lines are generally associated with.”

Rokni states that he kept two things in mind while working on his clothing line: firstly, it should be fresh and secondly, it should be easy to wear. “This collection was all about the inspiration I took from the modernist movement 1933 onwards in the field of art and architecture. I tried to incorporate the work of artists like Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Piet Mondrian and Josef Albers and weaved in a touch of Africa and Brazil in it,” states Rokni.

Zahir Rahimtoola, owner of the multi-brand outlet Labels, states that Rokni’s collection — that steered away from prints and lace and brought forward straight-line, minimalistic designs — set the trend for 2012.”

When asked whether he found anything lacking in the ‘Modernist’ collection, Rahimtoola comments, “I don’t see any shortcomings in the collection itself. The overall impact gave a larger picture of how ramp collections can be showcased as  street fashion. More and more designers should start adding street value to their collections. After all this is what a pret trade show is all about.”

The fabric of fashion

For his collection Rokni toyed with fabrics of crepe silk, viscose and stretch jersey but one thing that left the fashionistas bedazzled was the exotic mix of neon colours. Rokni explains, “We thought on the lines of colour blocking trend, which is becoming a rage in the international fashion market. We wanted people to know how much we love colour and how much we can play with it.”

The futuristic femme

The collection kept the attitude of modern women in mind as Rokni’s design partner Tia Noon states, “It’s fun, vibrant, sexy and flirty. It was difficult to take up a challenging collection but in the end the risk-taking paid off. For the women of today, we wanted something that said ‘be there, be seen, be bright and be bold’ and that’s exactly what we have done.”

The creation sent waves in the fashion fraternity and even publicist Tehmina Khaled felt that, “As far as finishing of the outfit was concerned, the entire collection had a very international feel to it. The best part was that Kamiar used a variety of colours and stitched them all into one creation so flawlessly that no one could tell that the clothes were a mosaic of different fabrics. The foreign feel and the use of bold, fluorescent colours made this collection a hit.”

For those interested in adorning Rokni’s new creations, the designer sends out the good news that his collection will travel from the ramp to the racks soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2011.