Good cause: Hi-tea, music and lawn exhibit for charity

TCF Islamabad organised the lawn exhibition for the Karachi-based designer Rosy Patel and S&S Textiles.

ISLAMABAD:

For once, a lawn exhibition was not all about the flowery prints or women with bulging bags of lawn. The fabric on sale at the Serena Hotel on Friday aimed to raise funds for The Citizens’ Foundation (TCF) – a non-profit organisation which provides education to the less-privileged.

TCF Islamabad organised the lawn exhibition for the Karachi-based designer Rosy Patel and S&S Textiles, inviting a selected group of women at the hi-tea event. They were later treated to music from Club Caramel.

Women were spotted skimming through the catalogues and picking up pieces which they took a fancy to.

A number of women wore S&S lawn to the event, modelling to raise charity. They included Fariba Thomson, wife of the British High Commissioner, who said she had designed her suit herself. To give the dress a different look, Thomson stitched printed Capri pants with a plain red sleeveless shirt.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Thomson said she loved Pakistani fabric. She added that such events were great because the charity was supporting education – one of the most important issues faced by Pakistan today. Among other models were Turkish ambassador’s teenage daughters Alkim and Sidal Hizlan, who wore stitched sleeveless shirts with straight pants.

Hi-tea was arranged in the lawn and round tables were setup around the fountain for the guests to sit.

Musicians Kiran Chaudhry and Adnan Sarwar from Club Caramel performed request songs live – some of which included Nazia Hassan hits such as Boom Boom to latest tracks such as Rollin in the deep by Adeel Chaudhry.

Women who work for the charity and others who support the cause also came to the exhibition. The organisation managed to generate Rs500,000.

TCF provides education in urban slums and rural areas, funded entirely through donations and fund-raising events such as the lawn exhibition on Friday. They have 830 schools in more than 93 locations, which provide education to over 115,000 children, of which almost half are girls.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 7^th, 2012.