Ready, steady, go!

KARACHI: Shoe designer Nadiya Kassam’s collections inspire the shopaholic within Karachiites. Her exhibitions are almost always marked with melee-like scenes and survivors tell tales of frenzy, fighting for shoes and being shoved and pushed by other shoe-hungry women.

Kassam’s recent exhibition of discounted shoes was held at the Pearl Continental in Karachi on Tuesday, but was fairly more civil than in the years past. The exhibition timings were 11 am to 5 pm but women began gathering outside the Kohinoor Hall at 9:45 am. Slowly but steadily the crowd grew to about 65 women (and one man), all straining to get a glimpse of the shoes on display.

At about 10:45 am women began knocking on the glass doors, gesturing to be let in. 15 minutes later, a man made his way through the crowd and unlocked the doors and women ran to the tables where their sizes were kept. The trick to this exhibition is apparently to just grab as many shoes as you can find in your size and take them to a corner. Here you take your time in leisurely trying them on and discarding what you don’t want.

Maybe because the showing was on a weekday, but there were fewer women than at previous exhibitions. Customer Maha Chugtai said, “I have been coming to the last four exhibitions and they have been much more crowded and completely wild. This time it’s much calmer and I only got pushed twice.”

The salesgirl added, “This is much less crowded and women aren’t going crazy. It is less chaotic and much more relaxed. However, the shoes are still finishing fast and the exhibition should be over in two hours.”

Nadiya Kassam said, “I got a bigger room so that people could breathe, I think the amount of people are the same though, they’re just more spread out.”

The exhibition is held three times a year and those who are interested in attending are asked to give their information at the Nadiya Kassam boutique and are called when the exhibition is nearing. Generally a 30 to 50 per cent discount is offered.

Madiha Shaukat said, “I didn’t attend when I was pregnant and my son was six months old. But since he’s turned one, I’ve been coming every time. Last time there was such a  large crowd that I was stuck in the door for a few seconds because too many women were in the doorway together. The time before that a woman fell down and no one bothered to help her, they just jumped over her and ran to the shoes.”

Chugtai added, “The last time I came, I was right in front and the guard couldn’t come through to unlock the door so the key was passed to me. I unlocked the door and made sure I was the first one inside. My sister and I got eight pairs of shoes last year.”

This season, shoes were generally priced between Rs1,000 and Rs2000 and were available in basic colours; black, white, brown, gold and silver. There were a limited number of colourful shoes and some of the designs were also on sale at previous exhibitions. Shaukat said, “I already have a number of these at home in different colours. I wish some more designs had been displayed.”

The next exhibition is expected to be held in three to four months.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th, 2010.