Animals, buildings and lawn at The Palm

Nida Azwer’s first romance with lawn.

KARACHI: With images of animals, female figures and European buildings across the fabric, risk-taker Nida Azwer decided to take lawn prints to a whole new level. Even in her shoot, she preferred to keep the setting private, instead of opting for swimming pools and deserts. Titled Nida Azwer Spring Summer Collection 2013, the collection was anything but traditional. The two-day exhibition began on Friday at The Palm.

“I really don’t know how to express my feelings — I’m a little nervous and yet very excited,” says Azwer about venturing into lawn for the first time. With no textile mill by her side, she adds, “It’s a lot of responsibility when it comes to doing everything on your own. From the creative aspect to the technical side, it’s a lot of hard work.”

Within the first half hour of the exhibition, Azwer’s exclusive Masai Maroon Grey design, which had traditional African women printed across the border, was completely sold out. In addition to the lawn suits, she has also provided Nida Azwer buttons and screen-printed borders. However, the clothes on display gave off a rather informal touch as they were not ironed and this could’ve easily been avoided.

For the shoot, she chose to stick to the calmer indoors, as compared to a desert safari or poolside, where the brand’s ambassador Humaima Malik was seen in various poses showing off the playful collection.

“Shooting with Humaima was a lot of fun,” says photographer Nadir Firoz Khan who was present at the event with wife Maha Burney. “This was a very interesting shoot. It was funky as well as classic; there was a European feel in the background.” He adds, “It was elegant, simple and chic.” Khan feels Azwer didn’t play it safe — she took a risk and her approach was completely “out-of-the-box”.

Visitors left the exhibition impressed. Customer Umaimah Khuhro found the collection “very different and something which isn’t easily available in the market” while another lawn buyer, Hafsa Rehman, who was busy placing an order for herself, felt “the exhibition was a hit and not to be missed.”

Azwer doesn’t plan to reprint these designs and exhibit them again, so ladies went all out trying to get their hands on a Nida Azwer lawn jora.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2013.                

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