A cocktail of designers under one roof

The new multi-brand store offers a variety of clothing from fresh designers.

KARACHI: When girls-next-door turn designers, a multi-brand store seems to be the solution. Similarly, Ifrah Zaidi's Cocktail — another multi-brand store in the market — opened its doors on Sunday, stocking collections from 30 different designers. 

Zaidi feels since the textile and design industry is booming, the need for stores where women can shop till they drop is still very much there. “My multi-designer brand-store will serve the purpose of bringing together some economical and other high-end brands under one roof,” said Zaidi. As a designer herself, Zaidi, who titled her collection IPret, believes that everyone has an eye for creativity.

The new store is located at main 26th Tauheed commercial street. While designers like Zaheer Abbas, Mona Imran and Zainab Chottani are also part of Cocktail, other designers given the platform to shine are lesser known names like JV’s Couture, Fashionista, Umsha, Lavender, Aisha Alam and Rani Siddiqi. The store stocks eastern wear, jewellry, shoes and bags.

Javeria Zeeshan of JV’s Couture has been designing for the last six years,  along with her husband Zeeshan Khan. She exports her line to the US, Dubai and London, and stocks at other stores including Labels, Couture and Nadia Lakdawala. She defined her taste as “simple and classic”. The semi-formal and formal wear ranges from Rs4,500 to Rs20,000.

“It’s better to stock at other places that cater to a large crowd than to have your own store, where you need to look after all the stock yourself,” said Zeeshan.

Also present at the event was Munaf Mansoor Ali — a designer who agrees with the philosophy of stocking at multi-designer brands store. “The more, the merrier,” he said while showing his collection titled Revamp. Ali also stocks at Fashion Pakistan Lounge, Elle’mint Pret, Feathers and Couture. He believes people feel comfortable shopping at multi-designer brand stores. His collection ranges from Rs5,000 to Rs16,000.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2013.

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Correction: An earlier version of this story erroneously used an incorrect surname. The error is regretted.