Sindh Festival: Fashion gives back

The list of participants read like a who’s who of Pakistani fashion, including high-end and mid-level designers.

KARACHI:

The iconic backdrop of the Mohatta Palace saw the start of the fashion segment of the Sindh Festival on Sunday, February 9. Shehrbano Taseer, editor of Sunday, and Rema Qureshi, who works for the UN, held a charity trunk show at the historic location. The influential duo collected donations from many of the best designers in Pakistan.

Crowds gathered bright and early to snag A-list bargains. The organisers had put together a stellar line-up featuring Élan, Sania Maskatiya, Sana Safinaz, Sara Shahid, Ayesha Farook Hashwani and Shehla Chatoor, among others. The list of participants read like a who’s who of Pakistani fashion, including high-end designers, mid-level designers and high street brands.

Each designer had been asked to contribute 5 outfits and the organizers said that the response was phenomenal.

“We were completely overwhelmed by people’s generosity. Some brands sent as many as 15 outfits. We received everything from daywear and semi-formals to full-fledged Shaadi-wear.”

Although some contributors used the opportunity to off-load dead stock, many of the outfits contributed were from recent collections.  Luxury prêt by Sania Maskatiya, Menahel & Mehreen and Shamsha Hashwani was particularly popular. Nomi Ansari and Sana Safinaz donated beautiful formal outfits, while Elan’s pret was some of the first to go.

High-street brands donated T-shirts and kurtas and there were some brilliant bargains in the kidswear section, including Mothercare T-shirts. T-shirt Swag had designed some T-shirts specifically for this Sindh Festival event. The kooky shirts featured the SindhFest logo, ajrak prints and even an ajrak moustache.

Apart from clothes, the event featured jewellery, accessories, furniture, home décor, spa vouchers and baked goods. Damas donated a diamond pendant and gold chain while Solitaire contributed a polki cuff. There was furniture by Yoca and Khaadi Home, as well as cushions, mirrors and other home accessories.

The home décor section featured some of the hottest selling items, such as art-inspired cushions by Cali, wonderful silverware by Carbon and even some original artwork by painters such as Usman Ali.

The food section was also very popular. Pane & Amore, Fatemah Rawji, Marriot Bakery and others put together a sumptuous spread of brownies, cupcakes, banana bread and other treats. Meanwhile Lals had set up a wonderful mini-café featuring quiches, scones, sandwiches and gelato.

This was a brilliant venue for an event of this nature. There was plenty of space to display everything and also enough room to introduce fun elements like a quirky photo booth. The stunning historic façade of the Mohatta Palace was the perfect backdrop for a sale raising funds to preserve Sindh heritage sites.

The packed racks were a little chaotic since there were so many outfits from, given the diverse range of designers. The outfits were initially colour-coded and arranged according to type. Even so, shoppers had to search for their favourite designers and bargain hunting was all about patience and luck. One of the shoppers, Marium commented:

“At first I thought that the clothes were an odd mish-mash but when I took the time to go through the racks properly I found some fantastic pieces. I bought a Body Focus pleated cotton top and a Nadia Ellahi digitally printed kurta, as well as a Shehla Chatoor clutch.”

With designer goodies at up to 60% off, the sale was a major hit with Karachi’s fashion lovers. Towards the end of the day prices were slashed further and latecomers snapped up some truly unbelievable deals.

This is the third time Taseer and Qureshi have put together this type of fashion charity sale. The first two were held in Lahore in 2010 and 2011 to raise funds for flood relief. Qureshi says:

“Fashion is one of the most successful industries in Pakistan, and this sort of event is a great opportunity for the fashion fraternity to give back to the country.”

The event raised Rs2 million which will go to the Sindhu Heritage Fund, to be specifically earmarked for conservation projects at Mohenjodaro. Once the Board of Trustees approves a project, the organizers will inform all the donors exactly where the funds have been utilized. They did the same with the flood relief funds and this transparency is one of the reasons so many people are ready to donate at their events.

The fashion segment of the Sindh Festival continues later this week with a fashion show and a Fashion Museum showcase, which will feature work by a variety of designers and photographers.

Oxford-grad Salima Feerasta is a social commentator and lover of style in any form or fashion. She blogs at karachista.com and tweets
@karachista

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2014.

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