Porsche Polo Diaries: where fashion meets sports

The glitterati of Lahore turned out to see what designers had envisioned for their capsule collections.

LAHORE:

The world of Polo is synonymous with luxury, fashion and style. Polo matches around the world attract the style savvy to put on their Sunday best and come out to the matches. With floor-skimming sundresses, daytime pant suits, tailored skirts and statement head gear, Polo fashion exudes class.

With the Porsche National Polo Open for the Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup underway at the Lahore Polo Club, Porsche Centre Lahore presented the Porsche Polo Diaries Fashion Show featuring 17 of Pakistan’s leading design houses.

HSY opened the night with structured black, sequined jackets over long dresses. He brought a rugged sensibility to his outfits and paired riding boots under his maxi dresses. Cropped jackets and riding pants were all the rage for men throughout the night. Wish HSY had added more colour to his collection to make it pop for a daytime sporting event though.

Tony & Guy kept up with international make-up trends and gave the models popping bright orange lips. Ladies, orange lipstick is a must have this spring, be it daytime or night time; there is a shade out there for everyone. It was also interesting to see Shamaal Qureshi take inspiration from the Polo pony tail for the hair dos. Flattened out, rolled up braids gave the styling a truly sporty feel.



Maheen Karim went retro chic with her capsule collection and psychedelic prints on silk. She used greens, whites, blues and the occasional pop of red in her prints. From classic Parisian dresses to rompers and harem pant jumpsuits, Maheen Karim brought her own sensibility to the sport.

The House of Kamiar Rokni made preppy sexy with his capsule collection. His silhouette, based collection had a very dominatrix feel to it with sheer net and organza backs, paired with bustiers peeking out.

Sonya Battla missed the memo on what Polo fashion is all about and her collection failed to show anything even remotely close to preppy chic aura around the sport.

Nida Azwer was a breath of fresh air as she reinvented herself and brought to us sports day chic. Embellished hats added the oomph factor while the best piece of the collection would have to be her white belted jacket.

Munib Nawaz is a costume designer at heart and his entire collection focused on the riding pants he had designed. While the velvet jackets were a bit much, they added a bit of drama to the evening.

Fahad Hussayn showed structured pleated dresses styled with fur baleros. The highlight of his collection would have to be the Carrie Bradshaw-inspired feathered head dresses.

Faraz Manan upped the game with sheer embellished capes that are perfect for the Lahori spring. Sania Maskatiya, however, sadly missed the mark. The collection seemed too haphazard and not well put together. The collection lacked the design house’s sport signature sensibility.

Trust Ali Xeeshan to add some much needed drama to the  evening. While his Faberge prints that have been a bit overdone around the globe, his creative head gear is what made his capsule stand out.

Wardha Saleem’s 1970s-inspired polka dotted collection had one or two fun elements and a whole lot of problems. While her motif of a bird carrying a polo stick was cute, the ill-fitted outfits just did not hit the spot.

Zara Shahjahan’s decision to pair floppy beach hats with blinging evening gowns was a creative choice that we just did not understand. Deepak Perwani’s capsule exuded his natural style and sensibility. The beautiful prints took the runway by a storm, and with actual polo players walking down the ramp in sleek tailored velvet jackets, this collection was very Deepak and extremely Polo-centric.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2014.

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