‘We want to make small bridal operations into HSYs’

Vaneeza Ahmed talk to The Express Tribune on the vision for Bridal Couture Week.

LAHORE: Vaneeza Ahmed dominated the fashion industry for almost two decades as a supermodel. Ahmed also turned her hand to acting, bagging roles in films like Jinnah and numerous television productions, and has developed a successful lawn brand.

Her next role is as a producer for Pakistan’s first Bridal Couture Week (BCW), which will showcase bridal wear — a lucrative market for every designer and retailer in the country. The event takes place in Lahore from November 26 to November 28. Ahmed spoke to The Express Tribune about the vision and concept behind the event.

How often will BCW happen? Will it travel to other cities?

It’s a biannual event that will travel across Pakistan and will be held in Karachi in March after our show in Lahore. We hope the event will give a lease of life to the bridal industry. Fashion weeks give pret the opportunity to grow but bridal couture was being ignored despite being the larger industry. Even people with purchasing power are intimidated of approaching big names in bridal couture like HSY. BCW is predominantly a trade event to bring everyone associated with the bridal industry together and encourage all those pockets of talents that are scattered but do not have the means to market themselves.

What’s your vision for BCW?

Like all events and concepts, we thought we would make it really grand. But given the country’s conditions, we want to be humble and gradually grow out. I attended the first Bridal Asia in India which only had 40 stalls then. Ten years later, it has become a phenomenon in the region. We will try however to make sure that BCW is a biannual event.

Isn’t it ambitious to hold an event with such massive collaborations twice a year?

It is a bit ambitious but we need to develop fashion as a business. We want to make the small bridal operations on Tariq Road and Liberty Market into HSYs. They all have the talent but just need to be marketed properly.

What are the challenges that you face with the event?

Trying anything new in Pakistan is always an issue because people are very risk averse and small enterprises don’t understand the scope of our project so they’re very apprehensive of participating in it. But all over the world, in places such as Abu Dhabi where they have such bridal exhibitions, it’s the small shops that dominate the place. There were so many florists, caterers and even designers from Pakistan and India that I had never even heard of, but were getting a platform to showcase their work.

At the press conference to launch BCW, you mentioned that people now be able to create their dowries with ease. What would you say to those who see dowry as a social evil to be eradicated?

It is a social evil but it is also a deeply ingrained aspect of our culture. We are not saying that you have to get certain goods for your daughter or promoting the concept of a dowry, but the fact is that when you get married you move into a new home — your own home.  Every woman wants to make it her own in her own way through her taste in acquired things. At the event she will find a platform to get all those things.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 9^th, 2010.