Whirling dervishes, tribal inspirations and chiffon open the show

Socialites, designers flocked around the cameras as PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week debuted in Karachi.

KARACHI: PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week opened in Karachi on Wednesday night. Socialites and designers flocked around the cameras, full of hope for the four-day event ahead.

In attendance were model-turned-fashion editor (for Newsweek Pakistan) Aaminah Haq (in a Khaadi dress) and a contingent of designers, including Sara Shahid, Maheen Kardar, Hassan Sheheryar Yasin, Maria B, Kamiar Rokni, Nomi Ansari, Yousaf Bashir Qureshi, Maheen Khan, Shamaeel Ansari and Deepak Perwani. There was a heavy contingent of foreign buyers and journalists - some clad in eastern wear. Eight foreign journalists are also covering the event, and five buyers will be present to possibly place orders from designer collections.

While the first edition of the Lahore-based Pakistan Fashion Design Council’s fashion week was held in Lahore this February, this season the council has decided to show in Karachi. Some designers said that they were “excited” to bring the event to the city; the official spokesperson designer Hassan Sheheryar Yasin said, “We don’t think we’ve brought the show to Karachi. PFDC is ‘Pakistan’ Fashion Design Council and we have designers from Karachi and Lahore and Islamabad showing so we can have the show in any city”.

Young fashionistas posed in their funky outfits for their male, camera-toting friends and one could hear a mix of faux British accents mingling with the real French and Italian ones in the air.

Lahore’s designers are known for their penchant to turn runway shows into full-fledged theatrical productions, and the opening show - by designer duo Nickie Nina - stayed true to that  stereotype. The show opened with a dancer in Turkish-inspired garb who posed as poetic verses were recited to a drumbeat.

Also spotted at the event was US Consul General in Lahore Carmela Conroy, who is a regular at almost every notable fashion-related event in Lahore. “I was invited to attend by my designer friends from PFDC,” she told The Express Tribune. “I had spoken to my counterpart in Karachi about us visiting each other’s cities so he said I was welcome to come, so I’m here.” An organiser was overheard asking Conroy to bring as many foreigners to the shows as she could.

According to reports, it had become impossible to secure a Lahore-Karachi flight early this week, as they were all booked by designers and socialites flying in for fashion week. The usually sedate designer Sara Shahid, who showed on Wednesday night, exclaimed in a harassed tone, “You don’t even want to know how I managed to get a flight!”

Musician Hadiqa Kiani walked out on the runway at the end of Nickie Nina’s show, and yelled out “love you” in response to Yousaf Bashir Qureshi’s call of “Mubarak!”

Songs by Noori lightened up the mood left by Nickie Nina’s not-so Turkish delight at the second show by Saai that brought on a very structured collection catering to the foreign market.

Akif Mahmood, a Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design graduate, debuted at the event and had the audience applauding even before the show started.

Those not in the mood to view fashion busied themselves with their BlackBerries or people watching - two favourite pasttimes for Karachi’s ‘it’ crowd.

The designer collections, on day one, reflected a sense of their need to cater to the foreign market. But given that many of them have not solidified their home base or still run small operations, whether that is possible still has to be assessed. After a short break to catch up on gossip, reviews, nicotine and a short press conference by some of the designers, attendees sat down in their seats for the rest of the shows, including Sublime’s black-and-beige collection, which was set to thumping trance music.

The second debutante, Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design graduate Mohsin, used his own origins of Hazara and the concept of the veil as inspiration. The music turned to haunting winds as the models trailed their abaya-like ensembles on the runway.

Several attendees whipped out their cameras to snap models draped in black fabric.

Fuzon performed during the last show of the evening, a collective of black outfits by over 30 designers, which will be sold for charity at a sale at the Sheraton on Thursday. Stylist Asmaa Mumtaz used the spirit of women as an inspiration and styled the outfits with large beaten gold jewellery and jute rope.

The male models were styled with gold turbans. Whoops were heard from the audience as Fuzon serenaded with their hit “Tere Bina” and a cover of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s “Akhiyan Udeek Diyan”. Attendees are gearing up for the next three days, bound to be an exhausting experience, but full of gossip, drama and fashion and the mutual admiration society delighting in each others’ clothes and accessories.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11^th, 2010.