‘Aalishan Pakistan’: The show that went on

Considering most of designers had fulfilled the necessary details in advance, disorganisation left them...

KARACHI:

Sometimes, even the best-laid plans meet hitches — especially if they are plans of the ‘Aalishan’ variety, involving India and Pakistan. Among the many hurdles faced by ‘Aalishan Pakistan’  — the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan’s (TDAP) exhibit, currently taking place in Delhi — visa problems particularly created a great deal of confusion.

A case in point was the fashion show, scheduled on the day preceding the exhibit in order to raise hype. With Shamaeel Ansari, Faiza Samee, Sania Maskatiya and assorted members of the Fashion Pakistan Council (FPC) on-board, the show’s fashion contingent was fairly strong. Ansari and Samee are designers who have long enjoyed a regular clientele in India while Maskatiya, having just shown at Lakme Fashion Week and stocking at the PFDC Boulevard Delhi is also a known name across the border.

But what promised to be one helluva show trundled as participating designers’ visas failed to arrive on time. Ansari, all set to leave for Delhi, with stock especially set aside and packed, waited in vain, with her visa coming belatedly a day after the show. Umair Tabani, representing the Sania Maskatiya brand, similarly suffered visa issues, he was able to attend the exhibit where his label was part of the ‘Aalishan Pakistan Couture Lounge’ but missed out on the fashion presentation.

Fortunately for TDAP, visas managed to be procured for Deepak Perwani, Huma Adnan of FnkAsia, Farnaz Mustafa and Wardha Saleem, CEO of FPC — the council’s chairperson, Sanam Chaudhri  was only able to arrive later. Samee already had a visa and was able to fly in on time. With a bit of shuffling and maneuvering the eventual show featured textile hotshots Kayseria and Lala Textiles, high-street brand Rang Ja, the handicraft-based non-profit Ahan, and designer labels Deepak Perwani, FnkAsia, Faiza Samee, Wardha Saleem and a lesser-known, not as exciting Farnaz Mustafa. He’s certainly not your Bollywood glamazon but director Mahesh Bhatt walked the catwalk for Lala textiles.



“It was a tough task but the show had to go on,” relates TDAP secretary Rabiya Javeri. “We had to increase outfits per designer because of the labels that couldn’t make it in time for the show.”

Considering that the House of Shamaeel and Sania Maskatiya had paid participation fees and applied for visas beforehand, all the designers had to say was that they were ‘disappointed’. Were these delays due to the TDAP’s disorganisation? Surely, designers designated for the fashion show should have been prioritised?

“One has to only witness the crowds coming in to the ‘Aalishan Pakistan’ to acknowledge the efforts that have been put in,” observes Javeri. “We’ve worked against many odds but ultimately, visas had to be issued by the Indian government. We sent out an entire batch of visa applications but the process slowed when the Indian embassy closed for several working days due to the dharna in Islamabad. There was nothing we could do.”



“I regret the losses incurred by designers who eventually couldn’t participate and TDAP will, of course, reimburse them their participation fees. The loss was also ours with the fashion show losing out on some fantastic designer line-ups. We only managed because of the designers who stepped in at the last minute.”

Why were certain designers able to get timely visas while others weren’t? One may hear whispers of ‘disorganisation’ and ‘favoritism’ but then again, such conundrums often occur in matters of the Indo-Pak kind. What’s heartening to see are the images of the event’s exhibit area, with buyers thronging the couture lounge and the textile booths that particularly tend to do well in India. “Unfortunate hitches do take place, but with more such events, we hope to eventually iron them out,” hopes Rabiya Javeri.

Maliha Rehman is a fashion and lifestyle journalist with an obsessive, compulsive need to write. Log on for more updates on Twitter @maliharehman. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2014.

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