Author: Tehreem Akram

Pakistani fashion is at an interesting turn point. Designers are striving to push boundaries, fashion weeks are wielding heavy doses of glamour and there is consistent critique directed towards improving standards and promoting originality. And yet, there is a multitude of ‘Pakistan Fashion Weeks’ unfurling about the world that hardly have similar ambitions.

‘Pakistan Fashion Week’: an official-sounding name for events that are hardly as illustrious. In recent times, PFW’s have made appearances in Dubai, Doha and most significantly, in London, where the events have featured consistently for the past four years.

With Adnan Ansari of Riwayat at its helm, PFW London has sporadically boasted some exciting designer names. Deepak Perwani, Maheen Khan, Ayesha Hashwani, Zaheer Abbas, Maria B., Zainab Chottani and Sonya Battla have all been part of its designer line-ups. Among these, only Sonya Battla continues to be a mainstay.

And haute couture seems to have finally caught up. Both Lagerfeld and Simons presented trainers with their haute couture, Lagerfeld across the entire Chanel collection, Simons with a clutch of Dior evening dresses. It looked a bit like Lily Allen in her “Smile” era incarnation, but what was more interesting chez Dior was the way that the idea of a trainer, rather than its injection-soled actuality, infected the entire collection. The spirit of aeration, of woman and dress breathing, the freedom of billowing bloused-back shapes, the general sense that Simons had knocked the stuffing out of that eternally boned and bombasted Dior silhouette, was profoundly refreshing. It felt completely contemporary. A few outfits in, it also silenced your niggles about who would wear this new breed of couture. It will appeal immensely and absolutely to couture’s new guard, to a new generation of clients who demand go-faster couture.

The most refreshing thing about Raf Simons’ spring Dior is that, as the silvery finale dresses of his last ready-to-wear show seemed to state, he’s not only got firmly to grips with the Dior archive and aesthetic, but is now ready to move it on. Karl Lagerfeld always moves Chanel on to some place fresh and new every season. He’s been reinventing Coco’s boucle-tweed wheel for more than30 years. And while those Chanel trainers – handmade by haute couture bottier Massaro in pearl-embroidered tweeds – are probably a seasonal gimmick, the qualities they emblemise were reflected across the Chanel collection as a whole. They represented freedom, and movement, and speed. The models raced down the stairs of Chanel’s futuristic set like Olympic athletes speeding across an arena, darting through like shimmering lightning flashes in iridescent pastel shades of opalescent pink, yellow and white. It was a new kind of fast fashion – lightweight and easy to move in, reflecting Madame Chanel’s own idiosyncratic viewpoint. Clothes must be logical, she once intoned. This Chanel collection made perfect sense.

Jil Sander founded her own fashion house as a plucky twenty-something in postwar Germany, creating modern, minimalist clothes that would go on to redefine the working woman’s wardrobe.
fashion’s “Queen of Less” isn’t resting on her laurels yet

The exhibition, whose six-month run ended this month, showcased everything from Sander’s expertly tailored coats and dresses to her popular cosmetics line and artistic collaborations, highlighting her lasting impact on what is considered modern in fashion even today.

Matthias Wagner K, the director of Frankfurt’s Museum Angewandte Kunst (Museum of Applied Arts) who persuaded Sander to do the show, said the artist always had a knack for “capturing the zeitgeist” while staying true to herself.
“To me, Jil Sander is one of the most important fashion designers of her generation,” he said.

Birmingham City University fashion lecturer Alison Rapsey heads to Taiwan next week, where she’ll share expert insights into fashion trends on the UK high street as well as highlighting brands that are paving the way for success.
“Whilst some long-standing retailers on the British high street are failing and closing stores, I’ll be discussing how some department stores are offering new experiences that we should expect to see more of in 2019,” said Alison, course director for Fashion Business and Promotion at Birmingham City University.
Whilst we’ve seen recent press coverage on Debenhams’ store closures, they’ve been making more innovative use of floor space through in-store gyms and shared working spaces.
“To enhance customer experience we’ve seen John Lewis offering sensory experiences, where you can try out dining room and bedroom environments for extended periods of time in their in-store apartment called ‘The Residence’, before making a decision on purchasing the products.
“We’re also seeing fashion department stores changing their layouts to reflect shopping habits. Selfridges in London recently changed their men’s department to cater for the street-style male that might be interested in three brands that would’ve previously been sold in separate areas – Versace, Off White and Stussy.”
During the Taiwan visit, Alison will also share insights into the use of new technologies in fashion retail.
“More and more we’re seeing retailers adopting augmented reality and virtual reality to entice consumers,” said Alison.

When I think about the fashion industry the first word that comes on my mind is change. I think that everything is always switching in something different. That’s what happened to the fur for me: we can now see fur like a detail of clothes and not only the main pieces ( I love only fake fur). As everything in the fashion industry turn into something different, we can now see that fur can be only an addition to our look, like on a scarf or on the sleeves of a coat and I find it very interesting.

The trasformation of fur is not only about its use but also about the colors and patterns: you can find it in so many colors that you don’t even imagine!! I have choosen some of the creations that use fur as a detail, let’s find them out!!

The Wedding Atelier, the two day-long event that took place last week at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Karachi, may have been a good idea.

For one, it tapped into the single-most lucrative, incredibly extensive market for weddings and all the nitty-gritties associated with them.

Secondly, it’s an exhibit that’s tried to bring together the crème de la crème in the wedding business all under one air-conditioned canopy. They were all lined up in stalls, ready to sell off-the-rack, make appointments, be part of consultations or simply network with prospective customers.

“I have tried to gather all the best in the business into this exhibit,” explained The Wedding Atelier’s organiser, Sara Chapra of Carbon Events. “I wanted all my favourite brands here, the ones that I would opt for myself.”

It was all very tasteful when I visited it on the evening of the first day and I feel that over the next few years, it could possibly become the event to visit when there’s a wedding on the horizon. There was so much that could easily bowl over the bride, groom and their brood of family and friends. And yet, I wondered…

Where were all the people?

Had they gotten discouraged by the Rs500 apiece ticket price? Brides usually travel with an entourage consisting of cousins, aunts and sisters and that can sum down to quite a hefty amount in ticket purchases.

“We gave visitors the option to pre-register beforehand and they would get as many passes as they wanted,” explained Sara.

But given that the event is not yet well-known, how many people pre-registered? “We have a wedding in the family and we saw the option for pre-registering online. So we did,” said a mother and two daughter trio.

Other people didn’t know about the pre-registration. “We had to buy Rs500 entry passes for ourselves because we hadn’t known. But we really wanted to meet Natasha Lakhani of Natasha’s Salon so we decided to pay,” said two girls.

Most people, I observed, were walking about with special passes in their hands, invited by the various vendors. “We got about 50 passes and we gave them out,” said one vendor. “But we couldn’t give them out to all our friends so most of them haven’t turned up. No one wanted to pay the Rs500 entry charge.”

Shouldn’t Sara have priced down the entry charges in order to ensure that more people came?

“I kept it at this price so that only people who were truly interested would come,” she explained. “I have had experience organising the annual Karachi Eat Festival and I know how difficult it can be to control crowds. The Wedding Atelier is not an elitist event but it is a serious one and I only wanted serious customers to come. When you do something for the very first time, you have to work hard to convince people to come on board. I had about 30 stalls that I could have just sold out to any vendor but I refused to do so. I wanted to deliver high quality. People who appreciate this have been willing to pay the Rs500 pass and besides, quite a few of them pre-registered and are here for free.”

Regardless, the exhibit was one fabulous wedding-centric ride…

There was just so much I loved and I don’t even have a wedding to go to. I could only imagine brides flipping out over the stalls.

There was gold and diamond jewelry on display by brands like Kiran Fine Jewelry and Private Collection by Rehana Saigol. Given that this was pure, precious jewelry, it came with a hefty price tag but both brands are well-known for adding designer ‘twists’ to their collections. All this was on display to see, to buy or for the placing of orders.

Intricate formal clutches by brands like Esfir Jewels ranged between Rs15,000 and Rs20,000 while the brand’s costume jewelry flitted about a Rs6,000 tag.

Pomegranate Linen’s standout hand painted bed linen and upholstery ranged from under Rs5,000 to Rs10,000.

Yum By Amna’s beautiful floral wedding cakes had prices that began at Rs1400 per pound.

The quirky knick-knacks at Topstone had prices between Rs10,000 and Rs12,500 for marble accessories, wooden accessories ranging from Rs16,000 to Rs50,000 and furniture that began at Rs20,000 and spiraled up to more than Rs100,000.

O’Shoot Photography had a photo booth set up that pitched the concept of wedding guests posing for their images and getting them printed immediately. Their services begin at Rs100,000.

Sara Salon and Spa had a makeup menu that started off at a sedate Rs8,000 – ‘party makeup by assistant without glittery eyes’ – on to a full-blown ‘bridal package – mehndi + bridal + valima’ at Rs90,000. Rukaiyya’s salon, also at the event, had a range that began at Rs5,000 for party makeup and Rs20,000 for the bridal makeup (which normally costs Rs30,000 at the salon but was available at a discount at The Wedding Atelier).

‘Wedding Packages’ of assorted furniture at Celeste Home’s kiosk began with a ‘Bronze’ option at Rs199,000 and culminated with the ‘Platinum’ at Rs325,000.

Designer wedding-wear at The Pink Tree Company’s stall began at Rs65,000 and could be purchased off the rack or ordered. The brand’s wedding-wear started from Rs350,000.

And then there were the event decorators! Arij Hashimi had created a wedding wonderland with candles, filigree, butterflies and even sound effects of twittering birds. The RAKA space was similarly beautiful, replete with florals adding in a dash of quirkiness with an upside down bouquet suspended from the roof.

“Prices for event décor vary from client to client, depending on the venue, number of people, whether it’s outdoor or indoor,” says Arij. “Sometimes, a beautiful event can be orchestrated at a very low price and at other times a large amount of the budget gets invested simply on the roof cover and air conditioning.”

A ballpark figure for grandiose event décor? Rs10 lakhs, perhaps, but it usually skyrockets beyond this!

There was more… candles, chocolate displays, consultations with dermatologist Dr Tasneem Nakhuda, makeup and the ‘Through the Looking Glass Installation’ in collaboration with Fashion Pakistan Week. Displayed in glass windows was one bridal outfit each by designers Sana Safinaz, Sania Maskatiya, Nida Azwer, Republic Womenswear, Deepak Perwani, Tena Durrani, Zainab Chottani, Zara Shahjahan and a new label called Talha Batla for Hilal Silk. Accessories were also on display by brands like Ali Javeri Jewelers and Esfir Jewels.

Adding to the fashion gloss were the designers casually strolling about: Deepak Perwani and Maheen Khan offering their support, Sana Hashwani stepping in for a panel discussion on bridal-wear and an enthusiastic crowd of brides-to-be and their families waiting to talk to salon owner Natasha Lakhani of Natasha Salon and get tips on makeup. Sara’s Salon, similarly, offered makeup tutorials for free and both Rukaiya’s and Sara’s gave free blow-dries to visitors.

It was all very sophisticated and very well-conceived.

But what sold the most?

“We’ve been doing really well,” said the designer duo Yousuf Agha and Zairah Maher of Pomegranate Linen on the first day. Point to be noted: their prices were mostly under Rs10,000 and often under Rs5,000.

“The earrings are being picked up more; the clutches, a little less,” said Tasbih and Hafsa of Esfir Jewels, defining their clientele’s spending power.

Overall, though, this seemed to be more of a networking event rather than one where sales were hauled in by the truckloads. “People are taking my card more often than making purchases,” said Kiran Aman of Kiran Fine Jewellery. “Fine jewellery isn’t really bought on a whim and people prefer to make an appointment and observe it at length before they buy it.”

Furniture was apparently also being appreciated. “I like some of the tables at the Topstone stall,” said one shopper. “But I am going to go to their store and see all that they have before I place an order.”

“People are making a lot of enquiries about the wedding packages that we have just introduced,” I was told at the Celeste Home stall. “Some have made purchases but a lot more are going to visiting our store.”

Were the vendors happy about visitors’ reluctance to buy? “I think that with a wedding, people take their time to research and decide,” said event planner Aarij Hashimi. “This is a great place to see all that is on offer, zero in on what they like and then take things further with an appointment later.”

“It’s all about imagery,” pointed out Sana Hashwani of Sana Safinaz. “Today, a young 16-year-old girl may see a dress worn by an elder cousin at her wedding or at an exhibit like this. Some years later, when she’s about to get married, she’ll remember that dress and will decide to meet up with that particular designer. An event like this, tastefully done and drawing in potential clients, helps in setting mindsets that may generate business in the future.”

“I will first talk to Natasha and make an appointment for my wedding which is in March,” planned out one bride. “And then I will make a visit to the dermatologist for advice. It’s great that they’re both here at one place, together.”

And then, the question that had been foremost in my mind…

With winter wedding season upon us, isn’t it too late to set up a wedding exhibit with decorators and bridal designers on display? All that, surely, gets planned months prior to the wedding!

“I may select a wedding cake,” one visitor told me. She and her sister had just had a look at Yum By Amna’s towering floral confectionery. “I get married in December, so everything else is decided. The formal clutches are also really pretty.”

“Yes, this event may be too late to cater to most winter weddings,” accepted Sara Chapra, “but you’d be surprised how many clients come to me weeks before the wedding, requesting a particular décor. A lot of people don’t realise the many details that are essential to creating a certain setting and they might just walk in here, like a particular kind of décor and make an appointment with that specific vendor.”

“There are also a lot of people here who have weddings coming up in January or in Spring and they are still deciding upon their bridal dress, venue, décor,” continued Sara.

“There is really so much to a wedding and this exhibit covers about 20 different genres. We have Natasha of Natasha’s Salon here for makeup advice, fitness coaches who can give the lowdown on how to slim down before the wedding and a popular dermatologist like Dr Tasneem Nakhuda who promises that she’ll make the mother of the bride look as beautiful as the bride herself. We have home interiors and interior decorators because a lot of brides become homemakers for the very first time and they’re shopping for their new homes while simultaneously planning the wedding.”

“The Glass Window installation is themed around bridal trends for the year 2020 and I just asked the designers to contribute one outfit each that I promised I would display in a very attractive way. The idea is for a bride-to-be to see the clothes, perhaps get inspired by some of them and make appointments with the designers that she likes.”

Did the event work?

As a first-time effort – and despite the sparse crowds – I feel that it did. The stalls were beautiful, the variety was extensive, the effort was quite visible and it gave customers the chance to see the market’s very best in one space, compare and contrast them and make a selection.

But it will take time for the event to capture the interest of its target market. A bit of aggressive advertising is key so that, next time on, more people know that they need to pre-register. And

There seems to be an unwritten law within Pakistani fashion that dictates that any fashion week that takes place in the latter half of the year needs to cater to the impending big fat winter wedding season.

Fashion Pakistan Week (FPW), following a ‘Winter Festive’ theme, adhered to this law and it made sense because, really, what are the biggest festive occasions in the country? Weddings. And when do they usually take place? Winter. Capiche?

But even though it makes sense business-wise, this all-encompassing fixation with wedding-wear usually tends to be a bit of a bore, spinning out same-looking designs in dozens – likely to sell, unlikely to impress. Luckily, the second day of FPW chose to break a law or two and offer refreshing variations in designs. Strewn amidst the bling, the sequins, the flotsam, the jetsam, was wedding-wear that dabbled with different flavors, a heady dose of luxe and a grand, fashion-forward finale.

These were the collections that made one go snap-happy taking photographs on the cellphone and cheer, half-relieved, “Yes, this is ‘Winter Festive’.”

Wardha Saleem

Wardha Saleem has always had a penchant for color and she played up to this strength with her ‘ChandBala’. For most of the time, the colors ran rampant down Wardha’s canvas, winding into quirky ‘chandbala’ patterns, running in horizontal borders and snazzy chevrons and mixing in with gota, zardozi, kora dabka and foil and screen printing.

Parading out to Mai Dhai singing live to the beats of the tabla, there were so many options that screamed ‘Mehndi-wear’. Stepping off the color wheel, the designer also presented more single-toned options – the cardinal red joras for the bride, the silver, mauve and gold for the valima.

And yet, the many iterations of color were what truly resonated with what I feel is the Wardha Saleem signature, melding dashes of quirk with the traditionally pretty and doing it very well.

Sara Rohale Asghar

Sara Rohale Asghar treaded hackneyed waters when she opted for a palette dominated by pastel pinks and silvers with occasional spurts of maroon thrown in. Those colors, that criss-crossing ‘jaal’ and that shimmer of Swarovski crystals has been seen so many times before that there’s nothing new about it. The reappearance of the peplum on the catwalk was a further blast from the past.

The designer had very evidently worked hard on the clothes for the workmanship was extensive and her celebrity showstopper Ayeza Khan looked like a veritable princess. I wish that some of this effort had been invested into innovating with silhouette and pattern and most importantly, changing that color palette!

Deepak & Fahad

Deepak & Fahad turned towards groomswear with ‘Zartaab’, conspicuously setting aside the streaks of playful design that I have come to associate with them. There was no place in this collection for the abstract sketches, chequered patterns and theological references that have been part of their past collections. Instead, sherwanis embroidered with paisleys and florals took center stage, followed closely by monotone kurtas, shawls and waistcoats. The cuts and colors were quite staid, being very wearable but not particularly interesting.

And this is unfortunate considering that Deepak & Fahad have proven in the past that they’re quite adept at creating design that is interesting. Perhaps in another show at another fashion week?

Maheen Karim

Maheen Karim’s particular brand of glamour is so unmistakably her own. The beauty lies in her cuts – she understands contemporary luxe and has a gimlet eye for tailoring. The pleats of a trouser fall just right, the ruffles cascade in just the right proportions, the cancanned skirt billows perfectly and the off-shoulder is cut neatly, precisely.

And then there were the prints; potent mixes of phosphorescent reds, tangerines and corals, worked into kaftans, off-shoulder gowns and pants and embellished with hyperbolic three-dimensional florals. There was an elegance to it all, an ebullient love for fashion and the expertise to tease and tweak it into different directions.

Other designers who aspire to create anglicised gowns truly can learn by observing Maheen’s collections on the catwalk so that they understand that it takes a certain finesse to cut a Western silhouette. It isn’t everyone’s ballgame. But it is Maheen’s. She ran home-runs with it.

Rano’s Heirlooms

Classic traditionalism almost never fails and it formed the underlying ethos of Rano’s Heirlooms. As the brand’s name implied, the designs followed ethnic silhouettes and embellishment techniques, playing with plenty of net, embroideries running in scallops and a mish-mash of color that merged well.

It was all a tad safe but there was an old-world charm to the collection that would appease the traditional amongst us – and may even convince the non-traditional to indulge into a bit of nostalgia.

Shahmeer Ansari

With his debut menswear show, Shahmeer Ansari paraded out sherwanis, suits, jackets and kurtas – but none of the designs made much of an impact. Better finishing and finer stitching could have helped improve the collection.

Maheen Khan

The best was quite literally saved for last. Maheen Khan delivered nonchalant glamour effortlessly, marching to her own tune, spinning out beautiful bona fide design. There was raw silk molded into tunics that pinched at the waist, exaggerated lopsided collars self-importantly winding about the neck, a skirt with pink florals romantically littered upon it and the designer’s vision for bridals: minimal, feminine, allowing the fabric and the design to breathe.

n anticipation of the upcoming festive celebrations full of laughter and joy, Noor by Saadia Asad presents her stunningly curated wedding collection. This collection celebrates the woman whose power came from her mystical beauty, a woman whose fashion sense made her different from the era she lived in… A woman named Noor Jehan.

Every piece of this collection exudes feminine elegance and celebrates the joyous spirit of style. The heart of this collection lies in the old world charm and touch of culture, seen through breathtaking embroideries crafted out of traditional materials and modern techniques. With a royal color palette, each piece of this unique and distinctive collection is meant for those festive evenings when you are looking to wear something that is rooted in heritage.

DESIGNER NOOR BY SAADIA ASAD MODELS SADIA KHAN, MUSHK KALEEM AND RABIA CHAUDHRY
MAKEUP ARTIST QASIM LIAQAT PHOTOGRPHY: STOP STYLE ART DIRECTION HASHIM ALI JEWELLERY SAMREEN VANCE