by AMINAH KHAN
The much hyped Karachi Fashion Week was recently held under the patronage of Rizwan Khan of Triple E with the support of the City Government Karachi, Sindh Government and TDAP (Trade and Development Authority of Pakistan).
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Usually a fashion week consists of shows and exhibitions by local designers in the presence of foreign buyers to generate trade orders (which they do after seeing the collection on the runway). But I guess the Pakistani fashion scene is still far from understanding the true concept of a fashion week.
Karachi Fashion Week, after being endorsed by the Karachi Fashion Council, was restricted to a three-day event, with showings of designers who are members of the Pakistan Fashion Council, along with three Bangladeshi designers - Bibi Russell, Emad Haque and Rina Latif. The event began with a showing of designers who were put under the banner of “Emerging Talent”. Upcoming designers like Kanwal Khurram, Nazia Malik, Ayesha Ibraheem, Hina, Madiha Nehad, Bien Habille along with some established designers like Nadya Mistry, Hajra Hayat, Deepak Parwani and Muneeb Nawaz, put their collections on the ramp.
The capsule collections put together by Deepak, Muneeb, Hajra and Nadia Mistry were an added attraction as well as the saving grace for the first day’s showing, which actually provided a platform to young and emerging designers. I would like to mention here that the collection of all these designers were actually not the kind they should have planned to show at a fashion week elsewhere in the world. As I mentioned earlier, fashion weeks are organized to attract foreign buyers and the collection on the ramps features as a portfolio of the designer to generate orders. But somehow, almost all (with a few exceptions) Pakistani designers seem to be obsessed with formal and bridal wear, which cannot attract foreign buyers.
The last day of Karachi Fashion Week featured breathtaking collections by the three Bangladeshi designers, Emad Haque, Bibi Russell and Rina Latif, staying true to their vibrant colour philosophy. Bibi Russell’s collection was a mélange of retro (read Bohemian) style with the traditional culture of Bangladesh.
The liberal use of khaddar, enhanced with ethnic add-ons gave her collection a perfect look. Rina’s collection featured light, airy, hand-painted organza sarees matched with perfectly stitched blouses.
The last day of Karachi Fashion Week ended with a finale called Pakistan Fashion Finale, featuring the collections of members of Pakistan Fashion Council - Amir Adnan, Deepak Parwani, Maheen Khan, Kuki, Faiza Sami, Bunto Kazmi, Sana Safinaz, Nilofer Shahid, Monia Farooqui, Samar Mehdi, Zarmeena and Adnan Perdesi showcased their designs to mark the finale. The choreography of the show was done by Frieha Altaf while hair and make-up was done by Annie of Allenora.
While the idea behind Karachi Fashion Week is commendable, one has to realize that fashion weeks take a lot of forethought and planning. This one was clearly pulled together hastily, so while it is a step in the right direction, our organizers and designers clearly need to do more research before putting together another “fashion week.”
