‘What!!! Another fashion week?’ the Fashion Pakistan Council had preempted our thoughts and had their ushers wearing cheeky tee shirts with this witty one-liner. ‘We are in this together’ was the tone set on the first day of Fashion Pakistan Week 3 (FPW3). On the back was written Lekin kyun? (But why?). The fashion community knew why - fashion is important and the fashion fraternity came in full force to see FPW3.

What was a fashion week has now turned into a fashion month with five fashion weeks this month alone, most of which are coinciding with each other. In this time of fashion drudgery, Fashion Pakistan Week came when the time was right for them to put together their first event after a two-year absence.

Fashion Pakistan Week has brushed off the negative vibes of their absence and put together an event featuring Bunto Kazmi,  Sana Safinaz, Iman Ahmed, Umar Sayeed, Tapu Javeri, Feeha Jamshed - most of whom are part of the council along with Maheen Khan, FPW CEO, Shamaeel Ansari, FPW Chairperson and Deepak Perwani, FPW Creative Director, all of whom showed collections.

At Fashion Pakistan Week 2012 the buzz amongst the fashion insiders who congregated was that while there should ideally be one fashion week, with the best showing on a single united platform, in the the absence of it the fashion game belongs to the councils. Fashion Pakistan with its head quarters in Karachi and Pakistan Fashion Design council, which has its roots firmly entrenched in Lahore, host the two events to watch out for, having garnered the strength of the best in their respective cities. While the council has worked long and hard to work out their administrative issues, it is ultimately the designers who can turn a fashion show into a fashion week. Content is paramount for any council, and with FPW’s absence many designers were left with atrophied creative muscles. New designers that did make it to FPW were less than memorable and the well-known designers had to carry the burden.

Some fantastic stories came out of it, the biggest designer story being Sana Safinaz’s plans to launch stores; and the biggest fashion story being that FPW managed a fashion-perfect event on Day 3, when all the designers who showed were spot on. No surprise when it comes to Shamaeel, Gulabo and Nomi Ansari, but to see Baani D., Ahmed Bham and Wardha Saleem make their impressive fashion week debuts was a breath of fresh air.

Bringing the Maheen and Sana Safinaz signatures to the runway once more and establishing Sanam Chaudhri and Shehla Chatoor in the upper echelon of fashion. Giving that bright tempestuous fashion kid Rizwanullah yet another chance to get his act together - FPW managed to bring in the new while preserving seniority. Yes, there were bad collections, indeed awful collections (most noticeably but not limited to the Honey Waqar finale) but overall it was definitely a rebirth for FPW. While Maheen stated that Honey Waqar was the Lahore fashion presence since the council comprises of mostly Karachi based designers.

Maheen agreed that not all the new designers were fashion week ready and others played the fashion games that are usually played. “Some designers wouldn’t even let me see the collections and I couldn’t see all of that myself anyway. We would like to select a team to review the collections.” 

The one thing that designers don’t like is to be judged, especially if they don’t find the panel of judges capable of critiquing their designs. This brings to mind the Lux Style Awards; those who don’t walk home with a trophy that night will always say, ‘What do they know about fashion?’ Maheen is working to help the newer designers by asking event manager Frieha Altaf for all the press clippings to be submitted so that they can learn from the critics and the council can analyze with designers what worked and what didn’t.

The Brit connection added weight to the event and struck a chord with Karachiites who are looking forward to all the outlets opening at Dolmen Mall thanks to Yasin Paracha, Managing Director of Team A Ventures, who has brought the fabulous Next, Monsoon and next, to win our fashion hearts, Debenhams. Ultimately it was this connection that led to the foreign interest in FPW; when you become a buyer, the seller is automatically interested in you. There were journalists from the foreign press: American, British and Indian; Declan Walsh from the New York Times, Fifi Haroon for The Independent, Priyadarshini Nandy from DNA and Angona Paul from The Telegraph India. Local buyers were well represented too.

Yet what is a fashion week if not a way to build brands with vivacious collections presented in a dramatic light. FPW encouraged the use of stylists like Raana Khan and Ayaz Anis for Sanam Chaudhri.

The great Ather Hafeez (who previously worked with Nabila on many fantastic projects) styled Sana Safinaz and has joined the designers in Karachi to launch their upcoming retail store. These deals can be made at fashion weeks, and those that have already taken place can be announced to the media on the grand fashion week platform. Saba Ansari of Sabs Salon, who has also done the make-up for FPW2 and FPW3 along with the above mentioned stylists, was able to present the designers’ aesthetic individually. The importance of styling was visible as each collection was complemented by the hair, makeup and styling. It was a seamless integration of all the components of fashion on the fashion week platform beyond the static hair and make-up seen at the previous FPW. A win-win situation for designers and stylists!

The two year anticipation aside, with this much time, a designer can bring an impactful return to the ramp and share their limelight with the council. How most of the shows made it on to the ramp is a question for the council. A separate exhibition space for emerging designers can give them the freedom to create designs and establish their own aesthetics. Showing dresses made from what can only be described as ‘pink tissue paper’ in the same show as the sophistication and experience of a Bunto Kazmi collection is unfair. Reviewing new designers in an exhibition space will educate them for a fashion week collection rather than discourage them with bad reviews when compared to senior designers from the week. Showing right after a designer with 20-something years of experience is a shock to our aesthetic sense. Of the designers that started with the council but didn’t show, the Fashion Pakistan council understands that time constraints had led some to opt out and they have faith that the ones that did start with them would return for future fashion weeks with the FP council.

“Life is beautiful because you learn everyday. We learn until the day we die,” says Maheen of life experiences, but she wishes the press would keep a lighter hand when reviewing debut collections and young designers, “Don’t cut their legs before they can walk.”

Most people would consider the absence period enough to claim the council legally deceased but the resurrection has proved that FPW is rising slowly but surely. Bringing together a council within government guidelines to function as a company has taken precious time away from the council. Fashion weeks are no longer new and FPW is making up for lost time and having to do it at lightning speed.

 “We are a bunch of designers, not a bunch of businessmen and it took us a little while to get out paper work sorted out,” said Deepak Perwani, Creative Director of Fashion Pakistan. “We are working with great people and our Chairperson Shamaeel Ansari has done a fantastic job. It was time to come back on - after all FPW is the strongest fashion week that you have in this country, it’s the biggest platform.”

Maheen Khan, CEO of FPW says, “I’m very happy that we managed within the limited time frame and we worked 24/7. We know the mistakes we have made and we will iron out the wrinkles.” Deepak Perwani is also full of hope, “These are exciting times and every venture is a new [opportunity] to learn. You make a few mistakes - you move on, fall a little bit and you get up and you fly again, and you may fall again, so you get up again. That’s human beings and human nature.”

The council is doing things differently and have outsourced many areas for a more streamlined event with Imran Kureishi’s choreography and Frieha Altaf’s Catwalk and Catalyst for event management and PR. FPW started late on all days, especially the last because of the mad rush for Shamaeel and Sana Safinaz’s shows that opened the two respective days but otherwise it ran like clockwork with no glitches in the middle (barring Mathira’s infamous wardrobe malfunction). Frieha Altaf is a fashion week pro with all five PFDC fashion weeks (four for Sunsilk and the bridal for L’Oreal). Indeed, one of the most interesting things about the fashion week in Lahore will be to see how they handle it without Frieha Altaf; HSY is filling in her shoes.

 Shamaeel Ansari told Instep about how they achieved that, “As the chairperson I’ve taken a step to outsource a lot of the activity this time, which means while previously we had held the choreography inhouse, this time we have outsourced it. Professionalism lies in supporting the ancillary industry and it lies in giving professionals their work. I have never believed that designers should stand up and do choreography and technical stuff; they must do what they are good at. My intention is to corporatize the running of this council. You have to bring in professionalism and, you have to take [responsibility] away from yourself. You have to professionalize, corporatize and outsource and that’s how you become bigger. Of course the council members and the designers are always there to lend their eye to quality and design aesthetics.”

When even apples and oranges have become the same fruit, Fashion Pakistan Week and Pakistan Fashion Design Council is the nourishment that the fashion industry needs right now, without fail, and with a focus on talent that can be projected internationally. When I asked Deepak how it felt to be part of the fashion arena again, he put on his wit and charms and grandly said, “I don’t think there is a fashion week arena. There is FPW and then there is everybody else. It’s very simple. You don’t mess with the big boys, honey!”

The FPW council is taking a united stand to give fashion the boost it needs. CEO of FPW Maheen Khan feels the only way forward is to merge councils, “When I spoke to the board I told them that we should put aside our differences. Let’s move on! Think Pakistan. Not Lahore, not Karachi! That’s the only way to do it.” Deepak Perwani echoes Maheen’s sentiments, “I look forward to a brighter future not just for Fashion Pakistan but for Pakistani fashion, I think it’s very important for us to be under one umbrella as Pakistanis.”

The progression to bring together a unified Pakistan fashion week would entail a gradual integration for which Maheen Khan suggests one fashion week as a platform for two seasonal shows in Lahore and Karachi. The councils would pool their resources to bring in international buyers and press, keeping in mind the designers that are finally brought to the ramp will have the know-how to cater to foreign markets.

“When the councils work together there will be an automatic bonding,” says Maheen, who feels that an MOU can be set up for future collaborations until the councils can finally be one. Alas, marriages may be made in heaven but councils are forged with darker forces, and if there is one thing in fashion that is not cloth, then that would be ego. Regardless, Maheen says, “Call me an idealist. I won’t give up!”

FPW is a proud peacock with eons of experience going for it. But PFDC prides itself in the grooming of new talent and the preservation of the fashion industry in the capable hands of future designers. Of FPW’s newer talent there was only Baani D., whose debut collection was well-made and fun. PFDC on the other hand is on the constant search for talent through Lahore’s fashion institute, PIFD.

Regardless of the differences, these are the two weeks that the country waits for, where the country’s top designers will be showing and where the press waits eagerly for new talent that has never been seen before.
To their credit, FPW has utilized the growing social media in Pakistan, with invitations forwarded to fashion bloggers and tweeters - essential to generating a buzz in the 21st century. In a broader capacity, the event was being live streamed on the Internet by Chilli Culture, a company from Lahore that was hired for the live streaming.

FPW’s next fashion week has been announced for September. “In Karachi?” I ask Maheen Khan. “Of course Karachi, it’s a fashion week not a traveling circus,” she says.

Photography by Tapu Javeri

Sharmila Farooqui picture courtesy Wahaj