Karachi Fashion Week - that's a mighty big title to live up to. Had it been called Karachi Fashion Extravaganza or Karachi Fashion Weekend, the two day event would have made some sense. After all, it isn't the first time that a collection of fashion shows has been put up for no logical reason other than entertain a bunch of people. Not that the people sitting in one of the dusty halls of the Expo Centre were entertained. Between dabbing themselves with mosquito repellent and waiting endlessly for the first show to begin, they certainly didn't look like they were having fun.

But the purpose of any fashion week, anywhere in the world, is not to entertain. It is primarily to facilitate trade and the business of fashion. Designers put up stalls to conduct business, after they have attracted buyers who have seen their collections on the runways. The stalls at KFW did not make any sense at all. Designers who had put up the main display in the centre of the hall hadn't even labeled their mannequins. So if any potential buyer (there were none) was to wander in and find an outfit interesting, he wouldn't know who had designed it.

First day, first shows
Karachi Fashion Week opened with a stream of 'designers' who had been assimilated under the banner of 'Emerging Talent'. One has to begin a journey to emerge and between the handful of ladies who had somehow landed the opportunity of showing that evening, fashion was a distant and very unachievable goal. A fashion week runway is a high-end platform which allows designers to step up only after they have gone through scrutiny and a selection process. It is not meant for promoting emerging talent, it is meant to sell clothes. Perhaps clothes like those displayed by Kanwal, Nazia Malik, Ayesha Ibrahim, Madiha Nehal and Hina Mansab Khan would have a market in Hyderi or Meena Bazaar but a) buyers from outlets in these areas should have been targeted and b) there are many young and emerging, and many more talented fashion designers in the fashion industry who deserved this platform much more.

The Asian Institute of Fashion Design has yet to have a graduate fashion show due to lack of funds. It would have made much more sense if the graduating class of the fashion school were given an opportunity to show at fashion week. Then it should have been ascertained that relevant head honchos, like textile mill owners, corporate heads at retail outlets like Chen One, Sanaullah and Chase were sitting in the front rows. That would have taken Karachi Fashion Week a step towards justifying its title. Fashion Pakistan, the Karachi based fashion council which later presented an elaborate showcase at KFW, needs to build the same relationship with AIFD as the Pakistan Fashion and Design Council has with the Pakistan School of Fashion Design. These links are essential for the growth of fashion.

Capsule collections by Deepak Perwani, Munib Nawaz, Hajra Hayat and Nadya Mistry followed. Though they were infinitely better than the emerging talent, they failed to make an impact because until now any reasoning, logic or hope from Karachi Fashion Week had deflated under the pressure of why KFW was happening and what (or what not) it could achieve. Without any groundwork which is essential for planning any fashion week, this seemed like a very unnecessary effort. The only and consistent acknowledgement was, at least something is happening.

Day two: "Gulshan is Karachi's High Street, not Zamzama," Deepak Perwani tries to put some sense into KFW
The Fashion Pakistan showcase, finale to the two day fashion week, came after Chairperson Fashion Pakistan Maheen Khan as well as Rizwan Khan, representative of Triple E, had categorically denied that the council had exclusive rights to Karachi Fashion Week. Evidently it did and one only had to see Maheen Khan and Deepak Perwani in action that evening to realize the extent of their involvement.
In retrospect, it is good to see that Deepak, who has always spoken against other platforms pushing fashion especially the Lux Style Awards, had at last found the endorsement he was looking for in Karachi Fashion Week. Both Maheen and Deepak stated to Instep that "there is so much negativity in this city. We are happy that at least something is happening. It is a start." Deepak went on to add that: "Let's face it, Gulshan is your High Street, not Zamzama, and this is what Pakistani fashion is really about." One wonders why Deepak hasn't opened a shop in Gulshan yet, if that's what he really believes.
Maheen and Deepak had managed to rope Frieha Altaf in for the event with the result that KFW had some semblance of good aesthetics to it. With the backdrop up and the runway in place, it played a passable part.

The showcase, however, was a let down. A couple of designers, on the insistence of Maheen, had sent in a couple of outfits for the showcase but one was confused as to what purpose it actually served. Unlabeled and unexplained, it was impossible to identify most of the ensembles on this smorgasbord of fashion and the worst thing was that it wasn't even done very well. Borrowing from Nabila's original idea of doing an editorial show for a Pakistani fashion showcase in India for Pakistan Fashion Week, when put together for KFW it wasn't all that impressive. A model wearing Shamaeel's embroidered jeans (from last year's collection) and enveloped in one of Bunto Kazmi's (bridal) silk shawls wasn't an image that projected much of a vision for fashion. Independently, many of the pieces were beautiful, but collectively the show was simply a mess, as was the entire concept of a fashion week at Karachi Fashion Week.

However she did add that every outfit she sells helps feed a family - the tagline of her label is 'Fashion for Development' - and that concept needed to be understood here too. Though her collection was lovely to watch, one needs to see Bibi Rusell stocking in Karachi for her trip to be worth it. That is also the least Karachi Fashion Week could help accomplish other than help Deepak Perwani open his next outlet in Gulshan.

The other two Bengali designers Emdad Hoque and Rina Latif showcased lovely collections which may not have been as mature in design and concept as Bibi's, but they certainly did aspire to get there.
Rina Latif's collection of light and airy hand painted saris was especially well appreciated. They were most appropriate for hot sub continental weather and would sell like hot cakes if stocked here. Again, that is the peg fashion week needs to push and one hopes that if KFW continues into its second chapter next year, they will realize the importance of having buyers at the shows. Ironically, it was the three Bengali designers who stole the limelight at a fashion week organized to promote Pakistani fashion in a better light.

The show must go on…
Had this show been held two decades ago, it would have impressed. But today, when multi-label corporate shows come a dime and dozen, each competing to put up a better platform with better technology for wider publicity, KFW went down with a whimper.

No where in the world does a government step into the wonderful world of fashion to organize a fashion week. It's completely unheard of. But now that the City Government of Karachi has taken this initiative, they must do their research on how fashion weeks are done internationally, put the appropriate system in place and ensure that the next one serves the purpose a fashion week is supposed to serve.

Until then, one has the option of becoming ridiculously optimistic and take refuge in the fact that "at least something is happening."

Photography by Kohi Marri
Hair and makeup for Karachi Fashion Week: Annie of Allenora