September 10-15:
New York Fashion Week

NYFW is one of the most important events of the fashion year. And despite the hit that the fashion industry has taken with the global economic recession, designers are stepping up and more and more will be showing in the coveted tents instead of having showroom presentations. The buzz this year is the Milk Studios space. Since Maybelline has replaced M.A.C. as a sponsor for NYFW, M.A.C will be sponsoring space at Milk Studios, which could easily emerge as a competitor to NYFW in its own, since the aim is to provide more corporate support to designers during the recession. Designer labels showing at the Studios include Alexander Wang and Proenza Shouler.

September 18-22: Lakme India
Fashion Week

Happening around the same time in Mumbai as London Fashion Week will be Lakme Fashion Week, bringing in a full force of Bollywood bling to the runways. While fashion weeks held in Delhi have invariably featured the more established designers, LFW in Mumbai has always gotten better coverage because of the Bollywood quotient it brings with it. No matter what you design, if you have Shah Rukh Khan in your show, everyone will cover it!
September 18-21: Bridal Asia

Taking place in the Indian capital of Delhi, Bridal Asia will be featuring a number of Pakistani designers this year, including Jannat Shahid (of Faisalabad-based label Jannat and Sadaf), Ayesha Warsi and Honey Waqar. Though she is stocking at Labels, Jannat has a clientele for bridals in Faisalabad and she has decided to invest in Bridal Asia as launch pad for that part of her label. She promises that she is also working on a solo show in Pakistan, something every new designer must invest in.

September 18-22: London Fashion Week

Editors, buyers and designers will be flying across the Atlantic to attend London Fashion Week. It's the 25th year of London Fashion Week and the British Fashion Council and homegrown designers are returning back to LFW to celebrate the milestone, including Burberry, Pringle, Jonathan Saunders and Matthew Willliamson. YSL designer Stefano Pilati will return back to LFW to showcase Veryta, a label he co-founded to fund education efforts in India. Fashionistas are already reporting that this will be the best LFW ever…we'll be salivating from afar.

October 1-8: Paris Fashion Week

And the fashionista crowd will be moving across the English Channel to the City of Lights: Paris Fashion Week kicks off October. Stay tuned to Scott Schuman's blog The Sartorialist (thesartorialist. blogspot.com) for his usually brilliant images of what Parisians and PFW attendees are wearing on the streets.

October 15-18: Karachi Fashion Week

Fashion week fever hits the city by the sea in mid-October, as Fashion Pakistan - the Karachi based fashion council - gets set to host its second fashion week with the support of the City District Government Karachi. While it hasn't been confirmed as yet which designers will be showing, one looks forward to seeing a four-day display of Pakistani fashion has to offer, and hopefully bring out a new star. After all, Adnan Pardesy did emerge out of Karachi Fashion Week in 2008…lets see what this edition will bring forth.

October 23 - 27:
India Fashion & Design Week

India's Fashion and Design Promotion Council - sponsored by the Ministry of Textiles - and in collaboration with the Fashion Design Council of India will be hosting the India Fashion & Design Week, Spring/ Summer 2010 in New Delhi. It will be held as the unified fashion consortium of the Indian fashion industry and will feature almost all of the big names in the industry including Tarun Tahiliani, Rohit Bal, Anamika Khanna and Manish Arora.

October 25-28:
Dubai Fashion Week

The concrete jungle and shopping haven has a plethora of designer brands, but their fashion week is fast becoming a destination for Pakistani designers. Confirmed to show at Dubai Fashion Week this season are Amir Adnan, HSY, Fahad Hussein and Nida Azwer while Nadya Mistry is in the pipeline. It's great to see local designers branching out, especially since multi label boutique Soiree in Dubai provides the perfect retail space for many credible names from the fashion industry. Sara Shahid (Sublime) will be the latest designer to join the Soiree family in September.

November: World Performing Arts Festival

The Peerzadas are set to go ahead with the 26th World Performing Arts Festival in Lahore this November. Faizan Peerzada confirmed their intention to go ahead with the Festival, saying that while some things about the Festival may change, it will go on as planned. And despite having last year's Festival targeted by three low-intensity blasts, the Peerzadas are making the show go on in their signature fighting spirit! Last year's Festival saw stand-up comedian Shazia Mirza taking Lahore by storm and having Lahoris cracking up in the aisles and had a large number of participants from 25 countries. This cultural event of the year is not to be missed!

January 21-31:
Kara Film Festival

Kick-starting the New Year will be the much-loved KaraFilm Festival! The eighth edition of the Festival is scheduled to take place in late January, and this is one of the most highly awaited events of the year for film buffs, aspiring filmmakers as well as has become a hotspot for Bollywood-Lollywood to meet. Last year's Festival was closed with a resounding finale by the premiere of Nandita Das' directorial debut, Firaaq, which also won top honours at Kara. This is the Festival that has brought together filmmakers from all over the world, so mark your calendars and get ready to sit for hours on end in a darkened auditorium!