Nilofer Shahid heads for Paris Couture Week
 
 
What's exciting us is news that Nilofer Shahid will be showing at the Paris Couture Week. She left with Frieha Altaf and Tapu Javeri on January 17. This is Nilofer's second outing to the Paris Couture Week and she will be showing at the Boucheron show room in the afternoon at 3 o'clock (Paris time) today. Unlike last time when Nilofer took her signature bridal finery to there, her collection this time round is more contemporary. She is taking predominantly white dresses and gown with her but of course there is that traditional twist. All her clothes will use the Kashmiri shawl as an accessory that was popularised by Empress Josephine in Europe. The bill for the shin dig is rumoured to be footed by the Export Promotion Bureau. With the industry hotly anticipating Pakistan Fashion Week, Nilofer Shahid has to be commended for the guts it takes to go out on the international platform. It is efforts like these that will put Pakistan on the global fashion map. Of course, there is also talk of the Karachi Couture Week, but then as a fashion publication we must ask who makes couture here? Bridals are costumes and Nilofer seems to have learned that well at her last outing in Paris, which is why she is keeping it simple this time round. With a fabulous command over silhouette, Nilofer can transcent the spectacular embellishment her label Meeras is known for. And it's heartening that out of all the traditionalists, here's one willing to embrace modernity to take Pakistani fashion forward. Watch this space for full coverage of Nilofer's tour de Paris.
 
Indian designers to show at Pret a Porter Paris
 
 

Indian designers Narendra Kumar Ahmed and Wendell Rodricks have been selected to participate in Pret a Porter Paris (PAPP) scheduled to be held in Paris between February 1 and 4 . They have been selected as part of an exchange program between LFW and PAPP in which French designers Leonard Paris and Nathalie Garcon showcased their collections in India last March. When the Fashion Design Council of India parted ways with IMG, taking all senior designers with it and holding a parallel fashion week of its own (Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week), there was a lot of speculation over which week would safeguard a more promising future for the fashion industry of India, especially in exposing it to international markets. Well other than participating in PAPP, Surily Goel, Nandita Mahtani and Narendra Kumar will be showcasing their collections at the 'Mercedes Benz Fashion Week' in LA from March 15th to 19th 2007, Dev and Nil and Rahul and Firdos will be showcasing at the Rosemount Australian Fashion Week from April 30th to May 4th 2007 and designers Saviojon, Rocky S and Anshu Arora will be presenting their lines at the 'Singapore Fashion Festival' from March 23rd to April 1st 2007. LFW is taking the business of fashion onto another level altogether. By creating new stars alone, we'd vote for LFW any day. The young guns of fashion, after all, are the future.

 
New York joins the weight debate
 
 
The fashion community of New York, led by The Council of Fashion Designers of America, has actively joined the campaign to ban ultra thin models from the catwalks. CFDA has not gone to the extent of actually putting up the ban (as has been done in Milan and Madrid) but is working more on creating awareness around the issue. It recommended models with eating disorders seek treatment, young models work limited hours, healthy food be supplied backstage and smoking and alcohol be banned. Debate on the issue continues as two out of the four main world centres of fashion (New York, Paris, Milan, London) have committed themselves to the cause. Guidelines suggest that models under 16 be prohibited from the catwalks and models having a Body Mass Index less than 18.5 not be used. There are certain designers, however, who are raising their voices against this call. Karl Lagerfeld has said overweight people need more treatment than underweight ones (more people die of obesity than anorexia) while Giorgio Armani has blamed stylists and the media for the fashion industry's obsession with ultra-thin women. Whether IMG enforces this guideline when recruiting the 40 models needed for Pakistan Fashion Week still isn't determined but then again, the need may never rise. Pakistani women, after all, are always more voluptuous than reed thin. It's all in the genes!