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instep
analysis
Pinning hopes on Pakistan Fashion Week
Fashion has come a long way in Pakistan but even after forty
years of evolution, it still hasn't acquired the credibility or
discipline that comes with an international profile. With IMG
providing the backbone, Pakistan Fashion Week will help achieve
what the fashion community has not managed to do on its own -
it will regularize fashion as a business and elevate clan-controlled
cottages into an industry because that's exactly what fashion
weeks do around the world.
By Aamna
Haider Isani
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There
have been no formal announcements yet, only a press-meet with Simon
Lock, the man who comes with the warranty of IMG, an enterprise that
has put almost all high profile fashion weeks on the map including
the highly impressive accounts in New York, Milan and closer to home,
India. The right deal has brought IMG to Pakistan and what we see
unfolding is probably going to be the biggest opportunity to take
Pakistani fashion places. If things go by standard procedure then
Pakistan Fashion Week will hopefully become the most defining moment
in the history of Pakistani fashion. The event has already been added
to the official IMG website and honestly, it looks good sitting there
as the latest addition to a very impressive lineup of fashion weeks.
Not much information has been made public as yet, but even the buzz
generated from underground activity has been enough to breed excitement
amongst some designers as well as palpable unease amongst others. |
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| Handing
Pakistan Fashion Week over to IMG may for some individuals be like
giving up a carefully nurtured flower that promises to bloom any day
but for realists who have seen the industry nosedive one time too
many, it is a step that needed to be taken to prevent fashion from
withering away under the weight of city divides, monopolies, unethical
practices, untalented parasites and crippling politics. If all goes
well in the run up to PFW in November this year, all weeds will have
been pulled out, allowing a thousand flowers to bloom. The exchange
of energy passing through fashion doorways to that date will be monumental. |
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Let's
be realistic. Ever since the rift between Karachi and Lahore resulted
in the formation of two councils, there was no chance that Pakistani
fashion could emerge in any effective way. There weren't many creative
forces to begin with and divided, there were even less. If possible,
the rift made the politics uglier and the giants became dragons.
The first thing Pakistan Fashion Week achieved was to put designers
back on the same wavelength.
Those who until recently couldn't stand the sight of each other's
face, were suddenly seeing eye to eye. Members of both Pakistan Fashion
Design Council (PFDC) and Fashion Pakistan (FP) shared the same space
at the preliminary meetings (held in Karachi and Lahore) and did not
end up slitting each other's throats as they almost managed to do
at the last council meeting held in united presence. Dragons and demons
were put to rest, even if temporarily. The announcement of Pakistan
Fashion Week induced enough competition for FP to immediately start
planning Karachi Couture Week and for sure, one does expect to hear
a similar announcement from PFDC too. |
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There
cannot be enough of a good thing and these waves of movement will
most definitely create more opportunities for everyone.
Jolly Good. Where PFW will promote prêt, at best KCW (when and
if it happens) would continue to revive the very valuable traditions
of Pakistani crafts. However, it will be a 'council event' and that
means it will leave out a substantial number of designers who are
not in FP. Ditto for any event organised by PFDC. When the industry
split into two camps with splinters of 'independent' designers, fashion
diminshed as a force to be reckoned with. To bring all designers onto
one platform, a fashion week independent of both councils is exactly
what the doctor ordered. If one is to go by the rules of any IMG-operated
fashion week, PFW will be an affair to remember. |
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Just
to picture Maheen, Sonya Battla, Imrana Ahmad, Karma, Nomi Ansari
and HSY on the same runway is a mouthwatering thought and this reunion,
when culminating at PFW, promises to be a finale of epic proportions.
That thought alone, holds the promise of a new and brighter future
for fashion which can be repeated neither by FP nor PFDC unless they
unite. Consequently, the sheer impact of PFW will be unparalled.
For similar reasons, Pakistan Fashion Week's impact on general fashion
trends in Pakistan will be more effective. Hopefully corporations
like Chen One, Bareeze and Haji Karim Buksh and Men's Store will attend
as prospective local buyers, introducing fashion designers on their
panels of retail clothing. Clothes we see on racks of these stores
are seldom trendy enough to qualify as fashion but the day we see
Karma for Chen One, Rizwan Beyg for Bareeze or Imrana Ahmad for HKB,
a dramatic change will be seen on the images we see on the streets.
It's not a far fetched scheme. If Karl Lagerfeld can design for H&M,
Isaac Mizrahi and Proenza Schouler for Target then why shouldn't local
fashion be made affordable too? Fashion is a luxurious dream everyone
should have the right to afford and PFW will help make that possible
by regulating collections. |
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It doesn't end there. Fashion shows are not about showing to a select
gathering of corporate clients who will enjoy the sight of beautiful
women as they enjoy their lobster thermidors, not knowing the difference
between a balero and a balconnet; neither are they about product
launches and models rising out of shampoo bottles or shows held
on foreign lands achieving nothing but twenty minutes of glory.
Fashion in the twenty first century is about business and Pakistan
Fashion Week will be about generating a steady cycle of investment.
PFW may not be able to cleanse internal politics but as far as the
shows go, it will put all designers on an equal footing, to be approved
for prime positioning by a group of experts. The power game of musical
chairs will be over and only the 'selected few' will be allowed
a place on the hot seat. Designers will not be allowed to judge
other designers and the vague words like 'pioneers', 'traditionalists'
and 'revivalists' will be replaced by 'those who got orders' and
'those who didn't'.
Fashion terminology will evolve, classifying designers with successful
shows (and hopefully eventual sales) as the new breed of pioneers.
Fashion heroes will be selling to the buyers not just the wealthy
begums. After all, stalwarts like Oscar de la Renta, Georgio Armani,
Karl Lagerfeld and Ralph Lauren haven't made it to the top for initiating
trends three decades ago. They haven't become iconic by operating
a business from one solitary store or by never showing a true collection
at all. There will be no self acclaimed kings at PFW and this process
of selection will separate the curd from the cream.
Then there will be surprises. Designers that have always been backbenchers
may just may it to the spotlight and newcomers with a promise of
ingenuity will most definitely be welcomed on board. One would hope
to see Vinnie show her prêt line at PFW, for one. One would
want to see Maheen Karim and Munib Nawaz on the ramp and hopefully
there will be other rising stars too.
The general scale of expansion will be huge. To certify smooth operations,
the entire industry will have to be roped in - stylists, photographers
and choreographers et al without pride or prejudices being hurt.
That means no more one man shows; no more dictation of who won't
work with whom.
Designers will have the privilege to choose their own groups but
in essence everyone will be working together for the same cause.
Then a group of approximately forty models will have to be culled
from Pakistan and that'll mean intensive auditioning and training.
The tall, young and well toned ones will walk forward and unprofessional
misfits will be shown the back door. Results will unleash a troupe
of beauties onto the much starved runways.
IMG will also be looking for a face from Pakistan to add to IMG
models.
These small steps will constitute a massive step forward for fashion.
The media juggernaut that develops around the time PFW is held will
be crackling. Front row celebrities will be brought in and/or subsequently
created to raise show profiles.
Media coverage will be huge and for once, the fashion industry will
understand that a designer is only as big as the business he generates
and the media attention he gets.
PFW most certainly will make headlines with the international media,
as well as being boosted by local newspapers. The coverage, as one
expects, will be eye candy.
Other than the established fashion community, PFW can also benefit
fashion students. Not only can they be brought in to intern backstage
as this hands on experience would be better than any text book research,
but it could also eventually benefit talented individuals in a scheme
similar to the Council of Fashion Designers of America that has
a regular CFDA scholarship that sponsors brilliant students to establish
their own businesses after they graduate.
There really is a lot to look forward to and again, this change
will excite some while also making others insecure. But PFW will
provide excellent learning ground for the entire industry before
it grows strong enough to stand on its own two feet. No one in Pakistan
has the experience of operating an event this big, but the reassurance
one needs to digest a project this huge comes with IMG. Pakistan
Fashion Week is exactly what local fashion needs to truly become
an industry.
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