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instep
overview

Let the business of fashion begin!
PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week kickstarts a whole new game plan in Lahore

By Muniba Kamal

 



Congratulations, Pakistan! Fashion weeks have become the norm, and we get two as a bonus… for being so individualistic that we can't come together on one platform. So now we've seen four festive days of frenzied designers sending collections down the runway, standing ovations for the good and muted whisperings and scattered applause for the bad and the downright ugly - in both cities -  Lahore and Karachi. Pakistani society, or at least the fashionistas who attend fashion shows, have an opinion on clothes and are not afraid to express it. In the audience, on blogs, on Facebook status updates  which is then devoured and commented on by a myriad of virtual friends. Of course, our fashion weeks also attract the foreign press, who then go on to filter Pakistani fashion through the looking glass of the Taliban and  marvel at the dichotomy of men in beards and models in anything and everything a burqa will never reveal. In the new virtual world, these articles are then posted up and deconstructed by local bloggers who then get quoted in the foreign press as they put a new, more insightful spin on Pakistani fashion and therefore Pakistan. Hype is the name of the game and it seems to be working. The bigger the bang you make, the better you'll be seen, heard and understood… just ask the Taliban! 

Hype is perfectly in order. It is fabulous to see fashion get that hype via the event that has come to define the industry the world over: Fashion Week! That incredible activity that is entertainment and commerce rolled into one. Where you see beautiful women walk down a runway, but don't gawk! You're not supposed to see them; you're supposed to look at the clothes which you should then purchase. Though ideally, you should be a buyer, not just a socialite wanting a couple of items, but a retailer looking to buy hundreds to sell, preferably from another country, so designers make revenue in dirhams, pounds, euros, dollars and more… almost anything is worth more than the Pakistani rupee. The benefits of fashion week are enormous. Make no mistake… this is over and above models strutting down the catwalk, the cravings of fashionistas, the thrill of seeing and being seen.

That's just the surface Pakistani fashion was scraping until there was fashion week.

If Fashion Pakistan Week in Karachi set the ball rolling and capitalized on the hype factor by holding a four day extravaganza at an insecure time, when everyone was advising them against it, PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week did the same in Lahore and took it one step further by truly upping the ante for the business of fashion. It came to an end last week, giving that historical city a taste of fashion on a scale on which it can and should happen, complete with buyers and media and the big guns, society begums and otherwise, so characteristic of the most powerful province of the country. Was it perfect? Far from it. But it was a start of a bigger wheel coming into play to drive fashion forward.

The first thing that broke through was the fashion and the recognition that a platform like this can bring. Just the first day amidst outstanding collections from seasoned designers like Sara Shahid of Sublime and Iman Ahmed of Body Focus, a young boy called Ali Xeeshan whom no one had heard of (not even the upper echelon of Lahore designers) burst out with all the effervescence of what fashion can and should be. It was incredible to watch him dance down the runway after the show to take a bow embodying all that fresh energy in his person. I spoke with him for the first time on the phone the next day and the day after gave his number to a buyer who was interested in seeing what he had to offer as well as covering him for a Dubai-based fashion magazine.



At the fashion week, as media, it was easy for us to know the buyers because they were seated in the front row, right opposite us on all the days of the show. Apart from our own Asad Tareen, Zahir Rahimtoola and Zeba and Shehrnaz Husain, there were Sarah Belhasa and Pallavi Bhatia from Studio 8 in Dubai, Shagun Khanna from Ogan, Nader and Razia Sharif, from Designers Lounge and Mariya Kassam from Soiree all from Dubai, that city where India and Pakistan become one gigantic consumer and in the grand culture of that city, shop until they drop. There were Nasar Khan and Thairah Parween from Libas Couture in Norway, the country with the largest migrant Pakistani population and a lady called Syra representing the Indus Store Company from London. And of course, Sehyr Saigol herself sat there as the representative from Carma in India 

Yes, one came across those who scoffed that there were no international buyers in terms of European and American buyers (the West remains the Holy Grail of fashion) but it is a given that the international business wheel for Pakistani fashion will begin with Middle Eastern buyers and then when the situation eases up, hopefully with India. The buyers from UK and Norway represent outlets that are primarily interested in Eastern wear. Seasoned designers from both Karachi and Lahore already have a presence in cities like Dubai, Delhi and Mumbai, and sell to the Pakistani and Indian communities in the West. The process of fashion week legitimizes the process and exposes the buyers to fresh talent that may not have reached foreign shores.



It was the crucial networking between designers, buyers and media (the three key components of any fashion week) that PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week made possible. Indeed they facilitated it rather well, by the creation of a VIP Lounge done up by the zany Hamza Tarrar of Casa Hamza fame. Before, during the break and after the finale the buyers and media congregated there along with designers and other key people. The media room was too far away and so rather pointless, especially since the shows were an evening activity and not one lasting all day, but it was there.

One of the most intriguing people sitting in the front row was Aleema Khan, owner of Cotton Connection, a major buyer for home textiles and Imran Khan's sister, who revealed that she is on a personal mission to save embroideries that will die out unless craftsmen make a decent living from them. One has heard that she has been in talks with Sehyr Saigol for quite some time and one would love to see what comes of them. Aleema Khan is someone who networks with people in the home textiles front overseas and could perhaps easily translate that into buying and exporting fashion that helps saves the embroidery of our region. Ahan is on a similar mission and designers in both Karachi and Lahore have been working with that NGO to utilize embroidery in their creations. The next step is to translate it into prêt, set the fashion ball rolling so that the Pakistani economy benefits as designers, their workers and kaarigars work together to turn fashion into a booming industry.

One feels for a designer like Ammar Belal who presented the best show of his life, but may not have attracted the attention that Maheen Kardar or Khadija Shah inspired with their Eastern wear that had Dubai buyers clearly excited. Ammar Belal's tribute to Michael Jackson requires the presence of Western buyers and he knows it. So he leaves for New York to work with Patricia Field and gets into outsourcing suits from Europe to earn a steady income.

The other two designers who to my mind put up outstanding collections were Kamiar Rokni and Nomi Ansari. Kamiar's has a distinctly Western silhouette because he is showing it at a group show at the upcoming Paris Fashion Week. If Europe won't come to you, you have to go to Europe! Of course, you have to do the bridals to get there. No one understands that better than shaadi season's favourite son, Nomi Ansari who has really come into his own by delving in construction of the Western kind now. While he practiced his silhouette with his all black collection at Fashion Pakistan Week, he merged it with his brilliant sense of colour and intricate workmanship for PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week. Why stick to one fashion week in one city when you can have the best of both worlds?

And this again brings us to the question of two fashion weeks. We will again witness Fashion Pakistan Week in Karachi within the month. It will be interesting to see where they take it. The Pakistan Fashion Design Council have shown tremendous business savvy in the way they operate. They have stores in both cities that generate funds for them. They plan on holding the next PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week in Karachi. They have struck a deal with Hang Ten to create areas for the PFDC Boulevard in 42 Hang Ten outlets around the country. Carma wants 100 outfits from them but it has yet to be revealed from which designer(s). PFDC may have done the second fashion week in Pakistan but it was the first from which one can truly see the business of fashion benefiting.

Hopefully, Fashion Pakistan Week, which is right round the corner will up the ante even more. Competition is healthy, as is collaboration. Ultimately, one will see that what happens in Lahore will benefit Karachi and what happens here will benefit Lahore. Ultimately, the business of fashion remains one big rolling ball, not two. 

Photos by Tapu Javeri and Faisal Farooqui