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instep analysis
Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?
Whether it's the National Selection Panel, the Advisory Board, or even the final list of selected designers for Pakistan Fashion Week that'll be announced in another two weeks time, can the industry rest assured that Pakistan is actually putting its best foot forward? Moreso, will the process be fair?

By Aamna Haider Isani

 
The first fashion show of Pakistan Fashion Week is scheduled to roll in at 12:00 pm, November 5, 2007 at the Royal Palm Golf and Country Club Lahore. Which designer will be slotted for that time can't be said yet, but whoever it is will go down in Pakistan's fashion history as someone who inaugurated the first fashion week. It will be a historical moment in time that'll definitely be riddled with high anxiety and adrenalin. But it will be compensated for achieving what was, until a couple of years ago, something as inconceivable in this country as sincere leadership.
 

It's always tough to push a heavy ball of iron uphill but once it reaches the top, it comes down with uncontrollable speed and that is what has happened with Pakistan Fashion Week. In another five days, on July 20, the time limit for submitting application forms will end; the National Selection Panel will evaluate portfolios on August 1, recommend them to the PFW Advisory Board on the same day, call for confirmations on August 2 and 3 and on August 13 announce the final list of designers who will be showing. That list will be a nail biting end to a match that is being played for decades between the pioneers of fashion and the young graduates, between Lahore based designers and those settled in Karachi and between the couturiers and those few brave hearts who have been doing prêt. It will be nail biting, quite like the day results are announced after examinations. The examiners are those nine members of the National Selection Panel who will be analyzing the submitted portfolios.

 

Can this National Selection Panel be unbiased?
The Panel: Jodi Pritchard (IMG world), Nabila (Image consultant and stylist, Karachi), Muniba Kamal (Editor, Instep, Karachi), Sabene Saigol (Editor, Libas International, Lahore), Tapu Javeri (Photographer, Karachi), Azfar Hassan (Industrialist, Lahore), Shamaeel (Retailer, Karachi), Asim Naeem (Representative, Pakistan School of Fashion Design, Lahore) and Asim Amjad (Representative, Asian Institute of Fashion Design, Karachi).

Except for the Asim Amjad and Asim Naeem, who are both known to be silent workers, everyone on this panel has a strong and very loud voice. There is an undeniable tilt towards Karachi, as far as logistical representation is concerned, but the figureheads are known to be fair. Nabila works in both cities so cannot afford to be biased towards any one. And with Jodi Pritchard undoubtedly holding the highest powers of a neutral umpire, the remaining team nicely balances out.

 
Pritchard comes with vast international experience since she has been heading IMG's International Marketing. And what goes to Pakistan's advantage is that she has been deeply involved with the development of Beijing International Fashion Festival, Luxury Week Hong Kong and EcoStyle in Kuala Lumpur. Though Pakistani fashion really doesn't have anything in common with fashion in the Far East, the very fact that this panelist has been exposed to a global spectrum and doesn't essentially come with an inflexible western palette is an added advantage. At this point Pakistan desperately needs people who come in with a credible reputation for being able to assimilate indigenous aesthetics of a region with what the international market demands.
 
Sabene Saigol and Tapu Javeri, along with the previously mentioned members, bring solid understanding and a modern vision of Pakistani fashion to the table. And Azfar Hassan and Shamaeel step in with the much required business acumen. Perfect.

Everyone should be happy with this selection, except those who have, until now, taken pride in designing 'bridal wear/trousseau wear' more than anything else. With these people on the board, there will definitely be no room for the Anarkalis of Pakistan at PFW. Nabila alone will be able to raise a voice loud enough to ensure that. If there's any one agenda that will be followed at meetings, it'll definitely be a ploy to abolish the bridal and promote new and avant garde designers!
 

For reasons that are not unknown, there are no designers on the panel. After all, through general dealing, internal industry politics, and the tug of wars witnessed in the last five years of the Lux Style Awards, designers have proven that they are in general, incapable of absolute fairness. Plus, it would be unethical to expect one designer to evaluate the other. One assumes it is the same all over the world not just in Pakistan. To sum it up, this selection panel will be unbiased, as long as it's not evaluating bridals, which in fact are not even legible for participation!

 
Exactly what role does the Advisory Board play?
The board: Imran Aslam (President Geo TV Network), Simon Lock (CEO IMG Fashion and Models Asia Pacific), Asim Qureshi (CEO Events Unlimited), Maheen Khan (Chairperson and representative, Fashion Pakistan), Sehyr Saigol (Publishing Director Libas International and representative, Pakistan Fashion and Design Council), Sonya Battla (Independent Designer), Nabila (Image Consultant and Stylist), Zahir Rahimtoola (Fashion Retailer), Tehseen Shaukat (Jang Group) and Muniba Kamal (Editor Instep and representative, Media)
 
The National Selection Panel will have the clear cut job of selecting designers who can and should show at Pakistan Fashion Week, but exactly what role does the Advisory Board play in this event? The Jang Group, IMG and Events Unlimited placed in that order establish the order of hierarchy. Then there's representation from the two fashion councils as well as an independent designer and an additional set of people that are merited with knowing the fashion industry inside out. But what is their role? Logically the first thing that comes to mind is that the Advisory Board can and will be expected to ensure that Pakistan Fashion Week takes place as a world class event.

"The Advisory Board will help in structuring Pakistan Fashion Week," says Imran Aslam. "It will overlook the entire process from venue selection to model search and everything else that comes within the ambit of fashion. The idea is to open communication and make this process transparent. We're not just sitting here to endorse it; it's not just a rubber stamp. The idea is that the industry should be involved."
That is exactly why designers have been taken on board as Advisors to Pakistan Fashion Week.
 
And where the fashion industry steps in
The Participation Kit that has been handed out to designers includes the criteria for the selection process and the application form. As a neutral observer it gives one great pleasure to finally see the line between designers and darzis and bridals and couture clearly demarcate the two as far apart as possible. In a nutshell, 'designers' will be able to meet almost all requirements whereas others who have been lucratively operating from homes, will not. This is the right time for all those individuals who believe that they have potential but have been lazing away from the limelight, to step up.

The Selection Criteria states that "80 per cent of the designs on the catwalk (are) to be available for reproduction in international sizing (ie ready to wear)".
 
Out of all designers in Pakistan, only those who make R2W clothing for stores have ever thought about this and the 'small, medium, large' labels that they have given for the convenience of the average Pakistani buyer will easily translate to international sizing. According to Hassan Sheheryar Yasin, "Our small, medium and large are sizes 8, 10 and 12 so it'll be as simple for us as translating the labels. International sizing is an impressive word but every design house has its own sizing. A Zara size 4 won't be the same as a Gucci size 4. As long as your sizes are consistent. "
 
Sonya Battla is one of the few designers who has actually been following proper gradations for the past few years. However, those who have created a system for themselves, like HSY, Karma, Sublime, Nomi Ansari, Deepak Perwani should be able to switch easily. As for the rest, especially those who have been doing business on a "by appointment only" method need to decide which road they want to take now.
One riddle that has been mystifying the industry for so long is going to be resolved now. For the longest time, bridal designers have been erroneously been calling themselves couturiers in Pakistan. But the form clearly dictates that couture is permitted onto the PFW forum, whereas bridals are "not applicable". That puts most designers in quite a predicament and they will be in a rush to decide whether they can apply in that category or not.
 
Couture has to deviate from the gharara sharara silhouette. Not every made to order ensemble marked above the one hundred thousand rupee price mark qualifies as couture. As with prêt a porter, it is the experimentation with silhouette and coming up with a trademark signature that qualifies as couture. And that signature cannot be established by embellishment alone. Nilofer Shahid does couture, Rizwan Beyg does couture and Saadia Mirza does couture. Even Sana and Safinaz are capable of doing it brilliantly, though they haven't shown enough of their potential recently. Many other prolific designers may be making beautiful clothes but they are grades and stages of bridals.
 
International designers do present bridals as part of their couture collections. Recently at Rome Fashion Week couturiers like Fausto Sarli have brought on white wedding gowns in the finale. So are bridals acceptable so long as they wear a western stamp? The thing is that a gown is versatile; it can play with the silhouette as well as embellishment. But ethnic bridals depend wholly the embellishment that goes on them. Even if local designers have been trying to play around with the shape of the lehnga, no one will buy it if it is presented in its natural form, sans embroidery. That doesn't apply to the western bridal. It also boils down to the time taken to manufacture these clothes. Fashion Week orders are about delivering on time and with the average Pakistani bridal taking a couple of months per piece, it's no wonder that they're off limits. Now one wonders how designers will reinterpret couture!
 

Lastly, the cost of showing at Pakistan Fashion Week has some designers squealing in their seats. An individual collection show (seating 750 people) will cost 5500 dollars, a smaller individual show (seating 250 people) will cost 3500 dollars and a Group show will cost 2000 dollars. So that's basically anything between 120 and 330 thousand rupees, depending on how big you want to show. It's steep, but when you look into everything you get for that price, it's actually cheap. In the larger shows, designers will be provided with everything from the venue, models, backstage equipment, cleaning and security arrangements, sound and lighting, hair and makeup, even ushers and everything that possibly goes into a show without the headache of having to organize any of it yourself. Even the smaller shows offer all that.
The Pakistan Fashion Week website is up and a fairly decent system has been implemented to ensure that the show is as good as it can get in Pakistan. Now it really is up to the designers. There's no doubt that IMG can put up a good show but what use is brilliant lighting if it doesn't fall upon equally brilliant collections? After all, you can't expect a great show without the best designers.