 Lawn
Frenzy
Spring leads to a massive flood of lawn in the markets. Most companies
now have catalogues which you can peruse at your convenience, in
case you decide to forego the push and shove of the exhibitions.
There are so many designs and colours to choose from along with
additional borders and embroidery to really go all out for a complete
look. Take a note for stitching from Jofa lawns which have Hassan
Shehryar Yasin designing with flair for the brand or Sana Safinaz
with their uber-chic lawn collection. Print-cess Vaneeza Ahmed was
the first superstar to be involved in lawn as a business venture
and created the craze that we know of today with her unique prints,
which will debut next month for this season. ZQ has done hers.
Apart from the designer whose prints you choose to be an ambassador
of for this season, an outfit can be made with the right accessories,
so take the time out to pick the best ones. Shoes and bags should
be in contrasting yet complementary shades to your outfit. Do emulate
the cool colors and vibrant prints through luscious accessories
yet implement them in your own way by layering textures and prints
from the same colour family.
Fashion Weeks
For the latest trends, best designers and the 'superest' of models;
it all comes down to fashion week. It's a dream come true for all
fashionistas to sit front and center and take in the splendour of
it all. Picking up on clothing, hair and make-up trends is a big
part of what dictates what the masses will be seen wearing in upcoming
seasons. The scale of recent fashion weeks, such as the PFDC Sunsilk
Fashion Week held in Lahore, leaves us wanting more and the next
fashion week in Karachi has a lot to live up to. Fashion weeks are
a way forward for fashion in Pakistan and we can hopefully put all
things unpleasant behind us especially when international stylists
like Jamal Hammadi are brought in to add to the glamour element.
It's the sheer deliciousness of the freshest clothes from the best
designers as well as those few pearls of up and comers that we wait
for to surprise us.
Karachi will be host to the next fashion week to take place next
month. Be ready for in-depth coverage from Instep!
 Summer
Blockbusters
There are those sequels which will be back to work their summer
magic on movie-goers and some original movies that we hope will
make our summer. The Twilight Saga continues with Eclipse and it
should satiate the taste for Taylor Lautner which New Moon left
for many Twi-fans. Iron Man 2 is another highly anticipated sequel
and this time we get not only Gwyneth Paltrow but Scarlett Johansson
as the Black Widow.
As far as originals go a must watch will definitely be Christopher
Nolan's Inception starring two powerhouses Leonardo DiCaprio and
Ellen Page (aka Juno) in a sci-fi drama. Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise
come back after Vanilla Sky with a wacky-action flick, Knight And
Day, which will make for fun viewing since Cruise proved his comedic
chops in Tropic Thunder. In adaptations we can look forward to Prince
Of Persia with Jake Gyllenhaal in a cinematic IMAX feast put forth
by Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney. All in all it will be a summer
worth staying in for.
Teray
Bin Ladin
There are big-budget Holly/Bollywood flicks and then there is one
starring Ali Zafar. We don't know about you, but our vote goes to
Teray Bin Ladin hands down. If you live in Pakistan (or indeed,
on this planet), Osama Bin Laden is old news, but also the butt
of more SMS jokes than you would care to remember. You know, the
kind that inadvertently come from unknown numbers after midnight.
Imagine all those jokes, plus all the jokes we so love to crack
about our news-industry and then imagine Ali Zafar at the helm of
all that as the protagonist.
The film is set in Pakistan and Ali plays a journalist called Ali
Hassan in the film who wants to be the guy who breaks big news -
so he does what anyone would do in the same situation and makes
a fake Osama video. And that is all we know of the film so far,
apart from a hilarious trailer that is up on YouTube.
Are you sold onto the TBL idea yet? Do we need to convince you more?
Okay, so Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy have done the music for the film, and
we all know they know how to please the crowd with the soundtracks
they create for any film.
So the one film we definitely have on our Spring/ Summer checkslist
is Teray Bin Ladin - how about you?
Jammin'
at Coke Studio
It's that time of the year again folks, the countdown to Coke Studio's
third season has officially begun in the heads of anyone who is
a fan. And while nobody really knows what is going on in that dimly,
rose-hued studio right now, we feel safe saying that Coke Studio
3 (CS3) will most likely be as kick-ass as its predecessors!
Season 3 is all about showing how "creative boundaries can
be defined, redefined and bridged through musical improvisation".
While the actual lineup is supposed to be sprung as a surprise upon
CS3 viewers, the Coke Studio page online hints that this year's
performers will come from the "mountains and valleys of the
Frontier and Baluchistan, reverberating through the rivers of the
Punjab" and will be "breaking out triumphantly into the
sands of Sindh and out across the open seas".
That sounds so poetic and passionate, that we wish for CS3 to leap
onto our TV screens right this minute. However, until that time
actually arrives, let's just enjoy the anticipation!
 The
thrill of theatre
With this season it usually feels like the following are taking
over our lives: designer lawn, power cuts, traffic jams, live jams,
weddings…the list of all that is Spring and Summer in Pakistan
is endless. But in the last few years we have seen welcome additions
to that list. One of our favourite things about this season is the
warm, dry evenings that let into cool nights when you can do what
you want with your time. And if that includes watching some great
theatre, then bring it on!
Theatre is basically like the movies, only live… and luckily
for all of us, this Spring has come with a neat little package of
theatre goodness.
The National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) will be putting up
their production, Beech Bahar Ki Raat Ka Sapna (adapted from, we
think, A Midsummer Night's Dream, only the Summer is replaced with
Spring in NAPA's title) starting April 2. If you are not feeling
quite Shakespearean yet, then it might be a good idea to jet over
to Lahore, where Made for Stage productions will be staging Mamma
Mia! from April 6 to the 12. The interesting thing about this Mamma
Mia! run is the fact that actors from Lahore and Islamabad were
asked to audition for the show.
Cheese not your thing? Islamabad has the answer. The Suicide, a
play about a suicide will open its doors to audiences from April
1 to 4, at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA). We
are not sure what exactly the play is about, but when it comes to
suicide and suicide notes, a little mystery is a good thing!
|
