Saadia Mirza is one of those curious creatures of fashion who one loves to follow. She is incredibly talented, for starters, and her strength as a designer lies in the easy affinity with which she can spin either traditional or western clothing. It wouldn't be wrong to say that she has a stronghold on both, evident in the way her collections fly off the shelves and in the long list of clientele that swears by her couture. We call her 'curious' because she is as evasive as she is talented.
Whether it's couture or ready to wear, western or eastern clothing, fashion has scorned recession and pessimism this year. And Saadia Mirza has always been a rather silent player in this otherwise ostentatious game but whenever she beckons the spotlight, it always comes to her. The showing of her autumn/winter collection, along with a mini fashion show at her quaint store, was no exception.
Brimming to its fullest, with a carefully controlled guest list, Saadia's show proved to be an excellent and exciting fashion night out. The central seating area of the store space was utilized effectively as a runway with guests thronging it at all sides. Albeit a bit congested, holding the show within the store was a great idea as one could feel the warmth that familiarity breeds along with the combined anticipation of the audience. It's something Saadia is now accustomed to doing. It also gelled well with Saadia's desire to remain low key and cater to her loyal clientele such as Aamna Taseer, who was the chief guest that evening, and arrived wearing a tasteful Saadia Mirza outfit.
 Unlike Saadia's signature Victorian statements that she had built on in her last show, her current collection was focused exclusively on the season's trends proliferating the Pakistani fashion scene such as kimonos and kaftans and the drop hemline shirts. But she did include a gown here and there, perhaps just to augment that she still retains her dexterity as a designer who is able to do western luxury prêt with equal panache. Since this was her prêt collection and was exhibited a week before Eid, it made astute business sense to focus on clothes that were fashionable but most importantly, wearable.
It was a varied collection combining traditional handiwork like gota, crochet, ralli and mirror work with ornamentation, along with pieces that bore no embellishment at all but relied instead on an exaggerated use of fabric with pleats and frills. Nearly all kameezes were cut as a-lines either with drop hemlines or ponchos, or sherwanis with bell sleeves. It was very interesting to note that all garments had long tapering sleeves and the kameezes long enough to be gowns where one could easily omit the option of wearing any form of pants altogether.
A segment exclusively on apparel in shades of bottle green and maroon, had models intriguingly sporting oversized stark white turbans. Given how 'modest' the collection was in terms of its design and style, concentrating on a loose billowing fit, perhaps the turbans were signifiers of an Islamic heritage. The use of bold dark colours and the motifs in the heavily embroidered pieces in this collection allude that this assessment could be right. However the most interesting feature of the show, apart from the obvious staging on the turbans, was how it shelved kameezes with slits as a relic of a long gone past. Whether one looks at fashion on the ramp or on the streets, the duppatta looks set to be annihilated as kaftans and collared sherwanis have become en vogue. Designers have carried this trend forward for two years now, and this year has also seen a focus back on tradition. The combination of contemporary silhouettes with a blast from the past will definitely see more evolution this year.
Over the past few years, Saadia has managed to - while keeping a low profile - build her label and strengthen her creative signature. From making a music video to promote her designs to stocking at Harvey Nichols in Dubai, she may not be the most prolific designers out there, but she truly is one of fashion's quiet stars.
Photography: Faisal Farooqui
Styling: Maram & Aabroo
Choreography: Rezz Aly Shah
PR: Lotus PR |
