The models of the evening looked glam in Maheen Karim gowns but the look was more Cavalli than Miyake!
This is what Issey Miyake showed at Paris Fashion Week this week.
In a small event yesterday, Scentsation launched the new Issey Miyake L’Eau D’Issey Florale fragrance at the Art Centre in Clifton. Why they didn’t launch it at the huge Scentsation store in Dolmen Mall (that is air-conditioned and spacious, two things that this venue wasn’t) is anyone’s guess. However, two perfumes for women and one, more masculine version per homme. Perfect timing, I’d say because Issey Miyake just showed at Paris Fashion Week and I spent all of Friday appreciating the ‘yarn-melting’, linear and clean graphic prints (left). More floral than graphic, the fragrance is just as clean, bearing a freshness of a bouquet of roses that lingers rather than overwhelms.
It’s curious how we, Pakistanis, have a completely polygamous relationship with perfumes. Not many of us can stay committed to one and as technology is always about having the latest and fastest, perfumes inspire the same hysteria. Women must have the latest! It’s also strange that women still haven’t been able to trust local franchises in having original scents. But with these official launches, mostly done under the Scentsation umberella, we are ensured that all perfumes are original AND they are available in Pakistan at cheaper prices than Dubai Duty Free. How’s that for a great deal?
A gorgeous Anita Ayub wearing Aamna Aqeel.
So, at an event that was slightly warmer than it should have been, the new Issey Miyake fragrance was released in the presence of the usual media and a couple of starry faces. Anita Ayub, I must say, is not aging and if Pond’s or L’Oreal or any other anti-ageing product is looking for a role model, she is it. She looked great in purple suede pumps and a kaftan tunic by upcoming designer Aamna Aqeel.
Frieha, of course, knows how to strike a pose and she looked equally fab (at 49, she celebrated her birthday last week) in her vintage Fendi jumpsuit and McQueen pill-box Knuckle-Buster. The shoes, she proudly pointed out, were six inches of controversy from the YSL collection that was sued by Christian Louboutin for the red under-soles. Louboutin lost, as we know! But Frieha’s shoes were win win to the finish line!
Frieha Altaf in a vintage Fendi jumpsuit, YSL heels and McQueen clutch.
That said, a couple of well-dressed people do not make an event. The presentation made by one of the Scentsation managers was probably the worst introductions anyone could have made to Issey Miyake. When I heard him say ‘that guy’ who ‘started his career as a designer’, I wanted to correct him that ‘that design genius still is a designer first and perfumes are just a side-line in his mammoth brand’.
Details aside, the new Issey Miyake fragrance is a beautiful fragrance, and must be checked out at any of the Scentsation stores.
