The recently concluded Bridal Couture Week, now in its sixth year, has evolved to Q Mobile Hum Bridal Couture Week presented by Sweet Touch, an indication of its growth and popularity. It’s that ostentatious, elaborate event that could be called the Christmas of fashion for it lights up with a kaleidoscope of baubles in every shape, colour and size and shimmers and glimmers like a well decorated Christmas tree replete with florescent stars shining on top. While it’s often all too much gaudiness for most of us humble folk to take in, one has to stop and appreciate BCW for all its worth. Because as much as it is flashy is it philanthropic. You have to stop and appreciate everything it is offering a huge, neglected segment of fashion.
Think masses not crasses
Let’s face it – not every designer is going to make the cut to show at the discerning and almost elitist PFDC and FPW platforms (okay, so BCW seemed to have rubbed off on them too this year) and not every woman in Pakistan is going to understand the aesthetic evolution of a brand like The Body Focus Museum. So where do the remaining designers go? They go to BCW and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Everyone deserves a chance and these are extremely hard working designers; they may be aesthetically challenged but that doesn’t mean they should be ignored. Yeh bhi hain tare zameen par. BCW is the Kum Kum of fashion; it may be crass but it appeals to the masses (just as the Indian soap did before being banned) and it has huge viewership so why the hell not? In fact, the platform is so big and lucrative that you’ll see top design names frequenting it every now and then as well.
The comeback of the forgotten star
Another great service BCW provides is to forgotten stars and celebs of yesteryear who haven’t really done any substantial work in the last decade and get a boost by making a runway appearance. The people we have seen walk the ramp at BCW this year alone…OMG, we had almost forgotten so many of them even existed! Stars and starlets of yesterday…how happy BCW must have made them! This is a great service, you must admit. And of course, HUM TV manages to rope in enough top names to balance it out. One fully endorses the help top stars of today extend to those of yesterday because one must never forget the past. Plus, the channel has enough muscle to pull in actors and actresses who have been signed up for HUM dramas and films. And talking of muscle, did you see Momi Rana flex his?
Stars over style, un-hypocritically
There are no pretenses here. BCW, organized and aired to millions of viewers worldwide, is made for TV content and public consumption and is more about stars than style. And one can appreciate its honesty. You’ll actually be able to count more ‘celebrities’ on the runway than designers and that’s what people who follow BCW want to see. So Arshad Khan made a runway debut but who really cares who he made an appearance for, right? Designers don’t seem to care either as the antics and theatrics get them the eyeballs, even if the designer’s name becomes the 47th hashtag on the post.
So, instead of criticizing BCW for being a Jumaa Bazaar of gaudy garments, one should appreciate the good work it is doing and social cause it is serving. It should be rechristened ABCW – Anjuman e Falahi Behbud Bridal Couture Week.
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