With the number of fashion weeks, fashion showcases and solo shows taking place in the country, you’d think Pakistan was the most fashionable place on earth. Well, we’re getting there, we’d like to think. At least when it comes to runway style!
Scheduled to take place next week, and hopefully the last of fashion events before summer kicks in, Fashion Pakistan Week has been compressed to two days this season, with the lineup for their Spring/Summer show revealed this morning.
Day one will kick off on 10th April with Gulabo by Maheen Khan, which is always a colourful and fashion forward show. Huma Adnan for FnkAsia and The Pink Tree Company will make the day’s palette even brighter, we’re sure. Hassan Riaz is just as colourful a character and his label, Gogi, will present some interesting menswear, we hope. We expect Amir Adnan to be his usual classic and sophisticated self. Yasmeen Jiwa is the only designer to have shown at Paris Fashion Week this year and so she’ll be bringing her experience to the local runway. She will be showcasing her Qous-e-Qazah collection but has added nine new pieces for the show. Cheena Chhapra is a new addition to the FPW runway; she has shown before at London Pakistan Fashion Week. And Day One will end with Farah Talib Aziz, who has made quite a name for herself in wedding wear as well as lawn and will in fact be making a fashion week debut at FPW.
Day two will begin with FPW regular and Chairperson Deepak Perwani while Ayesha Farook takes the grand finale with her luxury pret. Saira Shakira will be returning to the runway as will Rozina Munib, who debuted last year with a show rolled out as a tribute to Mukhtaran Mai. Naumeen Arfeen is an FPW regular and loyalist; his collections are usually crisp and impressive and Natasha Kamal is a name that is consistent in putting out high fashion. Boheme by Kanwal is the new name to surface this year and the council feels this will be one of the breakthrough young labels of the season.
It’s a short lineup, with many of Karachi’s big names missing, but with the council’s new board members – Ronak Lakhani, Sana Hashwani and Tapu Javeri – now on board and committed to shake things up, we are reassured that the next season is when we’ll start seeing changes in the set-up and line-up. Till then, let’s hope the regulars can keep things afloat.
It’s better to have a shorter and crisper show rather than one that drags on with tasteless fashion but then, ideally, fashion week should have – by now – had enough big names onboard to get bigger and better with time.
