A fifteen minute delay (or was it thirty minutes?) led to the HSY finale and I have to admit, it was grand. Half a dozen bronzed and muscled torsos carried in regal, white silk flags boasting the HSY monogram and they followed a very haute Fayeza Ansari clad in a white hot-pant jumpsuit. The show began with white and ended with gold. Predictably, the entire collection was all white and gold, enhanced further by Asmaa Mumtaz’s styling. It was grand but was it the strongest collection shown at PSFD Sunsilk Fashion Week? No.
Just as critics at the Fashion Pakistan Week complained that Nomi Ansari (and not Honey Waqar) deserved the grand finale, similarly those who had been blown over by Fahad Hussayn on Day 2 grumbled that his was a show that should have closed fashion week. Not HSY’s.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqDuMsaG6lc&feature=youtu.be]
It’s almost sacrilegious to say that HSY’s not a great designer and I feel I may be facing the guillotine for saying so but I must. HSY is not a great designer. He is a force, a character and an essential component of Pakistan’s fashion industry – I can’t imagine it without him – but he is not a great designer. There wasn’t a single piece in his elaborate collection that was innovative or new or exceptional and as one critic in the front row whispered, “Not even HSY can go wrong with white and gold.” No one can.
Bigger than the collection was news of the launch of HSY Event Management. I have absolutely no doubt that he will be brilliant at managing events whenever he is in town to supervise them personally. But given his travel itinerary that ‘whenever’ may not be often. The second big announcement of the show was the launch of the HSY iPad application, again, exciting news for fashion. But I hate to be the voice of reason and ask, what exactly will the HSY app offer? I really want to know. But then I guess I’ll just review it when it launches on May 1.
Leaving you with food for thought: No matter how many people still consider fashion as entertainment, there’s something to be said when a designer’s choreography/theatrics are lauded more than the collections he designs.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wubXj9AUM4&feature=youtu.be]
