The venue looked black and gold glam, warm and in one word STUNNING. That’s all the right adjectives for Pakistan’s first bridal week held in the chilly city of Lahore. Here’s a bit about collections shown yesterday…
Power of a great stylist is seen when you get a cohesive look at a fashion week. PHOTO: FF@Dragonfly courtesy Lotus PR
1. Nabila’s Gold to Bold was positively voyeuristic in its 10 second ‘strip tease’ makeover. Brides walked into a translucent screen and walked out ‘stripped’ of excessive bridal baggage. Brilliant concept, flawless execution. Zaheer Abbas outdid himself with this debut bridal collection. Fayeza Ansari modeled the final ivory toga-esque outfit that lost layers to perfection. So good to see her back on the runway! I will upload a video as soon as this city offers me faster wifi service. An amazing kick-start to day one.
HSY’s black and gold glamour was high on energy
2. HSY’s Game of Kings pulled more energy into the event. His collection – hinting that HSY was king of the game – certainly proved that he is king of the catwalk. Bringing social celebrity Shamyl Alam on the runway, having Meesha Shafi walk out with a Great Dane and maintaining the audience’s interest was spot on. The collection was edgy as it presented clothes that could be deconstructed as separates even at a wedding. It appeared that HSY had taken elements from his previous collections – sepia and black – and thrown in several interesting new numbers to amalgamate a collection that broke the bridal mold. Unexpected, it was a bit of a rush job that had both hits and misses, but one that happily worked.
KFJ’s collection of a creative mind
3. Kiran Fine Jewellery by all means elevated the concept of covetable jewelry in this showing entitled Sceptres of Beauty. One could not see the pieces in detail from a distance but the masked faces were visible and quite desirable. Yasmin Shaikh’s collection of solids accented with gold mesh was beautiful and at times even overpowered the jewelry. Replete with the rollared big hair and gotta (tinsel) cut outs that Nabila had pasted on models’ eyelinds for a 3-D effect, it was a concept well created and executed. Naheed Siddiqui gracefully floated out as the celebrity finale.
Sonia Azhar: beautiful but boring.
4. Sonia Azhar is a renowned name in Lahore and has quite a clientele but for her experience, her ‘Enlightened’ collection was not too enlightening. It was basic bling and some of it had the glimmer to be blinding. Sonia’s clothes were not ugly, let that be clear. The palettes were gentle and the silhouettes safe but they did nothing to raise the bar. That nudge is expected of a collection showcasing at a fashion week, be it a bridal fashion week. She had pulled the ropes with a fabulous stage make over and several high profile celebrities like Moamar Rana and Hadiqa Kiani and Adeel Hashmi that showed she has the resources as well as connections to do so. But one wishes she simply had more of an insight into style.
Nabila and her team styles all collections of day one. Lots of trends there
Lotus PR was at it’s professional best
Frieha Altaf’s coordination and R team’s logistics were sublime
Three cheers for Hamza Tarrar and his ambience
