It’s not so easy to stand out with wedding wear, especially when most brides want to stick to tradition, leaving very little room for experimentation. The relatively young brand, Saira Shakira, however, has managed to create a signature for itself by pushing boundaries and creating designs that offer classic designs as well as accents of innovation.
Saira Shakira recently showed at the PFDC L’Oreal Bridal Fashion Week in Lahore and their 30-piece collection was a full range of what any woman would want for a wedding, beginning with the bride’s shahana joras for her big days to formalwear for herself and the rest of the family.
Saira Shakira created specific colour ranges that would give brides options for the baraat and the valima, so there were deep colours and a range of vibrant reds as well as light shades (above), usually chosen for valimas or day weddings. To offer a full range, the designers played with traditional as well as experimental shapes for formalwear.
“Most brides want traditional bridals and don’t want to experiment on their big day,†Saira Faisal spoke to Something Haute after their showcase. She outlined trends for wedding wear this season; they were looking at longer shirts, full flared skirts and ghararas, shararas and lehngas. “This season is about volume, a lot grandeur,†she said.
Tradition may be essential when it comes to wedding wear but fashion week demands some form of innovation and excitement in terms of design; Saira Shakira perfected that in terms of fabric development and experimentation in formalwear. Closer inspection of the clothes revealed the level of detailing that had been acquired with fabric creation and how basic jamevar had been hand-crafted upon. There was a lot of foil printing with details including top stitches and embroidery on the surface. The result was quite impactful.
One of our most favourite segments in the entire show, however, was the super-wearable and chic white segment, that offered layering as a key trend. The palette, a clean canvas of white flirting with shades of blue and green, was a great reference to Persia, the inspiration behind the collection, called Fairuza. “We chose Persia because it was a golden era that lasted almost two centuries,” Saira shared. “It covered most of the ancient world and was all about riches and glamour and fit perfectly with our signature style, fusion.”
Even the silhouettes, while adapted perfectly for a south-Asian woman, were early twentieth century Persian glamour. It was very well thought out. We would say that the key piece in Fairuza – at least our favourite – was the armhole jacket, a covetable piece to get this winter.
Saira Shakira once again impressed with their design acumen and understanding of balanced aesthetics. The PIFD graduates are now a regular at PFDC fashion weeks and are definitely a high point on the line up every season!
