It was the first seriously hot, summer afternoon in Karachi and Safinaz Muneer turned the heat up with some seriously haute lawn action at the sun dappled, newly opened Mews. I wouldn’t normally use the term ‘haute’ for lawn but if you look at how Sadaf Jalil looked, you’d know that the word haute explains this Sana Safinaz collection best. Of course, it helps to look like Sadaf and to be built in those dimensions.
The afternoon was extremely tasteful, there’s no denying that, but it was also just as intelligently planned. Instead of hiring models to parade the lawn collection, Safinaz had her society friends wear it to the lunch. They looked and did a much better job than most models would have. I know that all I did for the hour was make a mental note of which designs to purchase and yes, I have managed to spend 39,400 on six lawn suits, one of which is a birthday present for a friend.
Back to yesterday afternoon, it was a dainty set-up, with a delightful rotating buffet instead of the regular sit-down. Doing the rounds were single servings of quinoa salad, cheese mac, chicken laksa, open faced salmon, prawn and chicken bruschetta, mini ground beef burgers and an array of flat pizzas. The desserts looked just as tempting but I just indulged in a miniature banoffee and savoured the taste for a long time.
So the Sana Safinaz lunch did have the who’s who of Karachi sashaying in and out, wearing the 2015 collection. I decided to wear a 2015 Sania Maskatiya print that I picked up from her store, just as I wore Sana Safinaz R2W to the Elan lawn launch. As a journalist I make it a point to not market and endorse/promote anyone at their events or shows. I appreciate those designers, like Sana Safinaz, who respect me enough to not even ask. Someone asked me on Twitter, and they made a genuine observation, that how can any journalist who accepts and flaunts a free jora be unbiased or fair when giving an opinion. I don’t think they can. It’s an oversight I may have made in my amateur years, ages ago but I am wiser to it now.
