What is a fashion week but a vivacious burst of energy, a chance for designers to experiment, create magic, set trends and, above all, make inroads into retail? Did the recent Spring/Summer edition of Fashion Pakistan Week (FPW) fit the bill on all these counts? To some extent, yes.

For one, the designer line-up for the event this time was significantly impressive. The newly appointed board of the Fashion Pakistan Council (FPC) — Wardha Saleem, Sanam Chaudhri and Maheen Karim — may have skipped out on their Autumn/Winter fashion week last year, but they sprang back with a very savvy mix of veterans, newbies, mainstream retail brands and, perhaps for the first time ever, a substantial dose of Lahore’s design aesthetics.

The red carpet throbbed with the city’s who’s who — stars, starlets and the begums that ultimately form fashion’s main clientele — and while there were no foreign buyers, the much more relevant mainstream local retailers were present: Asad Tareen (The Designers), Shezray Husain (Ensemble) and Zahir Rahimtoola (Labels). It is surprising, though, that despite the burgeoning growth of multi-labels in the country, no other retailers can be seen attending fashion week and handpicking future stock for their stores. Hot-off-the-ramp collections, after all, are the order of the day!

The miniscule foreign contingent, then, consisted primarily of marketing expert Roberto Bre, called in from France expressly by Rabia Javeri of the TDAP, to observe Pakistani fashion and to devise a consultancy plan that could take it forward internationally. Apparently, Roberto was quite impressed by local aesthetics and especially by the production facilities of the ready-to-wear label, Sheep.

While the show definitely belonged to the Karachi-based FPC, the limelight was also very much on that indomitable showman from Lahore, HSY. Being a hardcore Lahore council PFDC loyalist, he showed at FPW for the first time and directed the show, which summed up to brilliant choreography and inevitably, some very late timings. HSY also cut a cake especially created for him and walked the catwalk as a showstopper several times, once with former FP-Creative Director Deepak Perwani. Bridges have obviously been built with HSY lauding the council’s new board and vice versa. About time, too.

Moving away from the lineups that were showcased and the now-hackneyed Lahore-Karachi equation, the melange of female models was gorgeous, featuring the old and the new, some of Lahore and Karachi’s best. It was a great, and long overdue, move by the council to enlist different stylists for each day. With Sabs Salon, Depilex and N-Pro spearheading each day respectively, Aarij Hashimi styling for Gulabo, Toni&Guy delving into hair for their trend shows and Raana Khan stepping in for the Maybelline showcase, the catwalk looks remained fresh and innovative. Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the male models Waleed Zaman and Shahzad Noor as they particularly appeared far too consistently on the catwalk and always — without fail — notoriously bare-chested. The organisers may have their favourites, but it shouldn’t boil down to the show looking repetitive or bawdy.

Also, while talk was rife of the ‘fresh, young’ new council board, FPC’s continuing predilection for self-congratulation wasn’t particularly refreshing. It is understandable that, following the hard work invested into the fashion week behemoth, they would want to thank each other and their support group on social media, sponsors and organisers. However, it’d also be so much more appealing if they let their work speak for itself. For FPC, following this fashion week, you have plenty to be proud of without flattering yourself quite so ostensibly!

Fashion highs … and there were so many!

With HSY opening on the first day and Nomi Ansari closing with a rush of confetti and a burst of balloons, FPW featured plenty of creative peaks. HSY’s Venom seamlessly slithered from slinky snakeskin to earthy browns, blacks, dull golds and splashes of red with smidgeons of sequins and bead-work. Shero historically prefers creating gorgeous, detailed luxe as opposed to spinning drama with wacky experimentation (Ali Xeeshan comes to mind here). One could see this resort-wear creation selling well as it was, translating easily onto his uber-popular bridals and getting lapped up by his Middle Eastern clientele.

The HSY capsule collection for Tapulicious, then, was the cherry on the cake. With Shero completing two decades as a designer, this was very obviously a celebration. Monochrome tigers, zebra stripes, chevron and HSY’s face peered out from Tapu Javeri’s digital Karachakra, transformed by HSY into a fun lineup of flared pants, jackets, flouncy dresses and handbags. A very unapologetically HSY collection, but then again, he always is!

Also part of the Tapulicious designer entourage were the House of Kamiar Rokni and Mohsin Ali, with the former dabbling into a range of Oriental prints and the latter mixing stripes, polka dots, florals and a vibrant John Miro-inspired scene onto a series of tunics, pants, dresses and easy breezy wraps. Just when you thought digital prints had been done to death, Tapu Javeri brings them into vogue again with his gamut of diverse inspirations.

Similarly, Shamaeel Ansari’s royal spin on print with her Tughra was a class apart. Inspired by Iznik tiles and Central Asian tapestry art with detailings added through embroideries, tassles and velvet trimmings, this lineup was a fresh take on the classic Shamaeel signature.

Meanwhile, Nomi Ansari put the funk on metal with short dresses, trailing gowns, long coats, saris and lehngas. His quintesential love for colour may not have been there but this was still classic Nomi with a touch of drama, frills and feathers mixed in with some very wearable, classy clothes.

A couturier to the heart, Adnan Pardesy put out a glorious collection in gota with the traditional workmanship looking like it never had before: meshed beautifully together into entire dresses, jackets, pants and elaborate floral patterns. While the thickness of the handiwork did cause the fit to be too loose at times, allowances can be made simply because Adnan always endeavours to pave his own way rather than hang on to convenient, retail-friendly dogmas. Nida Azwer, also, paid an ode to detailed craftsmanship with stunning appliques, laser cutwork, foils and embossed printing dominating her pristine Arabesque.

And then there was FP CEO Wardha Saleem who consistently showed on all three days. For her own showcase, Wardha set aside her partiality for whimsical print and opted for high-end luxe. Her Dasht-i-Gul flowered into a mix of earthy browns and golds, embellished with sequins, rivets and gold chains, and tailored to perfection. The collection she created to go with retail brand Jafferjees’ bag showcase, on the other hand, was a play of print, mixing the brand’s logo with colours, stripes and checked patterns in a myriad different ways. And while textile house Lala’s collection of silk was hodge podge at best, the outfits created by joining up different prints had Wardha’s dinstinctive touch. Jackets, easy breezy tunics and flirty hemlines … it’s commendable that Wardha kept each collection distinctive and didn’t falter when it came to design.

Some of the council’s brightest sparks, sadly, restricted themselves to just capsule collections. Sara Shahid, Sania Maskatiya and Sanam Chaudhri showcased for Maybelline, with Sara’s very Gatsby-inspired array of dresses, Sanam’s summer lineup of white chikan tops and easy lowers and Sania’s very trendy futuristic line. Maheen Karim, Sadaf Malaterre and Shehla Chatoor showed for the Toni&Guy trend shows and while Maheen and Shehla created evening numbers in black and gold that fit like a glove, Sadaf’s flirted with flowing saris and long dresses.

There were so many other lineups that may not have been standout but had their strong points: Deepak Perwani’s classy but disjointed resort wear which was far too similar to his Frida from last year; Fahad Hussayn’s very detailed Aristo-Anarchy which could translate well into his popular Eastern formals should he want to do so; Ali Xeeshan’s bursts of tangerine in a collection that was exuberantly theatrical but not very wearable; Mahin Hussain’s fun lineup of bags inspired by Parveen Shakir’s poetry and Nauman Arfeen’s well-tailored menswear.

High fashion for the high street Also traipsing the catwalk were some of fashion’s most promising high-street brands. Maheen Khan’s spectacular Gulabo flew high, traversing Google maps and monochromatic sketches reminiscent of the French Toile de Juoy fabric. Retail label Daaman finally made the decision to venture on to the fashion week arena and stayed true to its understated, elegant aesthetics.

However, the retail brand that made the biggest waves was Naushaba Brohi’s Inaaya, featuring the indigenous craft of village women from rual Sindh. With rilli, mirrors and embroideries worked in varied colours over a range of dresses, saris, pants and body suits, this lineup was utterly unique, utterly Pakistani and very, very savvy. While Inaaya is yet to move on to standalone stores, with its high fashion signature, it’s already selling well at multi-retails.

The retail angle In fact, barring some, most designers delivered high fashion moments and barring a few clueless contenders, most of them are now focusing on ready for retail collections. Shamaeel Ansari’s Tughra, for instance, is already available at multi-retail Labels and is going to be stocked by early March at the Ensemble in Karachi, Lahore and Dubai. Rather than show at fashion week and then make the all-important translation to retail, Shamaeel prepared her stock beforehand. Tughra sold well late last year at an exhibit in Ensemble Lahore and Karachi and apparently, what she now showed at FPW is just a smattering of the designs she has in entirety.

Maheen Khan, similarly, bulk-produced the trendsetting prints for her lineup before airing them out on the catwalk. The clothes are going to be available at Gulabo’s standalone stores as well as at the newly launched Gulabo e-store, all within the month.

Nida Azwer begins stocking at Labels within the next two weeks, following up with more designs at her flagship stores and other multi-labels. The Tapulicious bags and clutches are already available at the Ensemble, to be followed up by the unstitched fabric. Adnan Pardesy’s made-to-order gota creations are going to be exhibiting by next month at multi-labels in Lahore and Karachi. Ali Xeeshan’s lineup is already available at his just launched theatre studio in Karachi where it can be customised according to orders.

Hot off the ramp, right onto the racks. Great fashion, followed up with prompt collections for retail. This has been FPW’s coup de grace, it’s most significant outcome. With slightly better editing, smoother organisation and provided that the next fashion week, scheduled for this Autumn/Winter, doesn’t get postponed, the FP omnibus may finally be on the road.