A red carpet exudes glamour. That thin, long, swathe of fabric unfurled to form the entryway to an event is meant for the rich, glitzy, well-coiffured and inexorably famous. The colour need not always be red — one has observed it to take on many hues, from an environmentally friendly green to sultry black and gold to pink, to match the event sponsor’s shade du jour. Any colour works but what remains consistent are the people that stalk the carpet itself, the glittering diamonds, gorgeous designer wear, impeccable hair and make-up and whirring media cameras … serving as a precursor to an exclusive, spectacular extravaganza.

Not always, though. Our ‘land of the pure’ has become rather media-savvy with numerous television channels having popped out of the woodwork, myriad periodicals chronicling Page 3-style social diaries and a burgeoning mass of social media trolls. Therefore, many of us want those media cameras zooming in on us. The easiest way to do this, apparently, is by having a ‘red carpet’ event. The runner, hitherto set aside for annual awards ceremonies and fashion weeks, has been dusted and darned and diversified.

Rolling out the ‘red carpet’ seems to be de rigueur at all glamorous events these days

A designer store opening in a mall? Why not roll out the red carpet! A lawn launch and out it comes again. A cinema launch, film premiere, music album release, hair-colour introduction, restaurant inauguration or even a grocery store opening — rolling out the ‘red carpet’ has become many an event’s claim to fame. “Red carpets have now become a staple feature for anything being launched in Pakistan,” observes Tehmina Khaled of Take II PR. “Celebrities are invited to launches in order to generate media hype and the red carpet serves as a platform from where they can talk to journalists and get photographed.”

Through hackneyed alleyways

A ‘table girl’ serves chocolate shots at the Magnum launch The branding wall at the KFJ event

It usually works, with the images ultimately generating publicity by being featured on electronic and print media. The red carpet, at its best, leads to an avant-garde ceremony, serving as the perfect vantage point for the illustrious guests to pose and preen. ‘Who are you wearing?’ becomes a common query — the world over, fashion trends on the red carpet are scrutinised and translated down to the high street. The jewels, the gowns and a scintillating constellation of stars — it’s unbridled, scintillating razzmatazz!

The carpet’s sparkle wanes, though, when rolled out for something utterly commonplace. A grand scale grocery store opening — the Farid’s launch in Karachi last year, for instance — may attract in celebrities but they’ll come in their casual clothes, drifting about in jeans and tees. That’s hardly the stuff of red carpets, although their iconic status will still ensure that they’ll get photographed by the media. Nor does the red carpet work its wonders when it stretches across a popular market-place, leading to a store entrance. Sans the chandeliers, varnished floors and luxe furnishings, it’s just a red strip, a bit rumpled, winding across a musty street, with a smattering of known and not-so-known faces trampling over it.

“The red carpet’s become a joke now,” says PR maverick Frieha Altaf of Catalyst. “I brought the concept to Pakistan with the very first Lux Style Awards (LSAs) because I believed that the carpet would add chutzpah to the major event. Since then, though, they’ve become hackneyed. Small-scale events can have media walls where guests can get photographed. It isn’t necessary to stage a red carpet for absolutely everything.”

Ali Azmat and Yusuf Bashir Qureshi at the Veet red carpet & (Left) Irum Parveen Bilal at the film premiere of Josh. Photos: M. Farooq

Ironically, while she may criticise umpteen red carpet events, Frieha herself has orchestrated quite a few of them — not just the all-out extravaganzas but also the usual lawn launches and restaurant openings. “It’s what the client often wants. I do believe, though, that we should try to educate them on what works for the kind of event they’re trying to have,” she surmises.

A carpet for drama

Sharmila Farooqui is a red carpet regular & (Left) Ayesha Tammy Haq with Shehryar Taseer at the Sindh Festival fashion show. Photos: M. Farooq

What often works is a bit of drama. Mix in theatrics and spectacular décor and a launch can become a memorable experience, with or without the red carpet. For instance, two years earlier, one still remembers the gilded carpet of the Magnum launch in Karachi, organised by Frieha Altaf, with the extremely dexterous RAK Associates masterminding the décor, a throwback to the decadence of old Europe. It was a grandiose affair with suspended table girls serving up chocolate shots, a sumptuous chocolate buffet mixed in with the heads of smiling girls popping out from some of the tables, baroque-style walls and glorious florals, leading up to a short half-an-hour long skit by Nida Butt’s MAD School.

Models at a multibrand store show pose on the red carpet. Photos: M. Farooq

Quite in contrast, the recent opening of the brand new Magnum store in Karachi, orchestrated by GolinHarris Pakistan, razzled and dazzled sans a red carpet. “Red carpets are meant for gala events not for shop openings and small launches,” points out GolinHarris’ country-head Fareshteh Aslam. Instead, Aslam opted to create media mileage through sumptuous décor — once again, RAK Associates wielding their magic — celebrity guests, dressed in Magnum’s brown and gold colour palette; a cheery blonde half-inserted into a gold multi-tiered tower and the coup de grace, a suspended upside-down trapeze girl delivering ice-creams mid-air!

Anoushay Ashraf and Umar Shahzad at the Zong red carpet. Photos: M. Farooq

There are so many more events that have made an impression not because of their red carpets but because of the extra mile they have gone in order to be different. Earlier this year, the Kiran Fine Jewellery (KFJ) store launched in Karachi’s Ocean Mall with Lotus handling the PR and CKO creating a glorious faux garden outside the store, complete with plastic green foliage, sparkling hanging ornaments, tables and garden chairs strewn with cushions digitally printed with tongue-in-cheek quotes. There was no ‘carpet’ to speak of but a branding wall, printed with KFJ’s logo served the purpose just as well.

Nabila styles model Iraj’s hair at the Somptueux hair show

Last year, the Ayesha Somayya lawn red carpet by Take II featured the usual spate of celebrities but, more interestingly, boasted a flash-mob performance by the Zarmina and Breakhna dance group. The Kayseria 2014 Spring/Summer lawn was in association with Garnier Colour Naturals at a vibrant Festivities of Lahore festival, with kite-flying, live music, gol gappay and kulfi stalls. Managed by Bilal Mukhtar, with PR by Lotus, there was a red carpet and a catwalk where models walked in Kayseria lawn-saris — but there was so much more also that kept the crowds milling about.

The girls dolled up as Siamese twins

Another Lotus event, the YOCA-HSY furniture collaboration, dedicated to Jinnah, was launched in Lahore with a red carpet that lead inside HSY’s studio to entire rooms created with the limited-edition furnishings. Beauty brand Maybelline introduced their new cake powder with a make-up demonstration by the sea, followed by a cruise ride. The Bonanza Satrangi launch heralded spring, with the shop festooned with roses, daisies and tables canopied by umbrellas.

And, from some time ago, who can forget the Somptueux hair show, put forth by stylist extraordinaire Nabila in collaboration with L’Oreal, at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture? The black carpet lead to a courtyard where students worked through different stages of creating a garment, followed on by the actual show area. Models styled as Siamese twins walked the catwalk with multi-hued hair, live music played in the background and for the finale, model Iraj lay upside-down with Nabila slashing her scissors through her hair. It was an artistic show with definite macabre overtones. But now, more than two years later, it’s still unforgettable.

And that is what makes an event stand out. Corporate clients and PR mavens have over-used the red carpet to the extent that it’s a bit bedraggled now, no longer inciting the interest it used to. Unless the event is a star-studded awards night the carpet doesn’t attract a huge amount of media attention. What does bring in the excitement is a red carpet — or a media wall, even — merged with individualism, theatrics, a flavour of what the brand being launched is actually about. Roll out the red carpet, if you have to, or don’t — but do, by all means, bring on the drama!

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, September 28th, 2014