It staggered, stumbled, skipped over a few pivotal sartorial seasons but the Fashion Pakistan Council (FPC) has finally landed solidly on its own two feet. Long overdue but certainly welcome. In its Spring/Summer ’15 edition, the council has managed to harness the fashion week leviathan, serving out streamlined shows for four consecutive days, promptly outlining trends for the sartorial months ahead and applaud-ably ending each day at a respectable time.

In doses, sometimes slight and sometimes heavy, the Telenor Fashion Pakistan Week (TFPW) endeavored to blend all the ingredients that make a fashion week successful. Print and social media coverage was ensured by a milieu of journalists and bloggers. The industrious Latitude PR even managed to heave in a smattering of foreigners: Laurent Laughlin from Time, London-based blogger Shay Mirza and a team of filmmakers from Vice documenting our fashionably ‘soft’ side with the very pretty Hailey Gates dressed in local designer wear, taking interviews. She’s certainly not a Hilary Alexander but with her Hollywood release opposite Meryl Streep coming up this summer, she added pizzazz to TFPW.

The red carpet often blew cold due to a curious lack of celebrities but a constant barrage of designer gowns and jewellery — if not worn by stars then by an enthusiastic bunch of self-declared ‘it’ girls — kept the media cameras whirring and the selfie-obsessed cell phones clicking. There were celebrity showstoppers on the catwalk, Hira Tareen playing DJ on the catwalk for HSY and aspirations for retail were declared with the announcement of hot-off-the-ramp exhibits. There was even a bit of Bollywood magic added by Pooja Bhatt who walked for Deepak Perwani on the last day.

Heavy-duty sponsors have also finally joined hands with the FPC, placing their faith in the council which now seems focused on putting out regular seasonal fashion weeks. And yet, what of the most essential ingredient of all; cutting-edge scintillating fashion that has the power to change trends and push boundaries?

TFPW spiraled up to some high fashion moments, rarely plummeted down to the ridiculous and veered so often towards trousseau wear that the council should consider dedicating a day, if not a ‘week’, to bridal showcases. Mostly, though, TFPW toed retail-friendly safe lines that may make sense at a designer store but look mundane on a catwalk.

Why show a collection that fails to make an impression? Outlandish drama hardly attracts clients while ‘pretty’ hauls in customer orders, argue designers. But what of the edgy fine line between wearability and over-the-top statements? Very few designers were able to strike the balance but these, particularly, were the ones that rocked TFPW …

We will rock you

Iman Ahmed of Body Focus Museum was a definite highlight with her Sartorial Philology and the New Nomads, a cryptic name for a collection that paced the catwalk and showed her detractors precisely why she’s been winning all those ‘best designer’ accolades at the Lux Style Awards. For Iman may not venture on to the catwalk all the time but when she does, she outshines and promptly follows it by translating the clothes to retail. There was layering and draping done just right, fabulous tasseled capes, silk digital prints, fur trimmings, tiered skirts and a sliver of traditional-wear, twisted and molded to make a statement; this was simply what fashion week should be about.

Another winner was Sonya Battla’s Manora, launched last year at Sonya’s Karachi store and since then, often spotted being worn in the fashion circuit. For her summer variation of the line, Sonya continued her collaboration with artist Naiza Khan, transferring the artwork onto hazy sketches melded in earthy hues, sea greens, red and dashes of bright magenta. The laidback elegance may not have been everybody’s piece of cake but Sonya’s never really been a designer for all and sundry, selling instead to a niche clientele that understands her particular brand of glamour.

Shamaeel Ansari, meanwhile, stayed true to her love for grandeur with Begin Your Renaissance, featuring a complicated mix of layering, embellishments and feminine prints. Shamaeel’s quintessential maroons, deep reds, dull golds and blues reigned, beautifully put together in opulent silhouettes, although the designer should now consider veering towards newer hues. Another show following the same palette will certainly look repetitive.

The rest of the best

There were definite spurts of brilliance in Fahad Hussayn’s line-up, showcasing intricate craftsmanship and blending it with typically macabre shades. Amir Adnan’s well-cut designs in jamawar would have fitted better into a bridal show but still proved the designer’s prowess in creating Eastern wear and the mirror-work and rilli in certain designs by Inaaya were winners. Zaheer Abbas’ gauzy whites were reminiscent of bridal gowns but he redeemed himself with floral prints and embroideries.

Fifth Element’s S/S line of Swarovski jewellery was set off by a pure white line designed by Syed Rizwanullah. Pleats, fine embroideries, layers and variant hemlines were worked out on well-constructed silhouettes. Rizwanullah’s always been a pro at cutting-edge design; let’s hope he doesn’t fade into the woodworks again.

HSY exuded hi-octane glamour with a thumping, energetic menswear show. Jafferjee’s series of handbags was delectable, varying from spotted numbers to bright neon shades to long dangling tasseled bags.  

Sania Maskatiya’s Khayat — The Tailor presented vivid prints, a few interesting shirt silhouettes and lowers that immediately caught the eye, printed with intricate geometrics or splatters of paint. There is a definite need for Sania to innovate with structure, before all her collections begin to look the same. Much stronger was her lawn show for AlKaram, setting the bar for how interesting a fabric show can be with the right designer collaboration. Certain others, in contrast, attested to the sad depths a fabric show can sink to, sans the right designing acumen.

Fashion week’s retail-friendly domains

Far greater in number were the designers that toed retail-friendly waters, presenting collections that will certainly sell well but weren’t really pushing the envelope at all. Nida Azwer’s French Trellis is a line that will sell well, no doubt but it lacked the newness of her earlier showcases.

Sadaf Maleterre’s signature boho-chic tiered dresses and fringes, Deepak Perwani’s beautiful bejeweled prints fashioned into casual, flirty lines; Wardha Saleem’s pretty but predictable pastel silhouettes highlighted by intricate embroideries, laser-cut lotuses and whimsical digitally printed flamingoes; and Sanam Chaudhri’s embroidered, cut-worked formals are definitely going to rock the wedding season.

But why were so many designers at TFPW reluctant to bring on the drama? One remembers Sanam Chaudhri’s tryst with neons, Wardha Saleem’s vivacious doodles and Deepak’s infamous Frida and Amrita Shergill inspirations. It proves that a line can sell well while also being fashion forward; a point that designers often missed at TFPW. The collections at TFPW may have been beautiful but very few set benchmarks or brought forth new trends.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, April 12th, 2015

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