LAHORE: A fashion design exhibition titled Design and Research – an Inquiry into Fashion as Space, Body and Habits based on various social, cultural and individual dimensions of students opened at the Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design (PIFD) on Friday.

The exhibition was attended by a good number of fashion fanciers where 15 students from the PIFD’s Fashion Design Department displayed their research work. The exhibition was the outcome of a two-week workshop offered to semester VII students held in collaboration with Parsons School of Design, New York. The first workshop of such workshops was held last year.

Facilitator of the workshop Anke Grundel, Parsons school faculty member Ammar Belal and PIFD Vice Chancellor Hina Tayyaba jointly inaugurated the exhibition.

The workshop focused on developing a research methodology in the context of fashion. It also aimed at investigating personal habits and routines in order to develop a sense of discovery through design research and development.

Students at the exhibition while talking to Dawn shared details of their researched projects.

Zubia Zainab’s project was based on the old city and the treasure it contained in the shape of skilled people and music instrumentalists. Her project showed how for the first time she explored the Walled City, met a charpoy weaver and a tabla player.

Zainab Khalid’s works were a journey from being a calculated person to someone who graphs and monitors one’s calculations through a fusion of visual and performing arts.

Samra Farman’s basic idea was nostalgia, her associations and memories of her late father. Sana Zahid’s work had perhaps more appeal as it was about creating awareness on the chicken being sold in the market and the effects on health after eating it.

“Having been part of this initiative for the second year, I can see that PIFD students come with a tremendous amount of raw creativity. They are excited to explore the various social, cultural, and individual dimensions of their own fashion context. In this year’s workshop, many have opened up fashion as a communicative category in innovative ways, creating their own visual and material vocabulary. While they have faced the challenge of learning a new design process within the short time of two weeks, they have remained inquisitive and introspective throughout. Some have embarked on a personal journey, which led them to discover more about who they are and how they see themselves as designers. Others have produced social commentary through the language of fashion, not shying away from asking difficult and sometimes uncomfortable questions. After two intense weeks for everybody, all of them have come out with a strong design identity,” said Anke Grundel.

Speaking about the exhibition, Prof Hina Tayyaba said, “ThePIFD has a very strong link with foreign universities. We have been practicing this effort every year with different trainers coming here and teaching students.”

The exhibition will remain on display for a week.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2016