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Back to the basics
Western fashion trends have been fusing a variety of cultural influences over the last few years. In the United States, the current look is “Asian Oriental” inspired by Chinese collars, buttons and writing, and in the United Kingdom, desi embroidery has become a staple part of their wardrobe. One of Pakistan’s leading western and fusion clothing manufacturers went back to the basics for their recent winter fashion collection.
The fashion house debuted their practical, down-to-earth collection made by in-house designers at a recent fashion show. Top fashion models, as well as a variety of newcomers, children and even a puppy dog, presented the range in front of a crowd of almost 500 people.
The breezy rooftop provided an ideal background for the innovative show. Creative director and fashion choreographer Frieha Altaf presented the line of wardrobe essentials in one of the funkiest and fun fashion shows of the year. Using the rough rooftop background, she turned the stage into a construction site, with models posing as construction workers, as well as parents, teens and children, all sporting ‘leisure wear,’ while carefully selected songs from the eighties as well as more recent music accompanied the models.
While the male construction workers were wearing either sleeveless tops or no tops at all in the background, other models, ranging from the company’s target market of five to 35, paraded the stage in various casual and formal wear. Jeans, lightly embroidered kurtis, semi-casual tops and slacks and a variety of shalwar kameezes were modelled. The men’s wear consisted of a variety of materials including wool for the winter wear, lycra and cotton mixed with lycra for the comfort wear, knit for the t-shirts and woven checkered shirts and pants. Women’s wear featured jamavor kurtis, tye-and-dye silk kurtas with light embroidery, short khaddar kurtas, vibrant chiffon tops (in orange, red and maroon trimmed with Peeko) and silk trousers, and lightly embroidered shalwar kameezes. Although essentially an extension of their Spring 2003 line, this collection included darker, winter shades, wooly winter wear and more embroidery all-around. Even though there were plenty of warmer outfits for the western range, there could have been more ways to warm up a shalwar kameez such as a lightly embroidered cardigan or a striking cape.
Although the entire collection was well made and extremely wearable, it lacked originality. Unlike Leisure Club’s 2003 spring collection a few months back, which featured some exciting sleeve variations, this collection contained minimal, if any, creative moments. Although Altaf created one of the more entertaining fashion shows of the year, it was unable to detract from the humdrum nature of the clothing.
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