Fashion brand Inc. opened shop at Lahore's M. M. Alam Road on Friday, announcing its arrival in the market with a well-attended launch event that also marked model Mehreen Syed's choreography debut.

Make-up guru Shahzad Raza and designers Niloufer Shahid, Faraz Manan, Fahad Hussayn, Munib Nawaz, Mehdi and Mahgul upped the celebrity quotient of the launch where the fashion showcase not only showed off Syed's choreography potential but also her styling skills. The hair and make-up of the showcase was done by students of Syed's fashion institute, International Fashion Academy of Pakistan (IFAP).

“My NGO ICare is all set to give out 300 scholarships to girls to complete a three-month beautician course from IFAP, which will help them set up their own small make-up salons at home,” Syed told Dawn.com before the show, barely able to contain her delight at the opportunity being provided to her students at the launch.

IFAP has been finally recognised by the Punjab Board of Technical Education, added Syed who gives credit to L’Oreal Paris for their support in the venture.

The styling was an adequate complement to the showcased clothing lines, which included smart, casual and sporty clothing for men, women and children. The childrenswear stood out for its variety and suited the season with candy-coloured palettes. The mini-models lit the runway with their gleeful smiles and drew the most applause from the audience. The brand was born through the initiative of the leading global retail organization Alhokair Fashion Retail, a subsidiary of the Fawaz Alhokair group supported by local partner Retail Cluster, under the management of Tariq Khan.

Though, the retail market is saturated with many a prêt-a-porter options with just the right amount of imagination and business acumen INC. could emerge as a ‘key player’ as predicted by Jacques Rheedar, CEO INC. The mix of dresses in flowymaterial for women with a dash of embellishments informal wear had traces of an evening appeal.

It was all about practical, wearable clothing in vibrant shades young at heart without much fuss that says much about the brand’s futuristic progress and its philosophy, ‘Celebrate your style’ with aplomb. The fashionable and affordable INC. from Saudi Arabia is all set to draw a road map but only time will tell if it will ruffle few feathers or not?

The menswear and womenswear lines will find takers among the young-at-heart, and the affordable price tag is another plus.

The Inc. brand, which opened its first store in Pakistan at Karachi's Dolmen City Mall in November last year, plans to expand extensively in the country with 20 stores in the next few years.

The event was headed by Volney Media.