KARACHI: On Thursday, day two of Fashion Pakistan Week Winter/Festive ’19 Italian-Haitian designer and Giorgio Armani’s protégé, Stella Jean Roma, opened the show with her work with the women artisans of Gilgit, Hunza and Chitral, merging it with classical Italian tailoring to create a colourful collection titled ‘Laboratorio Delle Nazioni’ (Laboratory of Nations).

The result was a centuries-old tradition transformed to look youthful and exuberant and one that exuded energy and a definite flair for modern fashion. Fine thread embroidered borders of over 300 meters of floral motifs boasted hand embroidery fused with Western cuts with white on red, blue and orange outfits with Chitrali motifs.

According to a communication read out before the show, it took 46 women, under the guidance of Karishma Ali, who also walked the ramp with Stella Jean, to come up with truck art design and hand-painted brogues by the truck artists of Lahore.

‘Style Mara To Darna Kya’ was the bold, flamboyant menswear collection by Humayun Alamgir who showed a line based on the swag and impeccable style of Italian mafia bosses, while echoing European influence and the basic understanding that fashion has been derived from people with high social positions.

Shehzad Sheikh opened the show followed by Aagha Ali in a red velvet sherwani, Fahad Mirza in a black velvet suit, Ali Safina in a colourful blazer, Asad Siddiqui in a deep purple velvet suit and Muneeb Butt in a sky blue number. The manner of presentation was just as flamboyant with many exhibiting their impeccable dance moves in a cool, suave manner.

The Pink Tree Company showed ‘Colour By Technicolour’ about the romance charm and allure of cinema and an ode to classics, such as The Wizard of Oz, Aan, Anarkali and Gone With The Wind, incorporating embellishment elements from the period on to the collection while keeping the cuts strictly traditional with long, flowing voluminous dupattas. The embellishment of choice here remained largely gota with zari, tilla, dabka, zardozi and other forms of metallic embellishments on a base of loud candy colours with ethnic cuts accentuated further with jewellery by Ali Javeri. Haveen Waqar walked in the segment as showstopper.

Zuria Dor made women the ‘Centre of Gravity’, also the title of her collection, and largely played it safe with commercial bridal wear interspersed with a few Western pieces, which seemed awkward in presentation. The less said about the collection the better.

High-street brand Zellbury’s kinky and quirky presentation titled ‘Shahi Rendezvous’ pretty much summed up the common theme running throughout the collection that was an improvised version of Mughal art. The infectious, youthful exuberant energy was infused into the clothes as well. Hina Altaf walked for Zellbury.

Splash is a high-street brand that sells really well in the Gulf region and has a strong presence there. In Pakistan, it’s branching out into collections for men, women and teens, and symbolises the electric energy of youth which was also represented in the presentation with modern cuts and styles.

Finally, couture queen Maheen Khan showcased her eclectic, curated collection from the Maheen Khan archive defined as “something old, something new, something borrowed and something not-so-blue”. The new collaborative effort with Indoi, a conscious clothing brand based in London that uses hand-woven fabrics from Pakistan, and Sundus Talpur — a sculpture artist and jewellery designer — brought forth bespoke outfits that celebrated women in general, and leading influencer moms including Salima Feerasta, Fuzzy Faruque, Amal Qadri, Areeba Habib and others.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2019