KARACHI: The Winter Fashion Gala (WFG), held on Saturday at the Russian Centre for Science & Culture aka the Friendship House, featured the design acumen of six fashion brands and design houses.

The designers who presented their collections on the WFG ramp were Zubair Shah who showed western wear for the opening segment; the National Textile University (NTU) students who showcased their final thesis collection under the collective name of Culturista; the gym gear and sportswear brand IBEX; Seema Shah Bridals who made her runway debut with the WFG show and another debutant Aamir Jee, and the grand finale depicting the cultural take on menswear by Zubair Shah Menswear.

Zubair Shah opened WFG with a five-piece formal menswear collection, in dark, milk and white chocolate tones. He then showed a jumpsuits’ collection styled by pendants and wooden beads with a one-piece women’s wear outfit worn by model Laiba. Finally a bold print jackets collection with feather-padded shoulders culminated the runway show with supermodel and international celebrity fitness trainer and judge Aasif Rehmaan as the showopener and YouTube channel iPlus News HD host Syeda Nazia as his showstopper.

Culturista, fashion students from NTU, presented their final thesis in a womenswear collection with frilly sari dresses, gowns and cocktail dresses. A frilly net top particularly stood out in this segment.

The show features an amalgamation of designer wear in an explosion of colours

The sports gear brand IBEX showed a wide array of smart-fitting gym wear for both sexes. The 35-piece collection came in dark and bright tones with accessories such as gym-kit bags, and shades of pink and peach denoted the ladies wear.

Seema Shah Bridals chose to show a myriad of cuts, colours and classical eastern and bridal fashions. The colour palette remained the popular choice of women in usual hues for festive occasions and the embellishments revived the age-old traditions in bridal wear such as handmade chatta-patti, gota, zari lace, sequins, kiran lace and zari work on luxe fabrics.

Aamir Jee showed shalwar kameezes in minimal embellishments in simple silhouettes, with elaborate, flowing chiffon duppattas. The colour palette ranged from dark to pastels.

Showing at the WFG Grand Finale with a unique take on cultural outfits, Zubair Shah employed the use of hand-woven khaadi ‘Susi’ fabric for short kurtas cut to form geometrical patterns and paired them with dhoti shalwars with bright, hand-woven embroidered panels on the front.

He accessorised these with black Multani shawls, an ajrak long coat, and for the showstopper outfit worn by Aasif Rehmaan, he used a rilli-print short jacket with mirror work around the neck and animal figurine cut-outs around the frilly, outer border edges with colourful bumbles to complete the ethnic look.

Paired with a Rajasthani bandhani chunri pagri (turban), the overall look remained stunning and received a round of applause. The womenswear outfit in the grand finale segment featured a chunri ghagra in rust and earthen tones with mirror-work lace on borders created to a stunning effect.

The Director of the Russian Centre, Ruslan Mikhailovich Prokhorov, Project Manager Rano Gul Khan and Project Coordinator Fariha Aqib presented a bouquet to designer Zubair Shah, who, in turn, presented Mr Ruslan with an ajrak coat as a welcome sign, and to denote regional cultural and traditional hospitality.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2024