Time and time again, representative members have stressed that the intent of a fashion week is to produce business for participating designers, and where organisers of 'other' fashion weeks have also announced the same objectives, it was heartening to note that the PFDC stuck to their word. The PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week had local film and television celebrities, members of the fashion community and both local and foreign buyers present at the venue.

There were four designers who clearly stood out on Day One. Sara Shahid of Sublime showcased her Colour Me Sublime collection by playing on large flowing fabric in deep green, blue and purple. Her prêt collection was fun and although the designer stuck to the predominant trends of long A-line shirts with lose pants, her work came as a breath of fresh air.

The celebrity who walked the ramp for Sublime was Ayeshah Alam.

Yousuf Bashir Qureshi's collection titled Holey (an amalgamation of the words holy and Holi) carried his signature stamp all the way through — from the models sporting versions of the dhoti to the long, almost draped silhouettes from his previous Fresh Difficulties collection. Instead of prints he chose to focus on singular blocks of colour. The palette ranged from orange, red, yellow and pink among others. A dhoti-type outfit made out of the traditional red Ajrak worn by a male model towards the end of the show particularly caught the eye.

The celebrity who walked the ramp for him was Tariq Amin.

A designer who put up a good show was Ali Zeeshan. His collection which was titled The Lost Romance seemed heavily inspired by the olden days of the Mughal and pre-Mughal era. His models walked in wearing large elaborate turbans, often encrusted with a jewel and a large feather attached to it. They also carried with them a glittering parrot among other things. His collection was fascinating to watch and carried an obvious inspiration from the work displayed by Ather Hafeez at the Fashion Pakistan Week in October 2009. Some of the headgear, especially the chain work on the turbans, was similar to what Fahad Hussayn showed recently in his collection, Disturbia, at the Colombo Fashion Week. Where Ali Zeeshan's collection was a visual treat and entertaining to experience, it was lost in its styling with almost no presence of the clothes themselves.

The celebrity that walked the ramp for Ali Zeeshan was Shahzad Raza.

The designer who closed the day was the designer who stole the show. Iman Ahmed from the Body Focus Museum showcased a collection that was elegant, simplistically complex, sophisticated, fluid and mostly monotone. What is delightful about this designer is that with each collection you can see an obvious evolution and shift — this designer does not take a 360 degree turn from one collection to the next but rather gradually works her way into what is the next level of design for her. Her collection was predominantly in black and beige with Vaneeza Ahmed opening the show in a large, screen-printed black gown wearing an elongated black headgear. The designers collection overall focused on the waist, as she had several models sporting leather belts, handkerchief-dress hemlines, drooping 70s-styled sleeves, etc.

Two of the outfits were similar to an Alexander McQueen creation which was originally in red and beige and carried a double drape that crisscrossed in front and that met at the blouse. Iman's interpretation of it was in bejeweled beige and another in beige and black with a longer length. Body Focus Museum did not have any celebrity walking the ramp for the collection. She was the only designer that evening to receive a standing ovation from the audience.

Day One of the fashion week also saw a performance by the percussion-based band Overload. They performed for the opening collection by Nickie Nina. Meesha Rahman, the vocalist for the band who was also participating in the week as a model, took to the stage and performed a single from their album, Mela Kariyay. Also showcased were collections of Elan by Khadija Shah, Nida Azwer and Asifa & Nabeel.

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