Here, TA speaks to Images on Sunday to give a lowdown on Islamabad Fashion Week 2011.

Why Islamabad?: I say why not? It is the capital of Pakistan and we need to put it on the fashion map. Also, it’s relatively safer and the creme of society resides there so it all makes more sense. This trade event is bi-annual so we will be coming to Karachi in June for the Autumn-Winter 2011 Fashion Week.

Schedule: Islamabad Fashion Week presents 24 runway shows and brand presentations with over 20 designers. Four different stylists are doing hair and make-up each day, and Amina Pomme Gohar and Imran Kureishi are in charge of the event choreography.

On being a first-timer: We have been featured in the CosmoWorld Fashion Calender. World Fashion Television is filming a documentary with global media coverage, showing a modern and positive image of Pakistan fashion and textile industry, to be broadcasted and distributed through the World Fashion Organization and World Fashion Week global media and television partners.

World representation: At the end of the Islamabad Fashion Week, the World Fashion Organization — World Fashion Association Pakistan National Chapter will be signed by Triple E that would entitle them as official representatives of the World Fashion Association in Pakistan.

Also the board of World Fashion Week will review and select one designer to show at the World Peace Festival Berlin which features designers from five continents, in August 2011.

International buyers/designers: Some two-odd dozen buyers from countries such as Brazil, Russia, Ukraine, Belgium and Switzerland, other than our stalwart designers Nilofer Shahid, The House of Kamiar Rokni, Ammar Belal and local brands like Chinyere, Metro, Lawrencepur, designers like Sharifah Kirana from Malaysia and Abhishek Kochhar from India are showcasing their collections at IFW. Although we are mostly targeting pret and retail, luxury pret shows add to the glamour quotient.

Model hunt: I have personally made the effort of finding 60 young, eager, energetic boys and girls after a model hunt across Lahore and Islamabad.

Entertainment vs business: While other fashion weeks have served the purpose of entertainment, we are projecting the business angle of fashion after deriving a model system of global standards. IFW will help facilitate trade and exposure by creating awareness for the international market. It’s a totally different ballgame.

Islamabad Fashion Week is solely meant for the fashion industry, it’s not a public show. The system followed by other fashion weeks is unique and will be shunned by other world systems. Nepotism travels down from management to execution. I acknowledged the void in our industry and I partook the responsibility to fill it and I have proved myself as a force to be reckoned with. It’s a purpose to my own madness.