KARACHI, May 28: A two-day first-ever Men’s Fashion Show held under the umbrella of Karachi Fashion Week began on Monday, showcasing the collections of leading menswear designers from Karachi and Lahore at the DHA Golf Club’s Convention Centre.

Arshad Siddiqui of Excellent Events & Entertainment Private Limited, the organisers, said that the aim of the event was to gain global support and recognition for Pakistan’s established and emerging menswear fashion designers and brands. “The event will provide a platform for a growing apparel segment by creating a separate entity for menswear fashion designers and brands,” he added.

Over two days, 10 designers from both Karachi and Lahore will bring forth their collections on the ramp with Hassan Shehryar Yasin as the choreographer, N-Gents the stylist for the male models on both days, Yousuf Bashir Qureshi as the creative head and Hum 2 being the official media partners and supported by TDAP with overall management by Sheheryar and Muneer, and Mohammed Farooq as the official photographer. The ushers are provided by AIFD. Also notable by their presence were social media representatives. Most of the male models were selected from a pool of new talent made available after an extensive model hunt.

Day One opened with Yahseer showing his collection titled Celebration with rainbow streaking on eastern cuts, long coats, tail coats, a print double-breast jacket worn by model Omer Shahzad and accessorised with hats and colour-coordinated footwear. The entire collection was designed to beat the heat this hot and sizzling summer.

AIFD graduate Waleed Bilwani of the design label Daniyal was next with sporty-looking formals with a vivid orange streak running throughout, and casuals in botheastern and western wear. Thick-weave cool cottons featured in the collection.

Design house Shahnameh featured the design sensibilities from the western border of Persia to the north of India and onwards. A striking angarkha-cut flared sherwani in black and white weave with embroidered motifs and panels, gara embroidery fronts on long shirts and all tastefully accessorised by traditional silver zari Peshawari chappals highlighted the region’s Pakhtun culture.

Faisal and Shaban Shab’s Couture showed extreme styling with sheer black tops set off by vertical beige panelling, metal studs, elaborate box pendants, cape coats, etc all shown to singer Rahim Shah’s Pashto numbers. It created a lot of drama on the ramp, making menswear boring no more with elaborate headgear. The clothes were more costumes than anything else.

Element Jeans closed the day with a display of denim jeans with various treatments, giving a chic appeal to men’s jeans while heralding and introducing new trends. The show started off with a heavy bike being driven in and onto the ramp area while the models walked around it and finally driven off at its far end.