KARACHI: After a career spanning almost five decades, the House of Kazmi, or Bunto Kazmi to be more precise, looked beyond bridals as the opening act on Day Two of the ongoing prêt fashion week titled QMobile Hum Showcase. She displayed a luxury prêt capsule collection featuring vintage pieces from her personal collection high on cultural heritage and modern aesthetic.

While her trademark embellishments and colours were all there, the collection also spoke of innovation and reinvention while retaining her true identity.

Rizwan Beyg’s Lace Couture, an ode to the grand masters of fashion, was inspired by legendary couturiers such as Dior, Valentino and Chanel.

Voluminous A-line trailing skirts, variations in trousers, white lace motifs and lace flowers comprised the outstanding purist collection. With a few menswear pieces, the very feminine lines complimented and celebrated the female form in terms of cuts and silhouettes as well as draping.

Ideas by Gul Ahmed-Midnight Opulence was a fusion of Western and Renaissance tapestry, brocades, carvings and architecture from that period as the design inspiration for wraps, jackets, pants and sleeves.

Waiting to Exhale by Cotton & Cotton was all about opposing and contrasting colours in menswear brocade pants, shoes, pocket squares, socks and pretty much everything else. Exhale was a plunge into the world of colour.

Faiza Samee’s Autumn/Winter luxury prêt was based on a journey through Central Asian landscapes and the old world romance of Czarist Russia.

Adnan Pardesy’s Entwined was a fusion of the old and the new. With gold gota and Origami-inspired patterns, the designer envisioned the individual pieces as objects of art.

Love Letters, HSY’s tribute to lovers, was a visual representation of wars and battles, and shadows of memories during the night by candlelight.

Based on the theme of disconnection, the embellishment and print element comprised of postage stamp imagery and handwriting on a base of brownish-yellow to denote time-worn paper.

Earlier on Thursday, designer extraordinaire Nomi Ansari opened Day One with the very colourful A Night in Paradise with the palette of a tropical paradise in both women’s wear and menswear with neon jackets and cocktail dresses and his signature silhouettes and embroideries and extreme styling and make-up looks.

Wardha Saleem with Babushka My Love was inspired by Babushka Nesting Dolls and depicted them in her accessories liberally and to a spectacular effect in prints and embroideries on cloth. The atmosphere remained charged during the presentation from start to finish.

Jazib Qamar chose to show Bizarre with denim and Mad Max-inspired jackets. The designer is known for his eccentric taste in cuts and he delivered on each count from outfits to accessories.

Naushaba Brohi of Inaaya with Tabeer showed black and white patchwork with ethnic inspirations fused with pastels on Western wear and fusion wear to create a spellbinding effect.

Grazia Pakistan featuring Momina Teli’s simplistic collection led to Deepak & Fahad who showed Deception about the intricacies of life interwoven into fabric denoted by stark blacks, whites, greys featuring embroideries, prints and patchwork.

AlZohaib Textiles with Christina Senter in collaboration with artist Maurizio Boscheri presented Dedicated to Women about tropical prints and butterflies in a classic textile show.

Munib Nawaz’s Phantom about old-school chivalry was represented by colours of the night with strong, harsh silhouettes that would enable the individual to appear at ease either on a rock concert stage or the boardroom.

Faraz Manan with Mirage: Luxury Resort Couture 2017 showed his classic cuts and embroideries on rich fabrics and elaborate necklines.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2017