The PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week, just having completed its 10th edition, has grown into an irrepressible, relentless leviathan. This year’s event, dictating trends for the ongoing Spring/Summer season, was supposed to take place in early March before Lahore was shaken by a blast and security concerns prompted the Pakistan Fashion Design Council (PFDC) to delay the event to April. Venue unavailability caused the schedule to be snipped down from four to three days and the designer line-up boasted slightly less stellar veteran names than usual.
And yet, the show went on. Attending PSFW this past week, one felt an exuberance that had lately been missing — the joy of seeing spectacular design, of appreciating some of local fashion’s most creative contenders, of being witness to mostly good collections and of having to bear very few truly atrocious ones.
On the downside, some uninspiring voile shows marred the vision and a few line-ups should have had ideally been edited out altogether. Still, in a milieu where retail aspirations are frequently quelling creativity, at least PSFW tried.
One could almost perceive the wheels propelling the business of fashion accelerate as high street delved into avant-garde territory and certain young labels easily outclassed the veterans.
“We are trying to take things to the next level,” the Council’s Chairperson Sehyr Saigol said to me on the very first day of fashion week. “We have changed the format in an effort to set standards. Things have to move forward.”
New changes, new benchmarks
Moving forward, in this case, included implementing an all-new format for fashion week. Instead of planning out a single show in an auditorium, Lahore’s colossal Expo Centre was divided into two halls. Different shows took place in separate halls, spaced out by 30-minute gaps. Some of these shows were solo outings by designers who wanted to put forward more extensive collections. Others were group shows where two or three labels showed one after the other.
Designers at the PSFW sought to make statements that makes one hope that perhaps the local market could slowly diversify and edge away from the generic kurta
One wondered if this would mean less popular labels showing to an empty hall and a schedule that went on into the early hours of the night. Luckily, things were planned out well. In group shows, fledgling brands were combined with more popular ones, ensuring a full hall. Designers participating in a segment could easily set aside seats for friends and family who specifically came to see their show. The perpetual stream of guests was, thereby, controlled and limited seating, to some extent, eliminated the oglers who have always been a sad part of local fashion events.
Even the timings were worked out very well. Mustang Productions’ Sadia Siddiqui, who has hitherto been noted for helming the Fashion Parade event in London, flew in for choreographing PSFW and kept the pace slick, snappy and punctual. Four international models — ostensibly taller, slimmer and savvier than their desi counterparts — were included in the models’ pool. The hair and makeup for multiple shows was kept uniform — another sensible move that managed to keep timings under control.
One also noticed how Urdu1, the event’s media sponsor, refrained from plastering their logo all over the place. It was a step away from overt marketing, allowing the focus to remain on fashion — a praiseworthy change.
Hair for the avant-garde
Speaking of sponsors, the show’s title sponsors opted for a hair show to showcase their penchant for cutting-edge hair. It had been a while since stylist Nabila had planned out a hair show, and her return to the limelight was supremely confident and riveting. In dramatic alchemy, the hairstyles varied from outlandish multi-tiered buns to unkempt pastel-coloured waves, stark ombre hues and fierce long lengths. Complemented by theatrical costumery, the visuals were very strong, mixing the exaggerated with the more conventional, the ostentatious with the very sellable.
This, in essence, is the formula required to put out a headline-making show. Designers with a penchant for trotting out retail-friendly catalogues on the catwalk need to take note.
High notes for the high-street
On another high note, certain high-street retail brands pushed the elusive fashion envelope outwards. Rather than veer towards generic, retail-oriented lines, these labels sought to make statements that gives one hope that perhaps the local market could slowly diversify and edge away from the generic kurta.
Sapphire’s ‘Totem’ packed in the punches with its vibrant sense of adventure. There were flared pants, balloon sleeves, belted waistlines and quirky details. Oriental embroideries of cranes, tigers and pagodas were worked on to the canvas. These were clothes for the contemporary woman — modern, refreshing to look at, comfortable. They are also going to be stocked at Sapphire outlets very soon which is, after all, the whole point behind generating mileage from a high street show at fashion week.