STYLE: WHERE ARE THE DRUM ROLLS?
Fashion designers are thinking commerce. And they’re frenetically targeting the market for wedding-wear — where a single, crystal-laden, embroidery-smothered, blindingly blingy outfit can yield monumental profits.
This was clearly evident at the recent winter edition of Fashion Pakistan Week (FPW) which followed a Winter/Festive theme and was, therefore, dominated by wedding-wear. In fact, it was so evident that I would like to eliminate the word ‘fashion’ and rephrase my opening sentence to say that ‘designers are thinking commerce’ — because bona fide fashion has nothing to do with repetitive, lacklustre clothes churned off a cookie-cutter.
More than a decade ago, when the country’s fashion week omnibus was just getting into gear, fashion was at another extreme. The design community — considerably smaller at the time — thrived on making statements and creating drama with every collection. But while they won rave reviews, most of them refrained from making the transition from ramp to retail, never making the clothes available for actual customers. With limited business generated from fashion weeks that are, ideally, meant to be business-centric, it was all quite pointless.
Business is the primary driving force at fashion weeks but creative, exciting fashion has faded, only occasionally rearing its head, courtesy a few valiant designers. Some of these few were the saving grace of this season’s Fashion Pakistan Week
We’re at another kind of pointless now. Business is the primary driving force but creative, exciting fashion has faded, only occasionally rearing its head courtesy of a few valiant designers. Some of these few were the saving grace of this season’s FPW. Helping things along was crisp choreography by Nubain Ali, team Nabila executing well-finished hair and make-up backstage and a motley crew of some of the best models from Lahore and Karachi.