STYLE: THE FABRIC OF CONFIDENCE
It was the 20th time that the Pakistan Fashion Design Council (PFDC) laid out the catwalk. They made sure that everyone was aware of this too, knowing full well — and one would have to agree — that 20 extravaganzas later, the fashion was looking pretty good.
Energy ran high and there were fabulous fashion moments strewn across the length of the three-day-long PFDC Fashion Week (PFW). There was a time when celebrities would throng local fashion weeks but they have almost entirely been replaced now by major fashion heavyweights who have a keener sense of design. Makes sense. Twenty events later, the PFDC is looking good too.
There’s a lot that has helped the Lahore-based PFDC become a major trendsetter, orchestrating the pret-centric PFW in the spring/summer and then a bridal fashion week later in the year. The consistent support of regular sponsors has allowed the quality of shows to be maintained. Also, Chairperson Sehyr Saigol runs an airtight show, spearheading a council that has more or less remained the same. Over the years, this council has been proficient in mentoring newcomers and curating line-ups that have broken away from staid commercial shackles, and shot up to spectacular fashion highs.
From mentoring newcomers, curating line-ups that have broken away from staid commercial shackles and sparking spectacular fashion highs at its 20th Fashion Week, the Lahore-based Pakistan Fashion Design Council is going from strength to strength
But does that mean that the PFDC’s fashion weeks — more particularly the PFW this time — is the ‘best’ fashion week? It’s a question that I’m often asked, given that it is a blessing — and, sometimes, a burden — of my job to attend all fashion weeks. The answer is that there is no ‘one’ best fashion week. There is a motley crew that qualifies as Pakistan’s best designers and they amp up an event when they are part of it, regardless of whether it is one organised by the PFDC, or by the Karachi-based Fashion Pakistan Council or ‘Showcase’, organised by the Hum TV Network. The fashion pendulum is perpetually oscillating between brilliant highs and dismal lows; up, down; hit, miss. The PFW, this time, was most certainly more hit and very little miss.
Joining hands with the council was the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), orchestrating the textile-based TEXPO around the same dates as fashion week. Across the road from the main fashion week venue, the TEXPO was swarmed all day long by local and international buyers. The focus within the exhibit was primarily upon Pakistan’s many export-friendly products — bed linen, towels, fabric yarns, et al. But there was also an attractive PFDC ‘lounge’ set up, exhibiting the work of select labels. And in the evening, the international delegates were invited to attend fashion week.
Did these visitors, who arrived from all over the globe, place any orders for local fashion? No, although apparently the exhibitors at the TEXPO are quite happy with the deals that they struck. On the upside, unlike past TDAP and fashion collaborations, when engineers and pharmacists visiting the Expo would sit goggle-eyed, enjoying the ‘entertainment’ at fashion week, the TEXPO’s guests hailed from a background in textile. The fashion week was more relevant to them and it is hoped that they have now become aware of the potential within Pakistani fashion.