Fashion's most prominent glitterati hobnobbed with socialites at the PFDC Boulevard before the press conference kicked off. When the hall was full of media shutterbugs, models on delicately balanced high heels and eager invitees, Hasan Shehryar Yasin (HSY) started off by introducing the Pakistan Fashion Design Council's achievements in its second tenure thus “As part of our commitment to Pakistan's development, the council members contributed Rs2 million for the IDPs. We also did a charity fundraiser and collected another Rs4 million for the same reason. Further on, as part of our commitment to support new designers and emerging talent, we gave two scholarships last year and intend to give another two in the coming year. The fashion week in February will emphasise on the business of fashion as we believe fashion is not just entertainment. We plan to promote it as serious business.”

Sehyr Saigol, the Chairperson of the Executive Committee, PFDC, added further details, “We are delighted to say that the Fashion Week in Karachi was highly successful. We invite all the designers from the Fashion Pakistan council in Karachi to this upcoming fashion week. Our venue is Lahore; the cultural capital of Pakistan. This fashion week will not be a one-off event. We plan to do two fashion weeks every year. The one in February will focus on the retail requirements of primarily Pakistani clients in summer. Our second fashion week in 2010 will be presented from Karachi. More than international buyers, we will be focusing on our clientele in the country which is so important for us. We will not be inviting any foreign designer since this is strictly for Pakistanis and by Pakistanis.”

To a question as to how many retail companies will be participating, the council answered that it was still a bit too early to give an exact figure as work was still being done to engage maximum retailers fulfilling our criteria. When asked as to why prominent designers from the PFDC were not seen at the fashion week in Karachi, HSY politely refused to comment saying that “we don't want to get into 'them' and 'us'. For our part, we have invited everybody to Lahore as equal partners and our show will be for the cause of Pakistan.”

The fashion week arrangements will be managed by Catwalk Event Management Production and the official publicists will be Lotus PR. Looking very becoming in a white Umar Sayeed kaftan, Frieha Altaf said she looked forward to an immaculately managed mega event.

Compared to the standard of work shown in the PFDC Spring Summer Collection 08-09 at the Royal Palm last year and the Swat charity fundraiser, one can vouch that the fashion week will be something to look forward to. However, one sincerely hopes that all the wizards of fashion in the country shed their cloaks of insecurity to become one in promoting Pakistani fashion to the world. In all honesty, we are a fledgling on the fashion scene of the world, albeit a very talented one at that. While films, politics and development have been eaten away by personal differences, fashion — an emerging industry with immense potential — cannot be left to meet the same fate.

The PFDC's unconditional invite to the FP designers is an olive branch that may just bring about a chink in the armour, while hiring Frieha is also a smart choice I must say. She might be able to win some of her friends from the Karachi-based fashion council to the upcoming fashion week in Lahore.