With two successful fashion weeks held in the past 6 months (and more planned for the future), how do you guys think the pakistani fashion scene will change? My fear is that we will end up going down the indian route where clothes are created to cater for the overseas market (predominately arab) and we will slowly begin to see less pakistani clothes on the ramp.
I’m totally for clothes with modern silhouettes but I mean you hardly see a dupatta on the ramp anymore (in recent wedding photos lots of people no longer wear dupattas, although to be fair dupattas don’t really go well with the current voluminous kameezes, especially if they have full sleaves).
The recent shows have been so western and ‘dramamtic’ that I don’t know what the future entails (especially if we start getting orders from overseas markets).
I think some designers will stick to more desi-oriented clothes (bunto kazmi, nilofer shahid, probably umar sayeed) but don’t know about the others.
On a side note, did u guys see Karam’s collection at the recent PFDC Sunsilk Fashion week - it was nice but seriously Maheen needs to come up with new designs…it is just the same thing every time!
Re: How Fashion Weeks will change Pakistani Fashion
i agree abt karma. anyway, overall the show was good, some very nice creations. i dnt think we r going the india way or the west way........most designers did focus on clothes we, pakistanis like 2 wear n there was alot of traditional influence in embriodery n embellishment too. i think we r doing just fine.
Re: How Fashion Weeks will change Pakistani Fashion
Honestly I highly doubt that we'll strat away from the gist of the event. I mean PFW is one of the best things to happen in the longest time. And of course the ramp is not done for practical reasons but rather art. At the end Pakistani designers cater to the masses and of course w/ that comes the ability to alter. They know no one where's it exactly like that.
But of course the "western" thing is great too since it shows the lighter side of Pakistan. I mean just recently a blog posted some Fliridian socialite wearing an Umar Sayeed creation and Jermaine Jackson (yes, Micheal Jacksons brother) was wearing a sherwani from Amir Adnan.
Re: How Fashion Weeks will change Pakistani Fashion
my sister was there at fashion week on day 2 ....it was her assignment to b with a model....i think she got nadia ali as the model ....she said it was a good experince working with her n the fashion show was good too
Re: How Fashion Weeks will change Pakistani Fashion
It's about time to have fashion weeks in PK. But I don't agree with the fact that there needs to be two fashion councils in the country - one based in Karachi and the other one based in Lahore. Which fashion country has at least two councils? UK has only one, France (the mother of fashion and haute couture) has only one.....it bothers me greatly that even in the fashion scene there is no unity as such. Pakistani fashion industry (if you can call it an industry) needs to kick out its KHI vs. LHR mentality and start acting like one united industry. Plus, we need the government to support the industry as well just like India if we want the industry to develop and really become present in the global competition instead of just catering the needs for a couple of sheikhas in Dubai etc.
I was disappointed with a couple of things in PFDC fashion week in Lahore - first of all nearly all of the designers had the same silhouette infused with some tribal motifs/turbans - it's ok if you see the same thing in one or two designers but when 90% have the same thing going it looses it originality and individuality.
Nomi Ansari's collection with its circus theme was also a bit un-original. I felt like he based his collection on Manish Malhotra's style. Karma's collection with the "1001 arabian nights"-theme was a huge disappointment. I couldn't see 1001 arabiain nights in that collection what-so-ever, just the long shirts like the 30 other designers. Basically my point is that be original when having a theme, try to have different silhouettes and pls don't base the collections on Indian designers.....sorry if I've offended any of you but that's just an opinion I have and would like to hear your take on this
Re: How Fashion Weeks will change Pakistani Fashion
Sogul I totally agree with you....everyone had the same sillhouete, everyone had voluminous kameezes with loose pants
I also agree about nomi's circus theme....the clothes were obviously crafted very intricately but the theme was nothing new....and every single outfit I saw was completely unwearable. It was exactly the same with ammar belal's clloection. I know the ramp is often about art but these two collections I wouldn't really even classify as art
Re: How Fashion Weeks will change Pakistani Fashion
Jubjub u are quite right! Ammar Belal's collection, clothes is really Western; I don't know who he is catering for because there are so many European brands that have the same take (perhaps even better) for instance miss sixty, diesel etc. The regular Pakistani man/woman on streets of Pakistan would propably not wear it. Again I'm not making it into a debate of religion etc. which is not my intention at all - just simply a question of originality and individuality and what you exactly aim for with your brand. Sometimes I feel that is totally lost when looking at our Pakistani designers.
Re: How Fashion Weeks will change Pakistani Fashion
Oh god people, get a grip and be supportive! Of course they aren't all gonna be wearable! Think of Haute Couture which can make the average person break into a laughing fit. We're starting out and we are making quite a name for ourselves. We were ven before fashion week started since many of our designers have big names and went on to do Paris/Milan fashion week. And the same theme thing often can happen when they have a meeting before hand to discuss the season trends. I'm just happy that this is being consistant and giving the world a chance to say that the Pakistan they see on the news is NOT the real Pakistan.
And@ sogul:
I think there's a different team per location. Like LA fashion week may have it's own team and NY may have it's own. It's actually a good thing that we have 2 locations because they're able to spread that to various parts of Pakistan.
Are you sure they're two councils as opposed to one w/ seperate teams per city? Since I've only heard of 1 which is the PFA.
Re: How Fashion Weeks will change Pakistani Fashion
sigh
I know but I'm kaafi protective of Pakistan and get kinda defensive. My apologies but I really do think we need more time to be able to critisize. Simply because we're just starting out w/ the whole fashion week thing.
And I second that haute couture thing but if I'm watching w/ some family/friends no one seems to "get it", you know?
Re: How Fashion Weeks will change Pakistani Fashion
they claim to be united but I highly doubt it. There are at least two fashion councils in PK. It's ok if it was just two different teams but gathered under one umbrella like the example you've mentioned. But no, things in Pakistan are quite quite seperated from each other - it's usually a Karachi vs. LHR thing ( something that's also similar to the political scene, unfortunately)
And I'm actually quite supportive of Pakistani designerrs, I want them to conquer the globe, for heavens sake! But that doesn't mean that I ignore the weaknesses of the designers and the ideas. And you can't actually call the stuff Ammar Belal and Nomi Ansari had on the ramp as "couture" - the closest thing we get to couture in PK is Nilofer Shahid / Bunto Kazi - couture doesn't mean looking like a clown on the ramp (even though some European designers do that and it's still ugly)
And there needs to be variation - no need for 20 odd designers to focus on the same lenghty shirts and baggy pants.
And yes, the image of Pak needs to change, but fashion weeks won't do the miracles as long as the political establishment sucks along with the crazy, insane security situation ( I won't talk about politics now but just a thought)