The fashion industry has long contemplated forming a Fashion Council, to standardize, organize, and facilitate the Pakistani Fashion Industry’s growth.
Due to internal paddhay (irregardless of what excuse the designers make), the current group of veteran designers has refused to form ONE council for all of Pakistan.
Karachi is forming its own council, and Lahore is forming its own council. I think the biggest difference is that Karachi’s leaders are being elitist by making membership into the council exclusive to those who are already established as designers, whereas the Lahore council is open to anyone and everyone. Lahore’s council includes not only fashion designers, but also jewelry designers, textile people, etc etc. They’ve even won over membership from many karachi-based designers, who feel that the open-door policy is better for the industry.
Its pretty sad that we have designers in the country who
a. are making a mockery out of Karachi - the city that is ALL ABOUT being open to anyone and everyone.
b. are elitist to the point that they are actually refusing to support new designers through this Council.
c. refuse to cooperate with one another.
And you know what the most FUNNY thing is? They claim that its not a problem since recently India has had a Delhi-Mumbai rift in its Fashion Council.
:rolleyes:
Maheen and Rizwan Beyg are the ones behind the Karachi snobbery. Even though I love Karachi, I am seriously disgusted at this behavior.
Exactly. These people, and the Lahori group included too, are not thinking of the consumer. They are thinking of their rep among elite circles, their rep in India, how many shows they do, and what boutiques they have etc.
They could care less about the average Pakistani, as evidenced by the fact that both groups are doing nothing to cater to the Pakistani public. I would say Karachi is worse in this because Lahore Fashion Council at least gives newcomers an opportunity. Or so at least that's what they profess.
Its really so pathetic and so typically Pakistani.
The fact is that the lahori designers are a thousand times better then the karachi based designers and the karachi designers don't want to admit that. I guess the karachi designers think if they make their own council and exclude the lahori designers that they can promote themselves and people will think they are better.
Hey now, shazi, that's an elitist response. That didn't make the Lahoris look any better. A designer is good because of their talent, not because of their ethnic background or the soil beneath their feet.
I thought that was the point of the thread.
I don't think its because Karachi designers are bad. I just think we have some designers in Karachi who have different philosophies, and who unfortunately, happen to be in Karachi, and are monopolizing the place because of their own insecurities. Any designer who will make life hard for a new designer is insecure of themselves. Many karachi designers seem to not really dig this whole rift, so I wouldn't say that all karachi designers are insecure.
you know what, i would love to say down with designers, but i can't, because in reality i am in love with HSY. but all in all, as a consumer, i doubt i give an ounce of fudge where the designer is from, whether he earned his degree in Paris or Laloo Khait. so why this whole elitist lets make a society crap? just produce clothes to die for! that is all that matters.
well the fashion week was also cancelled because of this this, it was very childish of some karachittes to whine after the fashion week went to lahore.
i think the fashion capital should be made lahore because of its historical background and rich heritige,just look at paris, lahore can definatly become a paris. karachi on the other hand is way to business dominated which isnt good for fashion, look at new york, fashion scene there is scum.
**Which way, baby?
**Grapevines on the fashion council have been keeping hotlines around the fashion industry busy and this grapevine has now turned into the biggest tug of war. As the industry prepares for battle…no, sorry…for starting its Fashion Council, the Instep team asks designers in Lahore and Karachi which side they will be joining – will it be the ‘republican Lahoris’ who are welcoming jewellers, craftsmen, all and sundry with open arms or will it be the ‘perfectionists in Karachi’ who wish to keep their council restricted to designers?
*Deepak Perwani
The Karachi Council of course. Only Lahoris would be insecure enough to carry out a poll, as they did with LSA. I don’t have that much time. I am with the Karachi council but if there is a fashion week in Lahore, I would do it. Fashion Week has nothing to do with the council.
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*Tazeen Hasan
I’ve joined the Lahore council. They approached me whereas I had no idea what was going on in Karachi. I’ve never been part of the clan. And since I hadn’t heard from Karachi, I decided to go with Lahore. But I am from Karachi and I wish them luck too. If they need me, I will be there for them too. I’m not involved in the politics. I’m clueless as to what’s happening. But even if divided, I feel we will create a change. The Fashion Council will be good for the industry.
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*Nomi Ansari
I’ll be joining the Lahore council because I’m more comfortable with Kami, Sheru & Maria. Designers there are more my type. They’ve been in touch with me from day one whereas Karachi has not. I respect them (Karachi designers) but my comfort level is more towards that side plus they have the license. They’ve made their memorandum clear on paper. Karachi is all in the air. Plus Lahore has no issues with me initially being a part of Karachi as well but the Karachi members made it clear that I couldn’t do that and had to choose.
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*Safinaz Munir (Sana Safinaz)
Karachi council. The format they gave us made a lot of sense. We’ve had meetings and it seems fine. It’ll be easier for us to operate from Karachi. We extended a united platform to Lahore but they wanted to have their own council.
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*Ather Hafeez
I haven’t decided yet. I haven’t decided whether I’ll be joining any council, in fact. I’ll be meeting Maheen in a couple of days and I’ll decide to join if it seems democratic. If it’s just a couple of aunties getting together doing their thing, then I don’t want to join either!
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*Shamoon (Khaadi)
I’m thinking about it. I still think there should be one council but I haven’t spoken to the Lahore people yet. To be honest, I really haven’t had the time. I feel that if I join a council, whichever one it may be, I’ll not be able to do justice in terms of time and commitment. I’m managing a lot of Khaadi related projects now and for this reason alone I don’t think I’ll be joining any council this year.
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*Fayez Agariah
All the good people are in the Karachi council. I’m not saying Lahore is bad but Karachi I feel is going through the proper channel. They’re more organized and I feel they’re more sincere.
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*Sara Shahid (Sublime)
At this point I think I am going with the Lahore council. To be honest, I have been following every single detail in Lahore and there has been no information from Karachi. In Lahore there has been tremendous progress and for me, it’s something happening for the industry. I feel that there is a lot of work that’s gone into it. It’s for the benefit of Pakistan. Let’s just make it better.
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*Ammar Belal
I will be joining the Lahore council as I was invited by them but it won’t make a difference as I will be leaving the country next month.
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*Instep also asked business champions Zahir Rahimtoola (Labels) and Asim Buksh (Men’s Store) on who they thought merited credit.
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*Zahir Rahimtoola
I prefer to be non–political. I interact with neither group but having said that, the Lahore council seems to be more organized; they’ve reached out to people. That’s very important. My wife’s a jewelry designer and she too received a letter of invitation from them – they’ve got their act together. Maheen and Rizwan Beyg are good people and coming from Karachi, I’m duty bound to join them but I feel they do need to get organized.
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*Asim Buksh
If you ask me, it would probably be Lahore. But you’re the first person who has contacted me regarding the council. I have no clue as to what these people are doing. If you ask me about international fashion, I’ll be able to give you a more educated answer.
it may be a major fashion capital for usa, but thats it, paris is the worlds capital followed by milan and then london, its these 3 citys that dominate world fashion/
The whole purpose of creating a fashion council was not to advertise to the locals for their wedding trousseau, but to organize the industry like India has, hold a fashion week that would attract international buyers and hopefully be a major player in the economy. India is so far ahead because of this. They get department store buyers from England and the US (like Saks and Harrods) to place large scale orders with them. This is why you see so many "Made in India" things on the market. You hardly ever see a "Made in Pakistan," usually it's just a low quality towel or something.
Pakistanis are soooo dumb, and the division in this council idea just exemplifies it. No one is willing to put aside their egos for the sake of progress. "If I can't be president, NO ONE CAN!" I've lost respect for Rizwan Beyg and Maheen Khan. Truth be told, but Lahore has surpassed Karachi in the field of fashion. The PSFD is there, along with NCA and Home Economics college, where a lot of designers used to come from. Karachi has been lagging behind in new designs and new designers. And the Lahore council has already started to move ahead.
From a recent article in Jang, Rizwan Beyg and Maheen are saying their lawyers have found some fishy business in Islamabad regarding the whole fashion council deal. Recently, the Lahori group came to Karachi in what was described as a disorganized event. They came to enlist members into their group.
Yes, Lahore has a fashion school, but so does Karachi - Karachi has a fashion branch in Indus Valley School of Arts, and its one of the best Arts schools in Pakistan. Now does this mean we should judge where the council should be based by where which Pakistani fashion schools are located at? That's quite absurd really.
And anyone who thinks the Karachi fashion scene is non-existent or of low quality has some real thinking and experiencing to do. So lets not make this a karachi vs. Lahore discussion. The discussion here is actually criticizing the whole lahore-karachi rift.
I believe that they should run the council str8 from Islamabad.
As for where a fashion week is held - well Lahore and Karachi can take turns right? And can't Lahore have one branch office for the fashion council, while Karachi has another branch office? And why are we leaving out other cities here? Lahore and Karachi are not the only cities where fashion and textile industries are based. You have Hyderabad in Sindh that has its mills, you have Faislabad (I believe its faislabad, maybe another city) in Punjab. There are designers in Peshawar, and I'm sure there are designers in Balochistan too, but hell that province is always ignored because we all pretend it does not exist.
And this whole business of "inviting" people to be on the council is ridiculous. This prevents anyone who is middle class or low-class, with great creative talents, from really building themselves in the field. One of the aims of the council was to help upcoming talent. But well, that would involve that the elite big-wigs of the fashion industry in Pakistan would have to get its act together, since new designers only means more competition and less money for them. Lots of designers are being left out, and it makes no friggin' sense. It really ought to be that if you have opened a boutique or a clothing shop of any kind, then you are part of the council. Period.
is that a joke or what, fashion council to run from islm, it would be destroyed and taken over by the politians, and there isnt even a fashion scene there anyway.
and no there is no such thing as taking turns in fashion week, have you ever seen that in other countrys, paris always has it for france, london for england, new york for usa, milan for italy, they never take turns. a fashion capital is a fashion capital and there is only one in every country,
and are you serious you want the fashion week to be held in hyderbad, faislabad, peshawar.
were are the internation buyers going to stay? in the ghettos:confused:
btw just to let you know it doesnt matter were mills are its about fashion houses.
The reason I stated the importance of PSFD is because they are affliated with the French Chamber of Fashion. That's an important connection, because it has allowed students of PFSDto compete with Europeans in fashion shows and competitions. They are capable of presenting on an international level. Indus Valley and NCA do not have that affliation. The whole point of a fashion week is to attract international buyers and media attention, not to attract a bunch of aunties for their daughter's shaadi jora. They have enough magazines and advertisements for that already. And I stress the PSFD because often times, great designers are the ones who were professionally trained (look at FIT in NY: Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Carolina Herrera, the guy who started Nautica, are all grads).
I never said that Karachi fashion was non-existent. As a matter of fact, it has always been ahead of Lahore. However, in the past few years, it has stagnated, while Lahore has had lots of growth (HSY, Karma, Mehdi, are all Lahore based, Nomi Ansari and Usman Dittu are both PFSD alum). That doesn't necessarily mean that Lahore should be the center, though.
I wholeheartedly agree with you about the whole "invitation" thing, but I have to disagree about places like Peshawar and Balochistan having a fashion scene. By comparison, in the US, the textile mills are in the south, while fashion is centered in NY. Just because the fabric comes from Mississippi or Nashville has a hoppin' fashion scene, doesn't mean that it deserves to be the center. Heck, even LA isn't the center, even though all the people who consume high fashion (i.e. celebrities) live there.
all fashion design course in pak suck except for psfd, it is the only good source for fashion designers.
NCA are good but only at art.
PSFD now have there new campus u/c which is big in johar town, once thats complete they are gona chun out over 100 graduates a year.
karachi was always pakistans fashion hub but since the last 5 years lahore has taken over, lahore did a magnificant job in these last 5 years, during nawa shirff era the fashion scene there was dead but latly it has blossomed.
