A hurricane of culture

Day two of Fashion Pakistan Week was like walking into a luxurious fashion store that dazzles with its display of fabrics, textures and colours.

Beginning with Shehla Chatoor’s line, Spring Equinox, the ramp came alive with a range of elegant jumpsuits; wrap and cocktail dresses and then evening wear that highlighted detailed kamdani and zardosi works. From silks to chiffons and sequins to leather — Shehla’s collection played with different colours, from lighter shades to burnt oranges and blacks making their way out on the ramp.

Incidentally, Shehla used shoes and accessories made by her own label. So apart from a teensy hole in the stockings of one of the models, the opening show of Day 2 was quite a treat.

Moving on, it was time for Zahid Bashir (of Kuki Concepts) to up Shehla’s line. Incidentally, Zahid’s show was about featuring some of the most loved textiles of India, ones that are rich and opulent and literally speak of the nation’s love for colours and textures.

His show opened with a short film that was meant to explain the handing-down of heirloom, Zahid didn’t leave any stone unturned for this edition of FPW. From jamawars, benarasi to jamdani silks, Zahid has used only antique fabrics in this collection, one that he claims to have been collecting from around India for the past two years.

His entire collection was befitting for a wedding — royal without the ostentatious trimmings. From churidar kurtas and lehengas, to achkans and sherwanis — his line was for both men and women.

True, that during a few occasions, there was just too much happening on the same garment, with multiples textures and colours, leading to quite a few confused minds in the audience. But on the whole, Zahid was definitely one of the prize-winners of the night.

The third show belonged to Ayesha Somaya whose collection, Pink Camouflage, was just that — way too pink. Her collection of everything pink reminded us of talc commercials and was dramatically similar to many resort lines in India. What we were hoping for was a slight break in the sequence because after a point, there is only so much pink one can digest.

The next couple of shows, one by Next, the brand that showcased their spring-summer range, followed by Tayyab Bombal who presented his men’s collection. This particular show had a lovely array of shirts in linen and cotton — pure and blended — ranging from casuals to formal wear; nothing dramatic or spectacular, except that most of the shirts were very stylishly cut and would be quite comfortable for most men. Albeit the fact that he didn’t opt for too many colours on the upper torso, the collection was what one would say was ‘commercially viable’.

The final show of the evening was by Omar Syed and while his collection looked quite familiar in parts as far as colours and motifs were concerned, nearly 95% of his garments were very stylishly cut and were totally wearable. He played with fabrics including georgettes, silks and used zardosi, a bit of 3D texturing, embroidered borders and featured garments including churidar kurtas, evening dresses and lehengas.

Most of his garments carried the paisley motif, which is perhaps what created the whole effect of familiarity, but whether it is a wedding or a dinner party — his line was again, wonderfully wearable.