PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week 2011

As Day One kicked off at the Expo in Lahore, the most stunning modern building in Pakistan, all steel and clear glass with massive space – it was accompanied by an increase in energy. PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week has never looked bigger and better or run as smoothly. Sehyr Saigol and Frieha Altaf can take a bow. It’s coming together, and Lahore with its plethora of venues, cafes, restaurants and gorgeous homes has an international feel to it. From a dinner at Sehyr and Nasim Saigol’s house to Nickie Nina’s lunch at Cosa Nostra (Lahore’s equivalent of Cafe Flo, for the uninitiated) to a dinner yet again at Peeru’s Café where Saeen Zahoor played live, it’s been a roller coaster ride of the best kind. Complete with Alexandra Senes of Pret a Porter in Paris and Hilary Alexander, a prominent name on the global fashion scene in attendance. If fashion week is about the wow factor, after two fashion weeks under its belt, PFDC is on a roll, and the designers too are rolling with it.

–Photos by Faisal Farooqui

Nickie Nina take in Mohsin,  last year’s shining star from Hazara and show a stunning collection

In perhaps the biggest and best PFDC success story from Day One, Nickie Nina took on Mohsin, the promising young PIFD graduate from Hazara and presented a stunning collection, their best yet. Their collection at the first fashion week was very strong, at the second they faltered and now they are back with a bang. Taking up Sindhi embroidery and working it well on black and white block printed silk, they presented an ethnic, sumptuous collection that gelled marvelously and never went over the top. With this one it seems that they have learned when to stop the work.

As designers who make very busy clothes using different fabrics, textures and a variety of embellishments, that has often been a hard call to make for them. The buzz was that Mohsin has injected new blood into the Nickie Nina label, but really, the outfits maintained the design duo’s signature and Mohsin’s own collection was nothing like it.

Still a student’s collection, Mohsin wasn’t as out there as he was last time, relying more on theatrics than on wearability. The sheer trench coats were interesting, and an off white dress with a structured bright orange jacket points to an exciting direction he can head in. However, largely his collection remained unwearable. His show was great for entertainment value. He’s still young and having fun with fashion and honing his craft. So one will give him a couple of more fashion weeks to play around in. Working with Nickie Nina will expose him to the commercial side of fashion, so necessary to be a successful designer in Pakistan. When Mohsin decides to get serious about business and launch a women’s wear line of his own, he will be a killer. The fact that a zany young fashion graduate can work for a successful fashion house that allows him to do his own crazy creative thing on the side is a feather in the cap of PFDC. These are the synergies that are meant to happen for fashion to move forward.

 

Yahsir Waheed goes digital on Gandhara

Yahsir Waheed showed what a master of design he is with a collection without a speck of embroidery. Using motifs from the Gandhara civilization he came up with easy going shalwar kameezes, flowing dresses and my personal favourite: luxury track suits given boho chic by the use of motifs. I liked the relaxed structure of his kameezes - different wearable silhouette to the one you see on everyone. One hopes that Yahsir Waheed branches out and opens stores. His is the kind of design philosophy that can be a success story like Maheen’s Gulabo. It’s a shame that the most accessible thing this talented designer does is lawn. Pakistan is fashion forward enough to accept his sensibility now.

 

Zaheer Abbas is about the future

Zaheer Abbas presented ‘Rise and Fall’, a Western collection which was all about structure unlike the previous one which was all about flow. It was the right turn for a promising designer who has been wearable since day one. He aimed for futuristic and carried it off well, even making the shalwar kameezes he showed work. Bits of it were reminiscent of Adnan Pardesy’s Guggenheim collection, except that Zaheer is infinitely wearable. That said, one is looking forward to seeing what Pardesy come up with this time.

Fahad Hussayn moves from white to black

The other bright spark from the young ones, Fahad Hussayn faltered a bit with this collection ‘Moura Encantada’. The boy has so much going for him. He has an imagination and uses it to the extreme. Again, it is about knowing when to stop. His shalwar kameezes are really lovely, with him folding the hemlines and using draping with flair. The dresses fall short though, and the use of tassels that bound each dress to work the collection together didn’t really work. It was a gimmick that took away from his very strong design philosophy. Also, the silver work on black this time round was reminiscent of his metallic work with white for his last collection which was fabulous.

Sara Shahid: A lot of lovely pieces and then… boho burqas

Sara Shahid of Sublime presented the finale and it was a step up from her very somber collection for the last fashion week. Flowing, floaty beautiful clothes in bright colours, she presented her simple signature. What one saw a lot of were the burqas that she had made bohemian as hooded capes. However, realistically one can’t see anyone wearing them in the East or in the West. And the burqa gimmick has been done to death, philosophy of love and tolerance aside. The stand out piece was the off the shoulder kameez which really worked and an array of bright orange dresses that are perfect for the sweltering summer up ahead. Sara Shahid makes lovely wearable clothes. She doesn’t need gimmicks like the burqa. As a matter of fact, one would be happy to not see any more odes to burqas on the catwalk – Pakistani fashion has come out of the closet and gone high profile with fashion weeks galore - high time it left the veil behind.

Muse think awami

Muse, one looks forward to. Moeed Yousaf and Faryal Aftab have potential and this time for a change they went for Eastern wear. Not of the pretty pastel variety but of strong kameezes teamed with shalwars with gold embroidery running up them like a vine. Special mention must be made of the detailing. A grey shirt was green on the inside making the ensemble more individual. There were hits and misses but it was a simple concept executed well. Smart, sassy, modern, edgy yet awami… It’s fine to have a Western sensibility. The key to designers flourishing in this country is to see how they translate that ethos into clothes that will sell locally. Muse have embarked on that journey.

Saai Concepts does not deliver the goods this time

Sahar Atif of Saai Concepts disappointed this time round. Instead of working with texture, she employed Kashmiri embroidery made by women in earthquake affected areas. Three of them came on stage too, which was sweet but as far as design goes, the collection fell flat with the use of hoops at the end of dresses that weren’t constructed very well. Intentions, no matter how good, need to be well conceptualized and executed or else they get lost in translation.

Beekay, will you stock in Pakistan?

Beekay, the UK based designer was a revelation. Super wearable sporty clothes that were distressed and draped just right oozed an easy style that typifies Western cool. Titled ‘Trees’ his collection was all about texture that he emphasized using jersey, lycra, leather and cotton. If grunge rockers from the Nirvana years ever decided to dress up, this is what they would have worn. It was a joy to see Beekay on the Lahore runway and great to know that Pakistani Brits like Burhan Khan are making a name for themselves in the UK.  That said, it would be lovely if we could buy labels like these here… at the PFDC Boulevard perhaps.  

StarBytes
Chris Brown has a meltdown

The funny part is, Chris Brown went all Chris-Brown when asked about the Rihanna beating episode. Bad timing we would say. The man has been on probation ever since that incident and while he had been doing a good job uptil now maintaining his good boy face, he has finally cracked.

Apparently, all this drama happened backstage when he was being questioned by the host of Good Morning America, Robin Roberts. On the set, he tried to steer the conversation every time Robin brought something up. Unfortunately for Chris, Robin had recently been criticized for being too soft on Tiger Woods when he had come on the show. So Robin had decided to make up for her niceness by being harsh with Chris.

She kept questioning him about the beatdown episode, and Chris kept talking about his new music. How wonderful.

The source says Brown marched right off the set, tore off his vest and shirt and stormed towards his dressing room, where he could be heard cursing and screaming, while hair and makeup staff gathered outside.

"He smashed a chair into a window and that glass is so thick, people heard shattering and security was called," said the source. "It was to the point where people were scared. The question is now how ABC will report it."

A New York police spokeswoman tells E! News that the cops have been alerted of the outburst from media calls but so far it is not a criminal matter.

Brown's rep didn't immediately comment but said a statement was coming soon. Brown addressed the incident via tweet ("I'm so over people bringing this past s--t up!!! Yet we praise Charlie Sheen and other celebs for there bulls--t.") but that post has since been deleted.

 

Not everyone loves Munni!

Well, Munni’s competitors probably hate her for setting the bar so high, but we mean people who should love her don’t apparently. Malaika Arora was seen happily dancing alongside her brother-in-law Salman Khan, and things seem so happy for the family that has recently hit success with Dabangg, but turns out, things aren’t rainbows and butterflies between them.

Salman Khan actually has a problem with his sister-in-law, and while he appears to be warm to her and the rest of the family because of his brother Arbaaz, he actually secretly (well, not so secretly) hates Malaika Arora. The reason? Well, he doesn’t ‘approve’ of her lifestyle.

The source said: “He may be warm to his brothers’ families, but Salman’s clearly not fond of Arbaaz’s wife, Malaika, who is Joyce’s daughter. He doesn’t approve of her lifestyle. He doesn’t want to be seen at too many family events with her.”

Guess that’s okay, because recently the Malaika clan planned a Polo event, and invited everyone except Salman Khan. When Malaika’s mom was asked why they left him out, she answered "I haven't invited Salman but that's because I don't like bothering him with any and every event. He has always been good with me. I don't like bothering him for such small things as I know he's extremely busy with his work commitments."