With content being the core strength of any fashion week in the world, Pakistan Fashion Design Council established the PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week (PSFW) as a powerful platform for fashion designers in the country. An unprecedented lineup — integrating possibly the best names from Karachi and Lahore — was selected and presented to a contingent of foreign buyers, retailers, journalists and fashion consultants. ‘The Business of Fashion’ was chanted as the PSFW mission statement and indeed, it was a fine balance between sharp design and business generation that broke through as the value of the event.

The powerhouses

Designers who showed strong design innovation combined with a growth plan for their brand impressed the most. Topping that list would be Sana Safinaz, who tepped into fashion twenty years ago and have upped the ante with the first high-end lifestyle store. Their show provided a teaser into the merchandise that is now available.

“Sana Safinaz need no marketing because they already have great recognition in India and sell very well,” shared Mini Bindra who owns the PFDC Boulevard in Delhi and planned on buying a capsule of the fashion week collection. “Women love their fusion but seven out of 10 girls want to wear western. This twist will make them more popular.”

Powerhouse Shamoon Sultan will be Sana Safinaz’s strongest competition, as the Khaadi Khaas show visibly polished its ethos to a more refined palette. If fabric and print is what it is defined by, then Khaadi Khaas diversified and made very strong fashion statements. A little bit of European Morocco playing to a contemporary Arab beat, the stunning collection would work as well in Pakistan as it would in Paris. Now retailing across Pakistan and Dubai, Qatar and UK, Sultan shared, were next on the cards.

Karma by Maheen Kardar spread its wings into MK Nation, while taking Karma Pink back to the ’20s with The Great Gatsby as inspiration for their ready to wear luxury show. And whether it was the strong political statement MK Nation made as Ode to Pakistan or the commitment to luxury fusion, Karma had incredible impact that will reverberate in stores across Pakistan and beyond.

“Karma is a desirable brand because Maheen Kardar understands the need for speed and competitive pricing,” Mini Bindra shared. “She will be able to diffuse her designs for retail very effectively.”

While Sana Safinaz, Khaadi and Karma have time and experience behind them, the youngest label to influence design and retail trends in Pakistan is Sania Maskatiya. And presenting another fabulous collection of digital prints — Ahgaaz taking inspiration from old civilisations presented on a floral and serpentine moodboard — Sania Maskatiya took one into a fantastical garden of Eden.

Getting there

Extraordinary design is what fashion is about and these designers showcased collections that had the wow factor.

Topping this list would be Sublime by Sara Shahid, who brought her clean, minimalist philosophy to a vivid, acid palette of prints and blocks. It was the best collection of Day 1, made stronger by the fact that it will be available at her design studio in Lahore. It’s important now (pun intended as this was the title of her collection) that she infiltrate Karachi just as effectively.

The same applies to Elan by Khadijah Shah, who presented a luxury line serenading the mythical Oriental nightingale. Beautiful prints on a high-end silk canvas, embellished by the finest of pearls and crystals, Elan was true to her signature lavishness that reflects in her bridals, lawn and luxury pret. It hasn’t been able to translate to ready to wear and transport to Karachi though. This nightingale needs to fly South. That said, Khadijah Shah has a growing clientele in India.

Shehla Chatoor, Maheen Karim and Muse were names that fell under the best of ‘high society fashion’. Designed for women who are as comfortable in silk as they are in their skin, these designers define the very best of luxury pret. Shehla Chatoor is already on the ‘must-have’ list for fashionistas across Pakistan (she has a huge clientele) and slowly but surely, Maheen Karim and Muse are becoming more and more accessible too.

Young, wild and free

The other end of the spectrum — the ‘young and wild and free’ — were names like Wardha Saleem, Fahad Hussayn, Ali Xeeshan and Tapu Javeri who gave the PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week essential currents of high voltage theatrics combined with an incredible edginess. Unapologetically youthful with no desire to acquire the fluid maturity of established designers, these were collections that appealed to the wild side of fashion. Wardha Saleem’s Doodle Junction brought Sindhi folklore to a young cartoonist’s drawing board, Fahad Hussayn’s eagles — as mystical as three eyed ravens — transported style to the darkness of King’s Landing (reference: Game of Thrones). And as white as Hussayn was black, Ali Xeeshan’s Jalsa was a cheeky take on the purity of white. Tapu Javeri showcased four different prints that immortalised leitmotifs of Karachi’s landscape (adapted from his photographs) and the bags as well as the prints (clothes designed by Sadaf Malaterre, Wardha Saleem, Adnan Pardesy and Rizwan Beyg) were a welcome change to Punjabi folklore that has gone into overdrive.

Also falling in this category were Yahsir Waheed (with a funky take on truck art) and Feeha Jamshed’s reinvention of black and white. Yahsir is one of the most iconic personalities in Pakistan’s fashion industry and Feeha Jamshed is one of the most avante garde. It is her handle on design that has landed her a nomination for the prestigious Woolmark Prize in UK. Again, the PFDC council needs to be accredited for facilitating this exposure. Both Yahsir and Feeha need to make their collections more widely accessible.

The business of fashion did get unprecedented airing at this fashion week, thanks to the hard work and diligence of the Pakistan Fashion Design Council led by powerhouse Sehyr Saigol. There were buyers from India and UK (Mini Bindra, Pradeep Hirani, CAF Ventures), ready to take designers from Pakistan online. There were consultants from Australia, ready to train designers on the mechanics of preparing for international retail and foreign media to put out the right word. What made all of this an unprecedented success, however, was the integration of the best of fashion from Lahore and Karachi. A well-edited selection of names showed the world the best face of Pakistani fashion yet. Barring a few names, the line-up could not have gotten better. And it had to come on a single platform to get bigger. Which it did.