July 13, 2008

“I did not send any clothes or participate in anything there” — Indian designer Ritu Beri, whose clothes were featured in one of the entertainment sections of the ACWC awards held in Karachi.

Bring together a performance by an ethnic Sri Lankan dance troupe, a classical-fusion performance by Nighat Chaudhry, a playback performance by Arif Lohar, have two designers feature their collections to an audience predominantly composed of those from the sporting and corporate communities and conclude it by a performance by the renown Amjad Sabri Qawwal, and you have the ‘entertainment’ section of the Asian Cricket World Cup (ACWC) awards.

It was an interesting, albeit odd mix of genres to entertain an audience with. What is somewhat shocking is the use of two fashion shows — one of the designers, as mentioned, had no idea she was even participating — listed under the ‘entertainment’ section of programme.

However, Frieha Altaf from Catwalk which organised the event, pointed out that the show predominantly showcased the culture of the two countries (Pakistan and India), and therefore contained an assorted mixture of outfits displaying such.

Held at the Mohatta Palace, itself a breathtakingly beautiful venue to have an event at, the awards function started several hours late. The programme was hosted by former cricketer and current cricket commentator, Rameez Raja and Indian actress Suchitra — both seem to have a natural, comfortable chemistry on stage and often corrected the now and then mispronunciations that our local models, when giving out an award, would often do while taking the names of the winners.

The first to take to the stage was a Sri Lankan dance troupe which came armed with traditional masks accompanied by three men on Sri Lankan percussion instruments. Although I thought their introduction on stage was slightly abrupt, but at the end of it all they were very entertaining and reflected the culture they were trying to represent. Freiha pointed out that since the three major teams in the matches were India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the entertainment was designed to reflect the culture of each of these countries.

One of the two designers who showed their collection that very windy night was Saadia Mirza. Undoubtedly one of the most talented people working in the industry, the designer showcased a collection of heavily embellished formals and bridals. The colours she played around with were predominantly earthy — from hues of brown, blue and turquoise she also showed some of her work in white. The collection itself was very sophisticated and graceful. Two of the models who walked the ramp were flown in from India.

Ritu Beri from India was the other designer whose outfits were featured in the show. Starting off with the Khuda Kay Liye soundtrack of Allah Hu by Saieen Zahoor and finishing off with Khwaja Mere Khwaja from the soundtrack of the Hrithik-Aishwarya starrer, Jodhaa Akbar, the song-selection was received with mixed feelings as I didn’t quite know what quite to make of it: Fusing fashion with spirituality, perhaps?

Ritu Beri’s collection — one doesn’t know whether to call it that since the outfits didn’t seem to gel into a singular theme as such — was predominantly composed of saris with embroidery and embellishments lining the pallu. The difference in craftsmanship was noticeable since this designer also fused some of her saris with a cover of the same material as the sari. However, when I asked the designer about the collection, she seemed to be unaware about her outfits being showed and responded: (quote) “I did not send any clothes or participate in anything there!” (unquote)

Both confused and confronted with that response, I asked Freiha how she managed to get the Indian designer ‘onboard’ for the event to which she replied: “I got to know Ritu Beri’s brother through a photographer when I went down to India with Nilofer Shahid in 1995. Ritu did not make a collection of outfits for the show, it was an assortment of outfits she sent — I had asked her to send something that was very Indian. She was very worried about how it was going to turn out. Every designer who wants to launch him/herself in Pakistan is very particular about their collection.”

Where Freiha’s statement clarifies the lack of theme in the outfits, it still doesn’t quite explain the response we got from Ritu Beri herself. Since the outfits were sent especially for the show, they’re not available for purchase in any outlet here.

But most importantly, since when did fashion become a part of the entertainment at a show? Does this imply that designers/models may be hired to showcase collections the same way musicians are hired to perform at a concert? I thought fashion was traditionally supposed to be an expression of a designer’s creativity or rather, their statement/contribution of how local cultural aesthetics were to evolve? And that same model of expression is showed (traditionally) in a spring/summer or autumn/winter show. I never for once assumed that a collection could be hired for entertainment, that self-expression in fashion art was commissioned at will, most importantly, to ‘entertain’. Apparently, at the ACWC awards, it can and it did.

Nighat Chaudhry performed a fusion dance number with Wahab Shah and I was pleasantly surprised because it turned out rather well. The choreography was light and seemingly fun, and not over the top. Arif Lohar also performed that night starting off with his rocked up version of Jugni. The music was loud and came on strong, but the initial performance didn’t. No fault of Lohar’s, he performed on playback without a band to back him up and didn’t quite create the visual impact that the song creates. He did, however, seem to make up for it by walking off the ramp and trying to encourage some of the guests to dance with him...and some willingly did.

The night’s entertainment finished off with Amjad Sabri Qawwal performing Bhar Do Jholi and O Lal Meri amongst others. Personally, I didn’t quite appreciate this particular touch to the event. Being an avid fan of qawwali, there is a certain respect and norms that any such performance demands. With half the audience missing, including the teams since they had a match the next day, and the other half alternating between the dining area and the performance area, I didn’t see how any of those norms were being observed. Moreover, featured after an assortment of dance, singing and sashaying down the ramp, a qawwali performance simply didn’t gel in. But then again, so didn’t the rest of the featured entertainment.

Having said that, pulling off any event in a mere span of 10 days including having to accommodate a lot of foreign guests is no mean feat in itself, and one has to give credit to Freiha Altaf for trying.