Everything was going smoothly. Pre-planned everything in every industry. Designers scheduled the dresses.
Celebrities preparing themselves to rock the dresses. People gathering around, getting an invitation to the show.
But then COVID happened and everything halted. But now it’s time to rewind and reboot, as lockdown coming to an end. People resuming their normal plans and routine.
Maheen Khan on Fashion Pakistan Week (FPW)
“The coronavirus is the best thing to have happened to the world,” observes designer Maheen Khan.
She began her term because the new Chairperson of the fashion Pakistan Council (FPC) earlier this year.
“We have all had to rethink our lives and reboot.”, she said.
This new awakening also applies to the Pakistani fashion week infrastructure.
Fashion Pakistan Week 2020 (FPW), which was one of the various fashion events that got canceled within the spring/summer because of the coronavirus, is now scheduled to take place on the 6th and 7th of December this year.
1. Designer-wear is going to be showcased to a limited live audience in an open-air private venue.
2. The seating is going to be spaced out and random.
3. An equivalent format recently observed at Milan Fashion Week.
4. Eliminating the claustrophobic, clustered, and yet, coveted, spots within the front row.
“Over the past many years, I have watched the fashion week and the council grow and I have helped out but i was never part of the process,” observes Maheen.
“Everyone brings something new to the table and my vision for FPW is that it needs to be propelled by business rather than society. I am appalled by how people have flooded past fashion weeks.”, said Maheen.
She further added;
“We don’t put out a play or a concert – it’s a fashion and it’s to be exclusive. The generic slew of socialites and guests that tend to take over the front row is pointless unless it’s a celeb wearing a designer outfit, generating mileage for the designer.”
She continues;
“I have realized that greater focus needs to be placed on the attendance of media and bloggers; people who will watch the fashion week and publicize it, expanding our guest list from a hundred to a virtual 1000.”
The tentative list of designers showcasing at FPW includes
1. Maheen Khan herself
2. Nida Asad Tapal (Delphi)
3. Maheen Karim
4. Sadaf Malaterre
5. Zainab Chottani
6. Asim Jofa in his first ever fashion week show
7. Aasia Saail making a comeback
Also as lesser known names like;
1. Abdul Samad
2. Mubashara Najam
3. Nausheman
4. Bushra Wahid
5. Sameer Sain.
There’ll be 10 outfits per collection unless a designer has taken a double slot, as is the case with Zainab Chottani.
“Fashion designers have suffered so much due to coronavirus. I wanted them to be able to create smaller, more manageable collections,” says Maheen.
Sadaf Malaterre is on board because of the show’s choreographer and breaking away from the team of stylists at Nabila’s – veritable mainstays at fashion week.
Maheen has enlisted Depilex because of the official hair and makeup partner.
“I can’t risk hair and makeup being done backstage,” she says.
She continues;
“The models are all getting to attend the Depilex salon before fashion week and their looks will only get touched up by one makeup station which will be set up backstage.”
“I have also put my foot down when it involves accessorizing the models. We can’t risk jhoomars, teekas, and dupatta settings backstage.”, she said.
“If a celebrity showstopper is going to get on the catwalk, he or she can get come to the show completely ready, wearing the requisite accessories.”, Maheen added.
She continued saying;
“I even have told designers that if their clothes are beautiful, they will stand out all on their own, without being accentuated by jewelry.”
The thing that comes in mind is that, have the fashion industry taken a swirl and went towards creativity rather than focusing on being icy and bling.
In this crashing economy due to pandemic (coronavirus), people would be more eager or amazed to see the high-end creativity of designers.
Rather than them just pouring tons of money in their clothes, that no one will able to look for.