Who is Made in Pakistan for anyway?

By Kiran Haroon
Karachi

As the year 2011 started one found hope in looking for something new and moving into a better phase with bigger promises. But if you are in any way connected to the fashion industry your thoughts immediately went to the imminent fashion weeks. Now with the year reaching its half point we’ve already had a fashion and bridal weeks.

A fashion designer is a person that takes a theme and weaves it into clothes for a person that identifies themselves with that designer. The fashion week has brought about a newer understanding of the business of fashion but at the cost of creativity in fashion.

When a milieu of clothes bombards the ramp in an assembly line, the spark that draws one to seek creativity in fashion is extinguished. Yet again we as a nation have taken it upon ourselves to appease the foreigners that can further our business with their dollar and pound investments. Yet again we fail to realize that the consumer that will wear the shalwar and the kameez will always be in Pakistan. A designer may be technically sound to design a ball gown, dress or trousers for women but does it mean that they can understand its functions in a woman’s life?

The cost effectiveness and the exposure that fashion weeks bring remain undisputed. Young designers that may not be able to draw in a sponsor for a solo fashion show now have a platform amongst the titans of fashion with more eyeballs than they could imagine.

Our dependency on fashion week has led to the downfall of the creative and artistic endeavors of fashion designers. Where a designer puts together a collection for a fashion week the aim is to attract foreign buyers with the salability of their designs. Ready to wear and easy to wear are top priorities for foreign buyers. We, as a nation, still have not left behind the three piece suit mentality that would prove impractical and even fatal to a New Yorker trying to go to work on the L train. But that is what fashion week has done – catering to a new market whose life and requirements we can not fully understand.

This brings us to fashion shows. What a treat it was to know that a great designer was putting together a fashion show. The clothes and styling would all be creative visions of this designer and an observer would be viewing it as a connoisseur of the arts and the interpretations down to the venue and the choreography would be up to said viewer. We seem to forget that fashion is a form of artistic expression not only for the designer but the consumer. Fashion is a freedom of that expression. Fashion week is a display case for a product.

From the purveyor’s point of view it may seem as such but what of the designer? Designers would work on collections that bring into account when the bridal season strikes, namely in summer and winter and work accordingly. Seldom were collections made for the seasons, still now they aren’t. Collections are made for the marked fashion weeks that happen twice a year , at least PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week does, while Fashion Pakistan week is facing delays. If it does happen, the we would have three to four fashion weeks a year. In the running now is also Islamabad Fashion Week, that will bring up the number to six fashion weeks with two held by each major city in Pakistan.

Can designers, who are not used to the mad rush of churning out collections, salvage their creativity when meeting such demands?

Is it any surprise then that women are looking towards prêt not only for the reasonable prices but for the only fashion brands that are keeping in mind the needs of the Pakistani woman today?

To be fair fashion is for the masses and the way it is being worked into seasonal creations will be effective for the trends that can trickle down into the masses. Having a global standing in the world platform of fashion has its advantages. With the initial fervor having died down, the quality of the event should not be limited to the amount of foreign journalists that make it to the event. It still needs to be an event for Pakistanis to help the fashion industry grow and meet demands as the case would be in any industry.

That means a focus on what people will buy as designers discover soon enough. Designers like Deepak Perwani, HSY, Kamiar Rokni, Maheen Khan, Shamoon Sultan and Sonya Battla have translated their aesthetic into making clothes for desis. Those like Feeha Jamshed and Ali Xeeshan who are following in their footsteps will go a long way. Pakistani fashion has to dress Pakistan to grow and prosper. If going international is a distant dream, changing the way Pakistan dresses is the revolution our designers should really be looking at.

source: http://old.thenews.com.pk