Kicking into top gear

Pakistani fashion aims to storm the world.

The trouble with fashion in Pakistan is that it hasn't been given due importance in terms of exposure and publicity. On the other hand, when one thinks of the Indian fashion industry, one (almost immediately) takes for granted the fact that it plays an integral role in the world of fashion...and rightly so.

Catching up

The booming Indian fashion industry has played its cards just right and today it holds a hefty, juicy slice from a pie known as 'international exposure'. But Pakistan, isn't far behind. The recent media boom in Pakistan has aided in unlocking doors that were previously (defiantly) clamped shut.

The plethora of local entertainment channels that have flourished over the past few years centre on Pakistani fashion — giving each designer, model, photographer, choreographer, make-up artist, event manager and stylist the exposure they have so greatly needed.

This recent media explosion has helped to open a surfeit of (fashion) avenues for international collaborations and coverage.

For one, the international media giant IMG (that conducts the New York Fashion Week, Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai and the Singapore Fashion Festival, to name a few of their projects) will be organising Pakistan's first and much-anticipated Fashion Week in Lahore next November.

The IMG Pakistan Fashion Week is bound to be a catalyst for change in the fashion industry in Pakistan (and raise its 'flaccid' image) by kicking up a gargantuan fashion storm both at home and abroad.

But even before the advent of IMG to the country, the Pakistani fashion industry has been hard at work.

With reputed A-list designers, photographers, event managers and make-up artists such as Maheen Khan, Rizwan Beyg, Neelofar Shahid, Deepak Perwani, HSY, Kamiar and Maheen (of 'Karma' fame), Saadia Mirza, Amir Adnan, Frieha Altaf, Mussarat Misbah, Tariq Amin, Tapu Javeri (and innumerable others) — the industry remains rich in promise.

It is now only a matter of time till the Pakistani fashion industry kick-starts into a roaring fifth-gear.

— The author is Assistant Editor, Instep, The News.