Thaindian News

By Shilpa Raina
Karachi, Nov 12(IANS) Designers experimented with silhouettes and drifted away from their staple long kurtas and palazzos on the second day of the Pakistan Fashion Design Council-Sunsilk Fashion Week(PFDC-SFW) here to throw up a blend of creativity and contemporary cuts even as a huge blast close to the venue failed to cast a shadow on the event.

The blast, close to the Sindh chief minister’s residence, flattened a police building and killed at least 19 people. It did result in a slight rescheduling and back-to-back shows, leaving little time for the models to change their outfits and hair but the backstage crews managed to pull off the exercise pretty well and everything went smoothly.

The designers who stood out Thursday were Moeed Yousaf and Farya Aftab of label Muse as their 1940s-inspired collection had tailored separates, high-waist pants, skirts, glamorous dresses, jumpsuits and tunics minus leggings as Pakistani women shy away from showing off their legs.

The clean cuts and edgy dressing brought in a breath of fresh air to the fashion week.

Students from the Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design (PIFD) also left a mark with their hoodies and micro skirts teamed with leggings, umbrella-cut tunics, asymmetrical buttoned tunics and ruffled dresses in hues of metallic green, turquoise, fuchsia and bright yellow.

For the first time, one also got to see the sari on the ramp and credit for this goes to Sehyr Saigol of Libaas, who is also the PFDC-SFW chairperson.

She stuck to the basic colours of white, black and red and experimented with textures and sheer fabrics. The knee-length kurtis teamed up with chudidars with little embroidery was wearable. The styling and fitting of clothes was another highlight of the show.

Saigol has been in the business for over 10 years and her experience was evident on the ramp, as Pakistani designers still need to learn a lot in terms of styling and presentation.

Designer Zara Shahjahan showcased a line that was a tribute to the women of the 1960s. Hence, the kurtis were restricted to knee-length and were teamed with salwaars. The look was very Punjabi.

Shahjahan used phulkari and swati embroidery in colourful hues of yellow and black, pink and blue, black and white machine work on the kurtas.

Khatiza Shah of Elan experimented with crinkled fabrics and presented a mix of semi-couture and pret garments in off-shoulder dresses, train-kurtas and chudidras and tie-and-dye technique for some of the gowns.

Catering to western sensibilities, Shah had emphasised on drapes and hence, the embroidery was minimalistic.