PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week 2016 Day 1 impresses all

Indeed the 9^th PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week marks the fourteenth fashion week platform initiated by the Pakistan Fashion Design Council [with eight weeks of prêt-à-porter and five of bridal fashion] and is a direct manifestation of the Council’s commitment to sustainability and discipline within the business of fashion and the facilitation of Pakistan’s retail industry. Continuing with the structured approach to fashion showcases, the PFDC team builds on their commitment to 3 distinct platforms within PSFW with separate and dedicated showcases by Luxury/Prêt designers, High-Street brands and Textile houses. Indeed #PSFW16 features some of the season’s most anticipated designer brands and high-street labels and will also serve as a launching platform for S/S’16 season’s lawn collections with an aim to define and present trends for 2016, focusing specifically on fashion for the regions’ long hot summer months. Day-1 marked the first day of the prét-a-porter shows featuring Sana Safinaz, Feeha Jamshed, MUSE, the Bank Alfalah Rising Talent Show, Sublime by Sara and Maria.B.

The success of PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week continues to prompt private sector associates to grow in their engagement of the platform to launch new products, marketing campaigns and promotional activities sharing a common vision with the PFDC to develop and promote Pakistan’s fashion industry. In this same spirit, in addition to their title sponsor Sunsilk, this year the PFDC welcomes global giants Huawei as official technology partner and Pepsi Co as official beverage partners, Careem as official transportation partners and Borjan as official footwear partner and green room hosts. In continuation of their support for the platform Bank Alfalah continues as the Official Banking Partners and patrons of the rising talent showcase.

The PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week 2016 team comprises of HSY as the event producer and show choreographer with Nabila N Pro/NGENTs as official stylists, front stage management by Maheen Kardar Ali and the PIFD student team, backstage management by Product 021 and the PIFD student team, logistics by Brandlogics, event consultancy by Eleventh Experience, Digital Agency Pakka Papita, PFDC’s official spokesperson Kamiar Rokni, official red carpet host Rehan Babar, The PFDC Destination Man on the Scene RJ Khalid Malik, photography by Faisal Farooqui and the team at Dragonfly, Hum TV as official media partners, CityFM89 as the Official Radio Partners with all media management by Lotus Client Management & Public Relations.

Designer Showcases

 Sana Safinaz

PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week 2016’s evening Luxury/Prêt Show on Day-1 was opened by Sana Safinaz with their Spring/Summer 2016 collection titled ‘Sugar Rush’. The collection is a celebration of the onset of the new season and the limitless possibilities it holds. The collection featured a contrast between an overtly feminine colour palette of lacey whites and creams of soft pastels paired with masculine stripes to create a fascinating sensory dichotomy. To portray a ‘Sporty Luxe’ theme, bomber jackets, tracks, boxy tunics along with wispy maxis were incorporated and accompanied by creatively designed sneakers that lend to the overall playful theme of the collection. ‘Sugar Rush’ featured luxe fabrics such as silk, organza and net to portray floral detailing and multidimensional applique on the garments. The cuts were simple and streamlined, unstructured and lightweight. The collection was accessorized using classic pieces from the debut collection ‘Bridesmaids Special’ of the internationally acclaimed brand Outhouse Jewellery.

 Feeha Jamshed

Designer Feeha Jamshed showcased a new collection titled ‘Bob Squad’ during PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week’s Luxury/Prêt segment. ‘Bob Squad’ by Feeha Jamshed derived its inspiration from the late 60’s and early 70’s fashion in music, including David Bowie, 60’s art, strokes of color, floral and psychedelic prints modernized for today’s times. The collection’s silhouettes varied from short to long and tapered to baggy with new and interesting cuts. ‘Bob Squad’ featured luxe fabrics such as silk, organza, cotton and velvet embellished with textured and layered flowers, pearls, beads, sequins, embroidery and cutwork. The collection’s colour palette was a mix of pastels and a pop of bright colors, predominated by black and white. With trends such as eastern cuts in western wear, different styles of jumpsuits and varying hemlines, the designer also incorporated the use of different techniques such as pleating, texturing using different fabrics like organza, beads and sequins and different types of thread embroidery techniques for this collection.

MUSE

MUSE showcased its ‘#LastNight’ collection in the Luxury/Prêt segment of PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week. ‘#LastNight’ draws inspiration from an electrifying late night drive across the landscapes of Milan, a young and beautiful night buoyed with great music; a heady mixture which was powerful and edgy. The collection also featured menswear pieces and boasts a combined colour palette comprising of navy blue as well as beige in order to capture the elegance of its inspiration in a wearable manner for both genders. Set in silks, cotton silks and knitwear, ‘#LastNight’ featured a combination of sweatshirts, track pants and long sporty dresses embellished with sequins and glass beads. The collection also featured sports luxe and decadent pieces with ribbed detail as per current global trends.

Bank Alfalah Rising Talent Show

Bank Alfalah further enhanced their association with the PFDC through the Bank Alfalah Rising Talent showcase comprising of 4 emerging designers. Indeed, Bank Alfalah’s patronage of the PFDC has grown from being a permanent banking partner to now working with the PFDC to nurture an entire generation of Pakistan’s emerging design talent, through this showcase.

 Ghulam Dastgir showcased his ‘Ettal Abbey and Bavarian Peasants’ collection at PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week’s Bank Alfalah Rising Talent segment. The collection takes its inspiration from Ettal Abbey which is one of the most famous churches of Bavaria, Germany and was combined with the lifestyle of the working class of Bavaria. The concept was to blend grand, highly ornamented churches with the lifestyle of the lower working class because the church is considered to be the house of God and it showed the strength, purity and power of God. This collection revolved around Baroque and Rococo style aesthetics. Ettal Abbey church and Bavarian working classes have been chosen as subjects to manifest the equality between elite and lower class. Wool, floral lace, karandi, silk, organza and leather have been used as main fabrics. Symmetrical and asymmetrical cuts are used in the collection. Experimental surfaces have been achieved by creating 3D flowers, cutwork, blanket stitch, patchwork and braiding to be used as main embellishments of the collection. The colors mainly comprised of off white, chocolate brown, teal blue and maroon while rust was used as the accent color.

Emerging designer Unza Khalid made her debut at the ‘Bank Alfalah Rising Talent Show’ segment of PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week 2016 with a collection titled ‘Melody Lay to Muddy Death’. Drawing inspiration from a pre-Raphaelite painting by John Everett Millais, the collection revolved around the main female character of Hamlet, Ophelia. The idea behind putting together this collection is to bring to light the painting’s depiction of Ophelia’s dramatic drowning and her irrepressible fascination for nature. The transparency of Ophelia’s nature and the ‘Artistic dress movement’ has been portrayed using light weight ultra-feminine fabrics like pure self-cotton-net, raw silk and organza. The garments included layering draped with sheer fabrics in order to show the intricate detailing that went into the making of the painting. Silhouettes have been inspired by the language of flowers used by Millais in the painting with cuts derived after studying flower anatomy. This collection aims to showcase the feminism of that era and pays extra attentions to details like embellishment through applique of hand painted net in some garments. Details of the landscape from the painting have been translated into the collection by using embroidery techniques like French Knots. Uncut stones and beading have been used to give the surface a rocky texture. A palette of hues was selected including tones of mossy green, deep rose, aqua greens and mustard with mossy green color as the main color because of her camouflage in natural environment. Earthy tones were the trend highlighted in this collection.

New talent Hira Ali showcased her ‘Curiouser & Curiouser’ collection at PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week’s Bank Alfalah Rising Talent segment. Inspired by the literary tale of ‘Alice in the Wonderland’, the collection comes in a color palette comprising of chalk white and ivory with cobalt blue as the collection’s accent color. Fabrics comprised of cotton, organza, and a variety of nets. The silhouettes are such that volume comes in play with raglan and kimono sleeves alternating in the front and back of the same garment. Collars were experimented with including silhouettes with waistline cutouts with embellishments featuring 3D elements and fabric manipulation. Hira showcased minimalism in her collection and believes that it is the trend to watch out for this 2016.

Saiqa Raheem showcased its ‘Yurt’s Manifestation’ collection at PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week’s Bank Alfalah Rising Talent segment. The collection takes its inspiration from Yurts picked out from Kara-Kalpak’s way of life. The collection highlights the transition and stark contrast between the two ways a yurt is viewed as external side of the yurt is extremely plain whereas the interior is exceptionally conventional due to the usage of robs and the interweave method. The base idea was to portray the ability of the yurts to manipulate their viewer. The exaggeration of silhouettes and textures from the traditional influence with overlapping, turning and interlocking are the main elements which have been made to form texture on the surface. These surfaces were used in the garments with the long belts. The color palette revolved around grey, maroon and royal blue as surface colors while green was used as an accent color.

Sublime by Sara

 The Bank Alfalah Rising Talent Show was followed Sublime by Sara which showcased the Spring/Summer 2016 collection ‘Exhale’ during PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week’s Luxury/Prêt segment. Inspired by a beautiful soft palette of pastels and white, the collection depicts an ethereal mood, effortlessly pairing both fluidity and structure. The collection is in essence sublime. Inspired by a desire to exhale. A desire to let go. A desire to simply be.

 Maria.B.

Day-1’s finale was presented by Maria.B. who showcased her Spring/Summer 2016 Luxury/Prêt collection. The collection is inspired from the prime colours of cappuccino and dove, a definition of elegance and sophistication worldwide that have also served as an integral inspiration for the design brand’s prior collections. The pieces featured meticulous embroidery that is a tribute to a woman’s personality, her love of flowers and everything shiny such as jewellery and crystals. With luxurious fabrics including pure silks, chiffons, organza and tulle embellished with Swarovski crystals and pearls in the form of 3-D embellished flowers, the main theme of the collection is minimalistic and understated in a colour palette of nude colors paired with teal and midnight blue to enhance the cappuccino grey. The collection comprised of different separates such as peplum jackets, boot cut pants, cropped tops and kimono sleeves in silhouettes that are globally appreciated and worn. Renowned television personality Maya Ali walked the ramp as the brand’s celebrity showstopper.