Ode to McQueen, ‘Folkistan’ and more at Pakistan fashion week

KARACHI - Master of drapes Yousaf Bashir Qureshi began with an ode to legendary designer Alexander McQueen, Kamiar Rokni wooed the audience with ‘Folkistan’, inspired by Pakistan’s folk art, and Fahad Hussayan stunned with his whites — designers were surely at their creative best at Pakistan’s best known fashion week.

Their designs came as a breath of fresh air at the ongoing Pakistan Fashion Design Council-Sunsilk Fashion Week (PFDC-SFW) as the monotonous dose of regular fashion gave way to pure creativity and style.

The momentum had surely picked up on the third day of the event Friday.

The penultimate day kicked off with Yousaf Bashir Qureshi (YBQ), who started the show with an act that was an ode to Alexander McQueen. The designer on the ramp stroked brushes of paint on a white dress worn by a model to thumping music in the background.

The show had altogether 20 pieces and each piece was different with no repetition of design. The line was called ‘Dust to Ashes-Ashes to Dust’ based on the philosophy that we came from dust and to dust we return.

The line had churidars, draped dresses, a lot of layering, a little hand embroidery and pleated drapes in hues of pink, grey and black.

The highlight of the evening was Kamiar Rokni, who impressed with his simple subtle yet stylish sense of design.

If we are bored of checks in India, he presented them in a new dimension — making us fall in love with checks all over again.

Inspired by Pakistan’s folk crafts and culture, the collection was titled “Folkistan” and had embroidery work, especially on the back.

The chic line had jumpsuits, funky tunics, bags and long gowns. Another high point of his work was the use of eyes and birds as motifs in embroidery.

The collection was almost a sell-out as audience ran backstage to buy their favourite pieces, but were disappointed as they were just sample pieces.

Another designer who left a good impression was Ali Xeeshan, who gave crinkled garments a new lease of life with his creativity and funky colours like carrot red, lime green, turquoise. Interesting headgear and great background score pepped up the mood.

He also had interesting gota work and mirror jewellery for his line.

Another lot of young designers who presented a truly inspiring collection were Fahad Hussayan and Omer Farooq. While the former presented a pure white collection with interesting drapes, the latter was an all-in-all men’s wear label and showcased stylish, wearable line for men.

Farooq’s line focused on power styling, had well-tailored garments in hues of chocolate, grey and sky blue teamed well with slim stylish belts, chic sandals and over-sized bags.