Lahore: Nominated for Best Emerging Talent at the 2015 Lux Style Awards, PIFD graduates Saira Faisal and Shakira Usman launched their first store in Lahore this weekend.
Shakira Usman and Saira Faisal at the inauguration of their standalone boutique in Lahore.
The design duo opens at Gulberg Galleria Mall, joining an attractive list of boutiques already in the vicinity.
Lahore: Nominated for Best Emerging Talent at the 2015 Lux Style Awards, PIFD graduates Saira Faisal and Shakira Usman launched their first store in Lahore this weekend. Located at the fashion-forward Gulberg Galleria Mall, the store rubs shoulders with more established names like Elan, Sana Safinaz, Muse, Zara Shahjahan and HSY to name a few.
“We’d been searching for the right place for ages and had scoured all prime locations but nothing clicked. Galleria Mall had already acquired a reputation as a one stop style shop, so when space opened in it we jumped at the opportunity,” explains an elated Saira Faisal. The triple tier store stocks pret on the first floor, ready to wear and made to order luxury pret on the second and the third floor is designated to their bridal studio. The duo still retains its Model Town studio space as an exclusive made to order and bridal studio for personalized appointments.
The store itself is built to exude understated elegance; dull gold detailing on the ceiling and along the staircase banisters makes the store, with its cream coloured walls, look polished and spacious. It’s modern and minimalistic in architecture while still retaining a consumer friendly appeal with its well-spaced racks that allow clients to browse without feeling crowded. Prices start as low as Rs.4500 for their ready to wear summer ensembles that range from digital print shirts to chikankari kurtis and go exponentially higher as you make your way to their formals and bridals. Their digital prints fall into the same high street category as Coco or Sapphire, but at a slightly higher price point without offering anything exceptionally striking.
Zara Peerzada, Alyzeh Gabol and Cybil Chowdhry model a range of styles by Saira Shakira.
While their ready to wear collection might not be much to write home about it’s their luxury pret that really sells and sets them apart. From interesting Eastern and Western fusions like a crisp collar on a blouse paired with a lehenga, to more avant garde pieces such as a fringed top with a high, crystalized collar, this is what really makes the cash register chime for them. It is also perhaps what might help set the duo apart from a long list of couturiers offering a similar shopping experience – a well-stocked shop that actually offers off-the-rack options instead of limiting one to made-to-order pieces.
“We have a rather off beat, quirky aesthetic – the clothes we put together aren’t run of the mill or what you’ll find in most commercial stores across the city. We wanted to capitalize on our unique design ethos by bringing it to a larger audience than the one we had cultivated at our studio,” commented Shakira Usman while explaining what motivated them to open a store so soon when most designers take decades to formally introduce their brand. Talking about the variety of clothing available at their store, Usman also mentioned that they have some very commercial pieces that cater to the average aesthetic and can be worn by anyone as well as more stylized creations that are in demand by a niche market that is trendy and unafraid of experimentation.
Clearly, their aesthetic is going down very well with Lahore’s well-heeled women; at the launch their ready to wear was all sold out even before the event concluded, while their luxury pret also began running low on stock a day after.
“The thing is you don’t get off the rack luxury pret anywhere. Yes you have multi-brand stores that stock a lot of different options but people now want clothes that have an oomph factor – they’re not interested in just picking up something for the sake of it. We had a huge clientele we would have turn away because they would come in and ask for formal pieces that could be bought immediately, which prompted us to make bespoke clothing according to standard sizes and stock them. There is greater wear and tear for these garments because they’re very delicate and have a lot of embellishment but we’ve almost managed to sell out our entire luxury pret rack in days and are already swarming under orders,” Faisal adds.
Ones hopes that Saira and Shakira will manage to keep their boutique just as well-stocked, consistently, as production has been one of the biggest issues that luxury prêt designers face. Meanwhile, the duo will be showcasing its latest collection at the upcoming PFDC Sunsilk fashion week in Lahore.
