The final day had some established names that didn’t (surprisingly) show their best collections
Lahore: The final day of PLBW usually has a buzz surrounding the night – it’s equal parts excitement about the finale, excitement about the end of the Day Three shebang along with discussions on the best collections of the days preceding it.
This year, the third and final day fell on a Saturday, which meant that a lot of people, seemingly far removed from the business of fashion came to attend for ‘entertainment’. Additionally, the shows ran abysmally late with the finale taking place somewhere after midnight.
These factors made the last day pretty difficult to attend for the fashion fraternity. Scheduled to begin at 4:30, the first show started at 7:30, and the grand finale went up to midnight.
The day was, however, high in star power with Maya Ali, Sheheryar Munawar, Aima Baig, Hira Mani, Emaad Irfani and Hareem Farooq coming in as showstoppers. The earlier shows included FAS and Noreen Neelam and MNR Design Studio, the latter of whom showed a debut 65-piece collection.
On to the evening shows...
Nickie Nina
Nickie Nina’s Gulabkaar collection had a lot of variety in its styles with options for all events in the lead up to a wedding. Their clothes are generally pretty when they work colour into their designs but usually falter with their construction or a general overload of embellishment. This year, designs were better constructed, except for the one odd cancan peeking out of its lehnga. The first few coloured ones were appealing but the ones in monochromes of silver or red were forgettable.
Republic by Omar Farooq
As the only purely menswear designer in the lineup, there were a lot of expectations from Republic. He has proven his mettle with his sherwanis and suits at multiple showings before. But, this collection seemed his weakest one yet. There were a couple of well-constructed suits, straight pajama kurtas with jackets and a tuxedo that looked good but most of them were paired oddly and/or had too much embellishment of the wrong kind. He had some of the models carry out cloth bags with flowers that read ‘the way of life could be free and beautiful but we have lost our way’. With his designs inspired by “architectural elements,” one could assume he was trying to spark a dialogue between nature and nurture, but with a collection that was weak design-wise, you can’t hope to push social messages.
Fahad Hussayn
Fahad Hussayn is a true artist who put up a show for the sake of art at the possible cost of commercialism, and really ever selling his designs. He eschewed a regular catwalk for a dance performance titled Labyagawachi – The Musical. It was an interpretive dance performance by professional dancers, the models, Hareem Farooq who was a part of the act and Aima Baig, who lent her voice to the show.
The performance was about stages of marriage but one wouldn’t have been able to figure this idea out unless told so.
As for the clothes, the heavier outfits were beautiful with their intricately worked embellishments and traditional beauty that Hussayn does so well. Some of the lighter ones had potential as well but didn’t come together much because they got lost somewhere in the drama. It was nonetheless a charm to be party to the whiff of energy that surrounds his shows.
HSY
There are some staples of a Sheroo collection – blues, violets and thick beige embroideries – all of which were present in the finale show of the night. He played around with other colours too – pale pinks, reds and all whites, which were refreshing to see. There was one particular sari and jacket combination worn by Nooray Bhatti that was especially pleasing but elements like the ruffled organza blouses were unnecessary additions. Overall, it was a good finale and it was nice to see HSY back at PFDC like the days where he’d be choreographing the shows.
