Bridal couture week resembles a desi wedding to a great extent. Weeks of preparation are required, blood, sweat and tears shed over clothes, there’s choreography involved and an extensive guest list is invited with images of unknown, unnamed persons cropping up most in the photo album. The guests arrive later than expected but want the show to start as soon as they’re seated and then weeks of preparation lead to less than three hours of show time before the entire thing is over in a flurry of confetti.
Amna Baber opens the show for Ali Xeeshan in what turned out to be a beautiful, thought provoking presentation.
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Ali Xeeshan and Nomi Ansari ensure that the PFDC L’Oreal Bridal Week ends on a high note.
Lahore :Bridal couture week resembles a desi wedding to a great extent. Weeks of preparation are required, blood, sweat and tears shed over clothes, there’s choreography involved and an extensive guest list is invited with images of unknown, unnamed persons cropping up most in the photo album. The guests arrive later than expected but want the show to start as soon as they’re seated and then weeks of preparation lead to less than three hours of show time before the entire thing is over in a flurry of confetti.
There’s a sense of relief that floods everyone from the designers, fashion council, PR agencies and media when the final cannon rains glimmering squares of gold and silver paper down on the crowd after the models walk backstage at the end of the grand finale. It also leaves behind a disconcerting void… all the hype, frenzy and chaos suddenly subsides with residual energy still coursing through the crowd. It’s time to pack away the finery till next year.
Nomi Ansari's opening outfits set the tone for a fabulous show.
Having wrapped up this season’s edition of bridal couture week we review that last set of collections to walk down the ramp until the entire exercise is repeated in 2017.
The night commenced with Nomi Ansari’s Marjaan taking centre stage. From the fashionable video featuring two of our industries luminaries, Amna Ilyas and Fouzia Aman, to the last outfit that walked out, Ansari’s show was a visual treat. The fringed sleeves on Fouzia Aman’s runway creation were the perfect emblem of Ansari’s style; fun, flirty and apt at mixing different sensibilities without making them look tacky. It was unabashedly glamourous, structurally sound, well fitted and finished and also perhaps the only collection shown over the course of the three days that was entirely bridal with no other styles diluting the presentation. We’ve always praised Ansari’s adroit exploration of colour and this collection was no different. He’s fabulous at bridal couture and if more shows had us on the edge of our seats like his, you’d probably never read a bad review gain.
Zara Shahjahan's collection was beautiful but failed to add anything new to the fashion discourse.
Following Ansari’s showcase was Zara Shahjahan’s bridal collection, an ode to the fair city of Lahore. Again, as beautiful as the collection was, we’re a bit fatigued seeing the Sheesh Mahal arches lifted from architecture and replicated in fashion design. Her collection was visually delightful but it didn’t excite the audience the way some others had over the course of the three days. It was impeccable in its cut and finish but the colour palette was underwhelming and the motifs, though beautifully executed had nothing new to add to the discourse. Or perhaps this is just a collection that needs to be viewed up close in order to appreciate the intricacy of the detailing. What we really did love throughout the collection was the use of kiran edging the dupattas. There was an old-world charm about them that was hard to ignore and it remains our favouite element from the showcase.
Sonia Azhar made her way to the ramp after Shahjahan’s presentation and we have to add that Azhar’s collection was possibly the weakest that we had seen over the course of the three days. It made us wonder if the council had actually vetted her outfits because some of the pieces were of such questionable aesthetics that the audience looked flabbergasted. The collection seemed to be a confused presentation of western silhouettes paired with gigantic florals that one reserves for bedsheets rather than bridals and ruffled flounces so extreme they took on a life of their own. We can’t imagine this collection to be commercially viable and since it wasn’t aesthetically anything to write home about, we’re wondering what benefit the designer will derive from it.
Republic by Omar Farooq returned to the runway this year after a while, and we were quite excited to see the show given that Farooq always pull it out of the bag, whether with Western or Eastern wear. However this time his show failed to have the same impact as it always does, with some rather astoundingly tacky outfits in the middle like the chocolate brown tuxedo which made the model look unfortunately like hired help at a posh dinner. The show was also missing Fawad Khan and his debonair charm, which usually elevates Farooq’s presentation.
The second last show of the evening belonged to Muse, who also failed to capitalize on their fan following. We’ve always admired the Parisian aesthetic that the brand embodies but this collection felt like a regurgitation of everything the brand has been doing since the last two years. There was nothing new in terms of cut, colour or embellishment and even the cut-out sleeves that were featured heavily in the collection felt old and over-used. We simply had higher hopes from Muse’s first full bridal foray.
Turning to the grand finale with Ali Xeeshan we have to state that we were truly blown away. From Xeeshan’s socially inspired video that dealt with the commonplace but damaging issue of child brides plaguing our society to the vibrant, well thought-out collection itself, there was nothing we found worthy of critique. Xeeshan’s current collection seems to point towards a designer who is maturing in both his aesthetics and his politics. Yes, there was drama on the runway but not simply for the sake of putting on a show; his presentation was beautiful and thoughtful as well as dialogue provoking, which goes to show the power fashion can harness. We loved the all-white ensemble that Rabia Butt walked out in with the single red lotus flower embroidered on the bodice. It showed restraint that not many associate with Xeeshan’s style of designing. It also didn’t hurt that Xeeshan pulled off a sneaky coup when Mahira Khan walked out as his showstopper. The doll-faced stunner looked heart-breakingly beautiful in the white and gold bridal and really lifted up the level of excitement in the hall. The show was a treat to watch and served as a befitting end to the season.
– Photographs by Faisal Farooqui @ Dragonfly
