Ask women what their favourite pastime is and most of them will surely say shopping. Whenever someone talks about shopping we tend to get all excited.
Ask women what their favourite pastime is and most of them will surely say shopping. Whenever someone talks about shopping we tend to get all excited. And when it involves shopping for clothes, well nothing beats that. The truth is whatever the occasion may be we want a new outfit every time and without wasting any time we head out to our favourite outlet in search of that perfect outfit. Well, the good news is that we have loads of options to choose from as many brands are opening up every now and then. So, recently, designer Ayesha Ibrahim opened her first flagship store in Karachi and Rabia Rabbani launched her concept store in Lahore. Read on to find out more about the two outlets and what’s in store for all you shopaholics out there...
Bridal galore
Recently, designer Ayesha Ibrahim opened her first flagship store in Karachi. The store featured her signature bridal wear as well as her contemporary line which focused on fusion of eastern aesthetics with western sensibility. The launch event, managed by Tehmina Khalid of Take II, featured a small fashion presentation of the designer’s bridal line, where seven models walked the ramp wearing beautiful attires. The choreography of the fashion segment was managed by Moiz Kazmi, while the hair and make-up of the models was done by Sabs Salon.
Ayesha has the experience of showing at various fashion shows and trade exhibitions in Pakistan and in US, UK and UAE. Basically, her work focuses on bringing forth the artisanal craftsmanship of Pakistan. Ayesha Ibrahim’s use of meticulous embellishment techniques makes each creation elegant yet unique. The designer is fortunate to have a dynamic team, comprising experienced and talented fashion designers with sufficient experience of handling both couture and ready-to-wear demands.
Speaking at the launch of her store, designer Ayesha Ibrahim said, “Having worked as a designer for a considerable amount of time, I felt that launching a flagship store was much needed. I launched my first lawn collection in 2014 so that I could target the masses and the same goes for my store. Having an outlet will allow me to reach out to a larger number of people which was not possible in the past.”
So, the next time you want to grab an exclusive formal outfit, you know where to head to.
- M. Shirazi
Another designer that launched her concept store recently is Rabia Rabbani. The designer draws her inspiration from history. Her innate talent for designing clothes landed Rabia into doing a professional degree from Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design, PIFD in 2003. But it took her quite a while to launch her brand ‘Kross Kulture’. Initially, Rabia set up a bridal wear studio by the name of RNR Culture in Lahore that was quite successful but due to family commitments, she had to leave her work. But now she is back with a bang. This time she has ventured into pret wear and has opened her new outlet within the premises of L’atelier store in Lahore. “I wanted to come up with a brand which was high fashion in terms of design and look, but still readily available and affordable, as fashion brands are either too expensive or take too long in delivering orders,” shared Rabia. Her clothes, inspired by beautiful things in life, tell a different story; they are about representing her style sense which is peppy, untamed and highly conceptual.
The racks display charming outfits including boho-chic tunics, jumpsuits, three-piece stitched ensembles and separates in various colours and silhouettes. At, a young age she’s already thinking of spreading out by setting up her label across the country. Regarding this the talented designer said, “I want to introduce different product lines and we have already started working on a prints collection, which would be based on funky sprightly prints available in stitched and loose fabric. There will be a line of semi formals soon after so I want to keep introducing new product lines to grow the brand.”
We hope that she continues to ‘wow’ us with her sensible design aesthetics and give us something quirky and striking at the same time.
—Rubia Moghees
