afrinish registered on our radar last year, when they launched their flagship store in Karachi. The design house works to create luxurious formals and semi-formals, in natural fabrics, with traditional embroideries and embellishment.

The brand opened its doors to Lahore a few weeks back, and Hassan Niazi, one of the showrunners for Aafrinish says the step was taken after establishing they had a client base in the heart of Punjab.

“It was natural progression for us to expand to Lahore,” says Niazi. “We opened our flagship store in Karachi less than a year ago, while stocking at Lavilla in Lahore.”

The reception of the heavily-worked formals Aafrinish is fond of creating is what drew the Lahore clientele in.

“We exhibited our heavy formals at Lavilla, and Lahore showed us great interest and potential [as a market]. We realized that Lahore is a huge market, if not even larger than Karachi. We partnered with Divani Pakistan to showcase our formals and bridals to the Lahore clientele, and build Aafrinish by Niazi’s presence in the city.”

Pakistan loves its bling, specially come Decemberistan, and the more opulent an outfit, the better. The label itself loves everything traditional, taking care to fuse the motifs and crafts particular to South Asia with simple cuts and rich fabrics.

“We launched in September and have seen a phenomenal response,” says Hassan Niazi. “Our newly launched Shahbano collection has already garnered sales from Lahore. We are very hopeful and excited for Aafrinish by Niazi’s future in Lahore and our vision is to further establish ourselves in the city.” – Amina Baig

(See Aafrinish’s Shahbano collection on pages 32 & 35).