Solo shows are still an anomaly in Pakistan. It’s rather rare for a designer, that too a relatively young one, to take on the grand task, incurring extensive expenditure and relying on personal clout, investment and PR for all media mileage. This was the case in the pre-covid world and now it’s even rarer with the only solo show having taken place lately being Elan’s solo outing in Karachi. Hussain Rehar, a young designer of three years, showing his collection to an audience in Lahore therefore, is a step that cements him as a brand serious about the business of fashion.

His show targeted the upcoming festive season and was centered around a Mehndi, Baraat and Valima theme. The models reenacted mehndi rasms, a baraat entry with the bride’s father and even the valima walk as a married couple. During the show, however, one couldn’t help but think how - if the times were more normal - a fashion show centered around wedding events and rituals may have gotten a lot of flak from fashions purists for becoming too performance based. And it’s true; such dramatic acts can absolutely take away from the clothes but Rehar was smart about his timings. A solo show after a long lull, when corona has ensured people are feeling a longing for weddings and their associated hoopla, allowed for his show to be appreciated not only amongst the attendees but also its indirect online audience.

News that one of the models had then tested positive for the virus did, however, deliver a speedy reality check that things were certainly not back to normal.

The Fashion

The format allowed Hussain Rehar to show many different kinds of clothes because of the different events he’d picked to showcase.

There were lehngas in bright jewel toned colours of green, orange and pink with big motifs and patterns along with gharara pants, column shirts and heavily worked dupattas for the mehndi day. The wedding day entailed more heavily worked and intricate designs in tones of red and the valima numbers had lighter tones of blush pinks, grays and whites. In any conventional showcase, the collection could have appeared confused and directionless but bringing it together by placing the outfits in their intended event settings made them fit in.

But did fitting in make for exciting fashion? Not really. Not when it’s Hussain Rehar who one is used to seeing experiment with out of the box ideas, 3D patterns, modern silhouettes, colour blocking and other risqué designs. Nawabzadiyan was definitely one of his less experimental collections but one could see glimpses of creativity upon looking closely. There were minarets and domes on one and palm trees with thick tilla work on another lehnga, a giraffe embroidered along a shirt along with other interesting floral patterns. What it demonstrated was his ability to understand his customer, the millennial bride who appreciates her bridal having relevance to her person, relationship and to just feel unique. These quirky elements can allow for that as well as add a further element of interest.

Business wise, it was a pretty and wearable collection that’s bound to sell well for the upcoming festive months. If we’re talking about setting trends for the wedding season or injecting new flavor into the festive wear realm, the collection did little for that.

Solo show but limited audience

Business is just picking up for designers and given the upcoming festive season, it’s the only hope for most to revive and resuscitate their businesses. The event itself had few frills, taking place at his friend’s private residence. There was little décor that he needed to add on - the trees in the area were wrapped with gold cloth and then there was some furniture added on for the bride, groom and their group to settle on to. There was no need for excess lighting as it took place in the daytime, with sufficient natural light for its viewing and photographing.

One also couldn’t help but notice the absence of the celebrities he usually chooses to dress and the limited turn out. The latter could be accredited to the impending second wave but with his favourite celebrities, Rehar probably decided to allocate limited budgets to just orchestrating the show in a simple manner because as long as it all flutters on to social media in an orderly fashion, it’s all the same isn’t it?

This may be one of the biggest problems of hosting shows in this day and age that designers need to take into account. Livestreaming has now become ubiquitous. It is understandable that the show is not only held for the people in attendance but also to attract a much wider audience that can tune in with the click of a button. Yes, the show should be streamed. Yes, the photographs are of utmost importance. But no, the attendees present shouldn’t feel secondary to the home audience streaming through social media. There were times that the photographers were ahead of the rows of attendees and it became difficult to view the clothes. It was often whispered within the audience that this show was highly ‘gram-mable’ which is great, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of the people who have taken time out to attend. That’s a take away point.

The show was the right collection at the right time for the designer to bounce back after an economically tough year (for everyone). We hope, though, that with his next one he chooses to wow with experimentation rather than display the usual pretty fare.