PFDC Day 3: Menswear takes centre stage to make the finale memorable

PFDC has always managed to put up a good show and now successfully in it’s eleventh edition we can comfortably assume that Lahore with all it’s cultural glory will always remain to be in the forefront of promoting and projecting fashion voraciously. The proud council headed by Sehyr Saigol, has intentionally or unintentionally brought back one thing to fashion that it has lacked for many many years, a purpose. This revolution of sorts that has already taken the global runway like a roaring thunderstorm has finally seeped in through the cracks to our small but beautiful part of the world. These three days of Pakistan Sunsilk Fashion Week amongst the usual drapes and fauna saw bold statements, courageous stances and unashamed enthusiasm that has made us unrealistically hopeful about this new promising era in fashion that is about to dawn.

We’ll conclude our poetic prologue and get straight into everything that made us laugh, cry and regurgitate on day 3 of Pakistan Sunsilk Fashion Week.

The high street shows that kicked off day 3 of PSFW mainly consisted of lawn brands that were the biggest mockery of the runway since Rici Milion sent out Bobo the clown for reasons we someday would like to comprehend. We understand the  monetary importance that such brands hold but what is utterly perplexing is the collections these brands put out that is neither high street nor aesthetically appeasing. One does need to sit them down and ask, why? Brands like Khas, Rouge and Rang rasiya made mindlessly over designed outfits that were borderline appalling, but it was So Kamal that took the prize over not only being uninventive and distasteful but also terribly constructed. We don’t mean any harm but you really should know better than to staple your show stopper in a dress and throw her out on the runway, come on?

Zonia anwar and Republic by Omar Farooq were the crown jewels of Day 3. Zonia with her collection titled Odisha put out beautifully bold prints and out of the box silhouettes that were styled to perfection. Zonia is one of the few bright young stars to emerge out of Lahore in recent years and her evolution on the runway has made her one of our favorites. We’ll wait to see how her collection is translated into wearable pret from it’s runway designs. Republic by Omar Farooq hit the home run with this collection, making him the clear winner for Day 3. He took inspiration from japans vastly popular Manga art, designing a collection that was not only experimental but quite wearable at the same time. The relaxed fits with those subtle statements made this the highlight of our day. We do wish we’d see the same kind of originality and experimentation from other menswear designers that just cant seem to move away from basic blacks and threaded sherwanis.

When you send out a model as strikingly beautiful as Zara Abid holding a flag stating “ I Love Picasso”, we will readjust our posture to get ourselves prepared for a memorable experience. How ever this “ Ode to Picasso” was somewhat flat and quite unimaginative because how can picasso with just the sheer magnitude of his talent only inspire you to create such boring and predictable translations of his art? However there were some pieces we felt were standouts had the designers only build up on them but I guess thats what you get when you bite more than what you can chew. Fahad Hussayn is very talented, his draping and hand crafted embellishment is undefeated. His shows always tell a story and the clothes are always a big and beautiful part of that story, this is what we expect from Fahad Hussayn. His collection with it’s brightly colored drapes and flowed with ease on the runway proved as a winner for him. However what left us longing was the experimentation that we expect from a visionary like him. The pieces although beautifully constructed did not belong in this show and felt forced and in cohesive.

Coming down now to the finale, HSY with his much hyped collection,” I am my own knight” had been quite popular on social media with it’s endorsements coming from some very famous and very successful men and women. One thing we can always count of HSY is that he’ll put up a great show and this was no exception,, the music was groovy and the energy was great. That would have been enough had we all not have gathered to seek more than good music and a great choreography. The collection was subpar and it felt seen a little too many times. The menswear, like all his shows took the cake but we expected the same from his womenswear that had to be the “ knight”, no? We’ll give HSY respect because nobody and we really mean NOBODY puts up a better show than him but now all we have to see is what HSY holds for this coming year, will it be all fun and no fashion or will we finally see the return of the king?

( All pics courtesy Faisal Farooqi – Dragonfly)