Haute and happening 
Winter is the season to celebrate. It is the season when budding socialites take out their best party wear gowns and/or schedule a meeting with their favourite designer and have their winter wardrobe redesigned. You never truly know what to wear for winter in Karachi, the night can go from being simply cool, not requiring any layering, to considerably chilly without a warning. In the middle of the sophisticated nightlife that this Metropolitan enjoys, a set of four designers teamed up to show their best for the season. What’s more is that the event launched a cellphone designed after a personality synonymous with the most elegant and sophisticated fashion itself: Georgio Armani.
There was an interesting mix of designers on the panel that was showing. It included up and coming designer Maheen Karim who has been wooing both members of the fashion fraternity and those interested in it for some time now. Ammar Belal of the infamous ABCD brand was another, showing off his journey into semi-casual menswear. It launched Khaadi Khas, an off-shoot of Khaadi where we see the popular fashion retail brand experiment into the realm of western wear and party dresses for women. And last, but definitely not least, it gave the audience the opportunity to experience the charms of Sonya Battla’s elegant designs and skillfully cut outfits.
The event was organised and choreographed by Catwalk, the attendees instructed to dress in either black or beige, with the main area showing a simple black runway with a grid of plasma screens in the background. With a song that pays tribute to fashion itself, Maheen Karim opened the show on a remixed version of Vogue by Madonna with Nadia Hussein modeling the cellphone while adorned in a white Kaftan from Maheen’s Bijoux (Jewel) collection. The opening model modeling the phone before each collection was shown was to become a recurring feature in the rest of the show. Interestingly though most of Maheens models wore leggings underneath the outfits. Maheen later explained that the models weren’t comfortable walking barelegged on the ramp. The black and gold version of the Kaftan was also modeled.
Fayezah followed in another knee-length white creation with large cicular rings filled with diamantes lining the neck. The black and flowered shift dress was also modeled as were some outfits from Maheen’s prior collections including a v-cut colourful hemline dress stitched into a black blouse cut in a similar manner. The thing about Maheen Karim’s designs is that every single outfit is a masterpiece and is worth keeping. The Bijoux collection on its own is chic and would make the wearer feel beautiful even if she wore it ten years from now. Maheen Karim is extremely talented and, provided she continues the quality and dedication evident in her work, will go far. However, the outfits shown in the collection, including Bijoux, have been seen time and time again some of which have been hanging on her rack in Labels for a couple of months now.
Ammar Belal’s ABCD brand is popular for its collection of casual wear for men. Ammar Belal the designer is a fashion accessory in himself: everything about his appearance is immaculate perfect. It would make sense for such an individual to delve into designing. However the opening section of his formal to semi-formal wear wasn’t anything special. There were the same old black pants and coat over a white shirt and grey suits with pink and mustard ties. The suits were cut in a less-than-perfect manner and weren’t anything out of the ordinary. According to one attendee the fact that one of his models was wearing black shoes under a brown suit was a fashion crime in itself. Such small details need tending to.
Following that we see his more ‘experimental’ side. Blue denim jeans (which he does best) under a white and black horizontally stripped shirt and white coat with maroon hanker-chief, or blue jeans with red shirt and white coat with blue trimming and a red and white polka-dotted hanker chief… sounds confusing? It was just as confusing seeing it. The outfits didn’t seem to be going in any concrete direction. Perhaps one outfit which was decent enough to mention was a brown coat worn with a brown, green and yellow striped tie on a white shirt and blue jeans. The outfit had been modeled by Anatoly but even then I simply failed to see the ‘creative design’ part of it. Ammar Belal should definitely go back to what he does best: casual to semi-casual. Or concentrate on the fine details regarding how a coat is cut so it doesn’t end up with little bumps showing as it did with his models. He’s better off hanging the different components of his outfits separately in his outlet than trying to bring them together himself.
As a label, Khaadi has always been associated with, well, Khaadi. And Khaadi is always something that has mostly been worn in the daytime, to lunches or work… in short, its forte has always been casual wear. With the buzz surrounding Khaadi Khas, it’s alternative, westernized, geared towards party-wear line, having been generated for several months now, one eagerly looked forward to what the Khaadi king had to offer.
ection ranged from silver, black, white, golden, brown and a delightful red. Khas played with high necks, halter necks, frills at the hems of skirts, down the front-middle of a dress to dominating the entire skirt altogether (often threatening to make the model look somewhat like a plucked chicken).A dress that stood out wonderfully was a black wrap around gown knotted by the same material at the waist and sleeves pulled up, worn by Fayezah. It stood out from the rest of the collection also because it didn’t seem to be connected to the rest in terms of fabric as well. In a post-show chat with Shamoon revealed that all of the fabrics in the collection have been woven at the Khaadi mills themselves.
Khaadi Khas seems to be developing an interesting philosophy. There is creativity evident in the deigns themselves but whether it will work or not, I’m not entirely sure. But one thing can be said for sure: any woman donning a Khaadi Khas outfit from this collection may easily be considered bold and seeking some attention because whether good or bad, none of the outfits are boring.
From the moment the music changed to a classic, slow, Elvis number, the Queen of Cuts, Sonya Battla enthralled all those present. Every single model transformed into an equestrian lady that didn’t walk, but glided on the ramp. If there is one thing that she understands, it’s the art of creating a presence without creating a hoopla.
The outfits were typically Battla, but definitely embodied a richness and maturity in design that brought finesse in garment and how they are designed to a completely new level. She was very European, very elegant and very flowy in her creations. In some there were layers that were masterfully cut to reveal them without making them look shabby, there were others, for example a white gown with a gold and red lined neck worn under a white chicken shift, where for a moment the model seem lost in the fabric itself but emerged with poise and just as fluidly as the outfit seemed to command from her. Every step of the way, Sonya enchanted and lived up to her reputation of being the Queen of Cuts.
What was interesting to note is that other than Maheen Karim, who is just beginning to establish herself and Sonya Battla, who enchanted with the depth of her maturity in design, the other two featured collections namely, Ammar Belal and Khaadi Khas, showed the two designers in a transitionary phase. Where one is of the opinion that Ammar Belal’s venture into formal menswear isn’t going to generate any credible waves, Khaadi Khas on the other hand, as crazy as some of the designs were, might just be on to something.
-- Photos by Fayyaz Ahmed
First Published:
Images
January 6, 2008
