L’Oréal Paris, the world’s leading beauty brand, and the pioneering Pakistan Fashion Design Council [PFDC] presented day 3 of the PFDC L’Oréal Paris Bridal Week – a platform that endeavours to define and present contemporary and traditional Pakistani Bridal fashion, jewellery and make-up trends, which together create the ‘look’ for the Bridal Season 2012.
The third day of the PFDC L’Oréal Paris Bridal Week was dedicated to fashion designers showing their bridal collections with solo shows by Ali Xeeshan, Rouge, Sara Rohale Asghar and Asifa & Nabeel. It was attended by celebrities, media as well as the fashion fraternity. Each day of PFDC L’Oréal Paris Bridal Week is being styled by a different creative team and to this end models on Day 3 were styled by Toni&Guy led by Shammal Qureshi with men’s styling by Khawar Riaz.
Day 3 of the PFDC L’Oréal Paris Bridal Week was opened by Crimson by Ali Xeeshan with a collection titled ‘Pahalgam’. Named after the breath-taking city in the valley of Kashmir, the Pahalgam collection was the designers’ interpretation of what he envisions the city to look like and the magnificence it captures. His collection represented brides adorned in plain fabrics of different kinds; ornamentation and decoration-free clothes that represented a vivid play of colour. With Pahalgam, Ali looked to prove that style and beauty originate from within a person’s own character rather than the amount of embellishment on a piece of clothing. Designed especially for today’s chic bride who wants to pull off an unconventional ensemble, Ali Xeeshan’s Pahalgam bridal showcase highlighted that the splendour brides relish, will only come from within.
Following Ali Xeeshan’s bridal showcase was a solo fashion show by Rouge with a contemporary fusion collection; a tribute to designer Faraz Manan’s mother, Memoona Manan. Crafted in Persian cultural embroidery, ‘zardozi’, with jewel-based embellishments across colours such as navy blue, kelly green, gold, off white and coral pink – Memoona’s favourite colours – ganga-jamni was also used in select outfits, creating an overall vintage look and feel.
Sara Rohale Asghar’s bridal week collection drew inspiration from the rich wedding culture both in rural and urban Pakistan. Entitled ‘Tehzeeb-e-Baymisaal’, the collection consisted of a wide range of chiffons, silks, keem khabs, jamawars and zarris. With a variety of cuts such as a-line, structured to the more flowy silhouette, SRA’s collection for PFDC L’Oréal Paris Bridal Week maintained her signature style embellishment with intricate detailing using dabka, stones and gems. A collection set in a range of colours, ‘Tehzeeb-e-Baymisaal’ had been made specifically for a range of wedding ceremonies such as the Mehndi, Baraat and Walima. Canadian-Pakistani band “Josh” performed live for Sara Rohale Asghar performing a medley of their popular songs.
Speaking about her label, Sara Rohale Asghar said, “The philosophy at SRA is to create clothes which are unique, have individuality and have market viability. The objective is to amplify and enhance one’s personality while maintaining traditional grandeur.”The day closed with Asifa & Nabeel’s bridal week collection, titled ‘Ottoman Royalty’. The collection was inspired from the treasures of Ottoman sultans such as the armour worn studded with diamonds, coffee sets in solid gold studded with rubies and emeralds and followed the history of the defeat of the Ottomans by Kemal Ataturk, forced to leave behind their prized possessions, including the famous peacock throne of Bahadur Shah Zafar. The show opened with the title song of popular Pakistani television serial “Humsafar” sung live by musician Quratulain Balouch (QB), which was followed by another live musical performance by singer Bilal Khan. The show concluded with another song by QB. – Dailytimes
