With global fashion weeks setting some great standards – New York and London just concluded while Milan is underway – and with our very own PFDC L’Oreal Bridal Week around the corner, we can’t help but wonder what our fashion weeks are lacking when it comes to innovation, diversity and the oomph factor, especially when compared to their international counterparts.
The Models
We can’t get over the impact NYFW made by bringing in a burn victim or a collection of models wearing the hijab! The size-taboo was challenged at NYFW. Designers deliberately opted for racially diverse models. Here the question arises, why is our fashion industry still so obsessed with conventional looking models? The most individualistic look any of our models have is to be slightly dark skinned. And why do they all look anorexic when the average Pakistani woman has curves?
In a time when the world is moving forward and making much needed statements to speak out against society’s issues in every way possible, we sadly continue to conform within safety nets of predetermined ideals. With an ethnically diverse population, and each ethnicity being gorgeous, why have we not yet started experimenting with whom we send down the runway?
NYFW has been big in bringing in transsexual/plus sized/albino models and one would expect Pakistan to be making some much needed statements too. We understand the cultural and moral restrictions of working here but why are we so afraid to step out of our comfort zone and celebrate the true essence of our society? Show us some beautiful looking humans who are plus-sized, transvestites, or just strikingly different, because our country is gloriously diverse!
The show and its stoppers
Furthermore, the ‘show’ in Fashion Show has seemed to have gotten lost amidst the heavy take-over of consumerism. In the past we have seen some noteworthy displays on the runway, from Nomi Ansari’s circus display to Meesha Shafi and her Great Dane walking for HSY, but all the creative innovation seems to have disappeared. Designers are designing to sell, not to innovate and it reflects in their lack of creativity when showing. So either we see nothing exciting, or we see a model walking down the ramp holding a chicken… and yes, we are still questioning why that happened.
One would rather see entertaining ideas than the same celebrities on repeat. Case in point: this Salman Khan doppelgänger for Nomi Ansari was FUN!
The only supposed surprise element left in our fashion weeks is the much loved (overkill of) showstoppers. According to the dictionary, a showstopper is ‘an act, song, or performer that wins applause so prolonged as to interrupt a performance; something or someone exceptionally arresting or attractive; one that stops or could stop the progress, operation, or functioning of something.’
We don’t know about you, but seeing Mawra or Urwa Hocane walk down the ramp for the 100th time is bound to lose an ‘applause so prolonged as to interrupt a performance,’ sometime soon enough. In fact it happened at the Magnum Party two days ago when Mawra didn’t manage to get the audience reaction that she must have hoped for. Similarly, the main concept of a showstopper is supposed to be the surprise element, but rarely are we surprised to see yet another celebrity from our limited pool (not to mention based on the TV channel which is sponsoring the show) saunter down the ramp in yet another bridal outfit.
With a great line up to look forward to at PLBW this year, we are secretly hoping to see some noteworthy changes after all, the standard keeps getting higher and higher each year!
