ISLAMABAD: 

In spite of a lacklustre fashion week, the organizing members have won themselves a contract with the World Fashion Organization for their Pakistan Chapter. This cataclysmic news was announced at a press conference held on site at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad where the fashion week was being held.

The World Fashion Organization has been established to “increase participation in world fashion and to integrate Pakistan on the world fashion arena,” said Paco de Jaimes, the founder of the organization, who saw Pakistan’s inclusion as an effort at “building global bridges of understanding across nations”. The purpose of the World Fashion Organization is to eradicate poverty and use fashion as a tool for development and peace since “it is the largest source of industrial development, affecting billions around the world,” De Jaimes stated.

The World Fashion Week will take place in New York in 2012 where one Pakistani designer shall participate with designers from all over the globe. As the designated CEO of the Pakistan chapter, stylist Tariq Amin, the creative head behind the Islamabad Fashion Week, will personally handpick a designer for the task. “Wow!” exclaimed Amin. “Will try to keep my feet on the ground. I will be monitoring who gets to go to the World Fashion Week. This is just the beginning and we will put Pakistan and Islamabad in the world of fashion.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st,  2011.

Islamabad Fashion Week kicked off on January 27.

Hasan Shehriar Yaseen promoting fabrics with Lycra blend, the 'Has It' campaign's theme being, 'You either have it or you don't' brings the product to a more personal level, while differentiating Lycra blend garments from the rest. Projecting the designer chosen for designing a spring/summer 2004 collection for the multinational by saying "Hassan Shehryar Yasin has it" in the introduction as a pun might be taking the branding element too far, since not only was branding very much in evidence at the venue, but giveaways included lots of literature on the same. Along with a multimedia presentation and a couple of speeches thrown in, a word has to be put in for subtlety here.

Effectively bridging the gap between raw material - fabric, and the finished product - a prét line, DuPont has shown the way for the textiles industry to gear up for more value-added products. In the competitive global market for apparel, fashion and textiles, with our basic textile sector infrastructure in place, there remains the need to boost exports. While the Lycra-incorporated apparel line is aimed at both the local as well as foreign market, an interesting fact, as pointed out by DuPont was that "all fabrics used" were locally produced by different mills, primarily Nishat mills, Liberty mills, Master Naqshbandi Industries, Artistic Denim and Siddiqsons Denim.

HSY