13th June 2014
Here’s a re-blog of latest guest post for Vogue India : )
London’s Royal Kensington Palace’s Orangery played host to an evening of Pakistani and Indian fashion on Monday night.
Guests were a mix of diplomats, high society, celebrities and fashionistas who came to support South Asian fashion as well as the Great Ormond Street Hospital — the event’s charity partner, which the late Princess Diana was also a patron of. Guests included Pakistani musician-turned-actor Ali Zafar and wife Ayesha Fazli, director Gurinder Chadha, businessman Lord Gulam Noon, marketing expert Suhel Seth and musician Zoheb Hassan among others.
“Fashion Parade is a great platform to showcase designers from the East globally,” Aashni + Co boutique owner Aashni Shah told Vogue. “Being the only Indian store to have been invited, I thought Anamika Khanna’s designs would strike the right pitch on contemporary Indian clothing… She is able to marry the heritage of Indian sensibilities with the dynamic aesthetics of the modern global woman.”
“Anamika and I sat down to make an edit of her couture collection (first seen at PCJ Delhi Couture Week 2013, view it here), focusing on pieces that would appeal to a global audience and not just the Asians at the event,” Shah adds, explaining that those pieces would appeal because they retained their air of couture exclusivity and were not mass produced.
This translated into 10 on-the-spot orders of a particular Anamika Khanna ensemble — a floral floor-length jacket worn over a bright blue lehenga — with more potential customers on its waitlist.
From Pakistan, designers Faiza Samee, Ayesha Hashwani, Nomi Ansari, Zara Shahjehan, Seher Tareen and Nazneen Tariq showcased capsule collections.
“Fashion Parade provides a platform for participating designers to introduce their work in the UK and helps promote trade relations between our two countries,” says Pakistani high commisioner Imran Mirza. “It represents a fusion of both east and west, thus bringing both the British and Pakistani communities together. Such events take us beyond the usual narratives associated with Pakistan.”
Images Aashni & Co / Vogue India
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