Revealed! These designers spill on the looks they've created for Daraz Fashion Week
Feeha Jamshed is inspired by the Woodstock era, Deepak Perwani will revive the block print and more
Daraz Fashion Week is set to kick off in two days, and the excitement is building.
Long-standing retail presences like Deepak Perwani, Zara Shahjahan, Amir Adnan and Generation are set to show capsule collections alongside designers who only recently opened up a physical retail space, like Tena Durrani and Feeha Jamshed. And then there's newcomer Hamza Bokhari, who's also in the mix.
We spoke to the designers to give you an insider's look at what to expect from each collection.
Feeha was a major presence at this year's PSFW with her collection Bob Squad. We asked her how her collection for fashion week would differ from that, and from what she stocks at her retail space.
"My pieces for Daraz are inspired by Woodstock," she says. "So the look is very late 1960s-early 1970s, with a focus on psychedelic prints, tie n dye and such. We have a mix of solids and prints, with lots of separates. For fans of our jumpsuits though, there will be two jumpsuits in the collection."
"I'm very old-fashioned in that I absolutely believe in the need for a physical store," Feeha continues. "But just like net-a-porter abroad, I realise the convenience of online shopping is a huge driver for sales. The whole point of working with Daraz was to reach customers who didn't have access to our retail space — and then, of course, affordability.
Feeha's collection will be priced under Rs15,000, she says. "In fact, most of our piece will be around the Rs7000-8000 mark," she confesses. "And of course it would be great if we sell out — but our first priority is to make designs that are true to our ethos and design philosophy."
"The challenge for us at Zara Shahjahan was that we didn't want the collection to look like Coco, our high street brand," says Zara Shahjahan, who entered the Karachi market with a retail space just last year.
"So what we've done is keep the florals to a minimum. We have fun separates, different silhouettes, a tulip shalwar... the works. We've used high quality cotton and prints, and we've kept in mind other designers collaborations, like Balmain from H&M, which retain a brand's identity yet are available at lower prices," adds the designer.
"We wanted to work with Daraz because it's a platform that really supports online fashion. The site's reach is amazing. I mean, we have our own online store but that still doesn't have the reach that Daraz has. Our aim in this collaboration was to access that online reach and up our visibility as a brand. We wanted to introduce the brand to people who hadn't necessarily heard of us before. With a prices maxing out at only Rs 6000-Rs7000 we're expecting the whole collection to sell out in a day or so," Zara adds with a laugh.
Remember Hamza Bokhari? Hamza's brand Jeem won Bank Alfalah's Rising Talent Award at last year's Bridal Couture Week, and though the young designer already has a brick-and-mortar presence in Lahore, Karachi and Multan via Fashion Pakistan Lounge he decided that Daraz fashion week could offer him an edge.
"I definitely thought that teaming up with Daraz for fashion week would expand my horizons," says Hamza. "But it was a huge challenge: how am I going to differentiate myself from the market while at the same time providing value for money? I want people who buy my clothes to feel like they're wearing a designer outfit, I want to have my signature look available at an affordable price. So yes, it's been tough but I'm happy with the results."
Hamza reveals: "My collection for Daraz is mostly comprised of western wear. You'll see a lot of Grecian looks, effortless silhouettes, flared pants, crop tops, capes, a lot of 3D leaf-inspired workmanship. Of course even though it's western wear I've kept in mind that I'm designing for a Pakistani audience. It would be my failure as a designer if I didn't take the local market's preferences into consideration. So an element of modesty is present."
"Our collection for Daraz Fashion Week is very simple; it focuses on ethnic prints," shared Deepak. "You'll see a lot of block prints and screen prints on Eastern wear - shalwar kameez and waistcoats for men, and long kurtas and shirts over trousers for women. It's casual wear from our brand at a very affordable price point. Prices start from 4-5 thousand rupees."
"We want to position ourselves in the mass market with this collaboration with Daraz," he explained. "We can't put all our products in our stores or on our website. You can't place 1 lakh jora next to a 1,000 rupee one. The price difference is too much. That's why we've kept the focus of Dolmen City Mall outlet on our more affordable pret line and our couture is available at the Zamzama store."
"People always complain that 'You don't design [affordable collections] for us'. So we did just that," he concluded,
Tena Durrani also hopes to extend our reach beyond her exclusive clientele. "We love the opportunity to make our designer fashion accessible to the mass market," she said.
Tena is doing so with a collection called Uptown Funk, a 10-piece collection of digitally printed tops and pants. "It's a fusion collection, so buyers can expect western tops, mixed with tulip pants and boot cut pants. You can buy the design as a whole together or you can buy the pant or top as separates too. Price range is under 15,000 rupees per piece."
"Our challenge in this collection was to design pieces that would seamlessly transition from day to evening looks, while maintaining our classic brand ethos," says Tena.
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