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Fashion week season is just about to roll out with the Winter Festive edition of Fashion Pakistan Week (FPW) set to take place in Karachi from the 11th to the 14th of September. I do feel that it couldn’t have been scheduled at a better time.

After all, in our part of the world, ‘Winter festive’ is just a fancy word used to describe wedding wear. Given that the entire country goes trotting out to weddings come winter, designers adroitly cash in on this by putting their blingiest feet forward onto catwalks.

Wedding-wear tends to be hand-embroidered and takes a longer time to create, so September is an ideal time for putting out a fashion week dedicated to these designs. Designers can subsequently take orders and have the clothes ready by the time the December-January wedding onslaught begins.

Other bridal weeks that may be teetering towards the tail-end of the year, please take note.

However, while FPW may be taking place at the right time, it remains to be seen whether the fashion itself will be notable. The designer lineup for the event features the usual cocktail of seasoned veterans and newbies and there are bound to be hits and misses. As is usually the case, the Karachi contingent of designers dominates although there are some well-known names from Lahore as well.

Additionally, like all winter-centric fashion weeks, FPW is bound to be shrouded in an overdose of shimmer and bling. Sometimes even the best designers downslide towards generic waters when it comes to creating market-friendly wedding-wear. One hopes that this doesn’t happen in the case of FPW.

“We aren’t encouraging the presence of celebrity showstoppers in shows,” says Deepak Perwani, the Chairperson of Fashion Pakistan Council (FPC). “FPW has always been dedicated to showcasing fashion and that is what we want to put forward on the catwalk this time as well.”

Skimming over the designer lineup for the event, here’s what we think is going to make FPW truly ‘festive’:

Shamaeel Ansari flies solo

Shamaeel Ansari is going to be opening FPW but she will tread new ground by flying solo at a private venue. While the multi-designer shows will begin a day later, the opening night will only feature a 35-piece collection by Shamaeel, who celebrates three decades as a designer this year.

Long ago, one recalls similar lone outings by Shamaeel; a trip down the Orient Express or a Gothic revisiting of the British colonial era. Even at fashion weeks, where she has shared the catwalk with other ateliers,

Shamaeel’s signature has always been her own, never branching off towards commercial, same-looking design. Given the designer’s characteristic attention to detail and love for opulent drama, her opening night can be expected to start off FPW with a lustrous, memorable bang.

The rest, the best

Following up is a designer lineup that certainly holds potential. Misha Lakhani opens the first day and her classy ethos is bound to be a highlight. Suffuse, Saira Rizwan and Aamna Aqeel are well-known names but still need to establish themselves as trendsetters. FPW could be their chance.

The second day packs in the punches with Sanam Chaudhri opening the show, followed by Wardha Saleem. Both designers have long been absent from FPW – Wardha skipped out on the previous two editions while Sanam last showed a small capsule line in Spring/Summer 2016. Both designers have well-defined aesthetics and tend to bring oomph to the catwalk.

Also making a welcome return to the catwalk is Sadaf Malaterre while FPW stalwart Deepak Perwani will be closing the day with his signature sophistication at play.

The third and final day features Adnan Pardesy’s quintessential blend of cut and craft, Nauman Arfeen’s take on classic menswear and Maheen Khan, who never fails to deliver fashion highs. One remembers Maheen staging what was to be her final show back in 2014. But fashion week would be a dismal affair without one of the industry’s most seasoned veterans showing the world precisely how things are done. It’s good to see Maheen back in action again.

Tena Durrani and Saira Shakira tend to toe commercial lines far too often. One hopes that at FPW this year they manage to push forward the fashion envelope that evades them sometimes.

The big whopping Sana Safinaz finale

Closing off the third day will be a whopping 60-piece solo show by Sana Safinaz, staged in a separate location with a separate guest-list. Dedicated to the modern-day bride, the collection titled ‘Roses and Rue’, is apparently going to veer towards edgy Western design, with 50 designs for women and 10 for men.

Traversing dark jewel tones before moving on to soft feminine hues, the collection is being touted as the designer duo’s spin on wedding wear, far from the madding crowd of over-embellished, uninspiring design.

Given Sana Safinaz’s years of expertise as bridal couturiers, this may be a finale to remember. Although one wonders if the FPC will manage to showcase multi-designer shows as well as a solo outing and still manage to wrap up fashion week at a plausible time.

Fashion weeks that go on and on and end by the witching hour add a sour note to the entire event. Could FPW Winter Festive manage to get timings right and deliver yet another high?