PFDC L’Oréal Paris Bridal Week 2019: Day-1 Highlights

The Pakistan Fashion Design Council [PFDC] in collaboration with L’Oréal Paris, the world’s leading beauty brand, presents PFDC L’Oréal Paris Bridal Week [#PLBW19] which officially commenced on 26th September 2019, marking the ninth consecutive year of the bridal couture platform.

Read More : Announcing the 9th PFDC L’Oréal Paris Bridal Week 2019

This year at #PLBW19, PFDC will be showcasing a mix of established, young, and contemporary designers within an enlarged scope of the bridal platform, following two distinct sets of show segments: Early Evening and Evening shows.

GROUPED BRIDAL SHOWCASE – 1

Hussain Rehar

 PFDC L’Oréal Paris Bridal Week 2019 Day-1 was opened by Hussain Rehar who showcased his bridal collection “FATEH PUR – The amour proper of Punjab”. A staunch practitioner of expression through embellishment, Rehar’s vision involves the expression of culture, royalty and chic drama. The collection is a blend of rich potent color contrasts with defiant bold cuts and layering of sheer fabric. Indeed, the collection is all about Punjab in designer’s vision, Punjabi motifs coming together with bold and uncommonly brilliant handcrafted work making it as rare as it could be yet dramatically impassioned. The insight visual modality of Fateh Pur is inspired by cultural alluring and women empowerment which is infused with Rehar’s unusual and unique attention to detail and aesthetic influence with high fashion stability.

Iffat Omar participated in the designer’s showcase as a celebrity showstopper.

Zubia Zainab

Making her PFDC L’Oréal Paris Bridal Week debut, Zubia Zainab showcased her bridal collection titled “Dare to Dream”. For women who are audaciously feminine while being ambitious and are not afraid to break barriers, the collection emphasizes on outfits that are both feminine and also carry an edgy twist. “Dare to Dream” pays an ode to empowered brides who are determined to fulfill any path they choose in life even after marriage.

Ushna Shah participated in the designer’s showcase as a celebrity showstopper.

GROUPED BRIDAL SHOWCASE – 2

 Nida Azwer

Nida Azwer showcased her bridal collection titled “Anarkali”. Inspired from the rich Mughal heritage of art and textiles, Nida Azwer revives the age-old techniques of cuts and fine embroideries made in zardozi, marori, wasli, gota, kamdani, mirror work and fine silk threads and velvet work. Voluminous kalidars, angharkas and peshwases have been paired with magnificent farshi ghararas, lenghas, izars, and chooridaars that are complimented with richly worked dupattas and chaddars. In this collection, Nida Azwer stays true to her love for miniature paintings and Mughal Architecture, which are finely intertwined with delicate florals.

The brand believes in creating heirloom pieces with immaculate detailing. The collection consists of 16 distinct designs for womenswear using rich jewel tones of rubies, sapphire, gold, and silver which are off white with lovely soft hues, with an option of pairing the separates in multiple ways. The “Anarkali” collection featured custom designer jewellery by Print Therapy.

Aquafina Rising Talent Showcase

Furthermore, the PFDC, in continuation of their consistent efforts to introduce fresh forces of fashion to the industry, brought to PLBW the Rising Talent showcase.

Indeed, the Rising Talent showcase has been mentored and curated directly by Chairperson of the PFDC, Sehyr Saigol. She worked individually with each designer to edit, structure, technically create, fabricate and develop new capsule collections with their designs having been adapted from their thesis presentations. The PFDC also financially incubated each designer, providing the financial wherewithal for each designer to produce their collections. This year, the Rising Talent showcase featured emerging designers Abbas Jamil, Elaha Ahmed, Mehak Yaqoob and Urwah Ali.

Abbas Jamil showcased his collection titled “The Dauphin of Versaille”. The collection was inspired by the interior of Versailles Palace and the glamourous lifestyle of last queen of France, Marie Antoinette, before French Revolution. The headgears, clothing style of Marie and the classical baroque interior of the palace were merged together to make the collection which also featured layers of fabrics, Swarovskis, pearls and crystals depicting the richness and delicacy of the collection.

Elaha Ahmed showcased her collection “Beauty in Ashes” as part of the Rising Talent showcase. Inspired by the fictional character of Daenerys Targaryen from the fantasy drama series, ‘Game of Thrones’, the collection portrays “self-made woman who are feminine yet resilient; such women bloom like roses from ashes & smoke.”

Mehak Yaqoob’s collection for PFDC L’Oréal Paris Bridal Week’s Rising Talent showcase, “Transmutation of Louis Trunk” was a fusion of structured Louis Vuitton’s trunks with the soft folds of Bisterband. Inspired from the great trunk master along the local style of travelling, the collection displayed a blend of eastern and western culture. The transformation of soft folds was shown through the elements of belts and buckles which gave an edge and uniqueness to the collection.

Urwah Ali’s collection for the Rising Talent showcased was titled ‘Masculine Femininity’. The collection highlighted the traits that accompany womanhood, those of grace and delicacy along with strength and power. Inspired from Deridda’s concept of binary opposition, the theme of Biker Ballerina by Rei Kawakubo was chosen and applied further to emphasize how woman are perfect example of this notion, being sensitive and intense at the same time.

Saira*Shakira

 The finale for Day-1 of PFDC L’Oréal Paris Bridal Week 2019 was presented by the designer duo of Saira*Shakira who showcased their bridal couture collection titled “Kali – a bloom”. A tale of a beautiful kali or a bloom that is in the process of growing and constantly changing to become more and more beautiful and mature with every passing moment.

The garments revolve around florals and nature, playing with traditional craftsmanship on pure fabrics, exploring the art and techniques of Chatta Patti and Resham. The collection features ravishing couture pieces with intricate work of crystals, pearls, gota and delicate sequin art in hues of pastels with a contrast of bright colors to lift the palette. The end result is gorgeous floor length gowns in magical net, organza, tissue, silk and jamawaar fabrics embellished in crystals and pearls that shine bright from a distance.