Menswear at Fashion Pakistan Week S/S'14

With only a single menswear designer sending his work down the ramp, even he could not stay away from showing ONE womenswear piece. The rest of the designers, as always, did dip their toes into the menswear pool and a few of those pieces were extremely out of the box and drool worthy.

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So let's talk about the collections now, shall we?

Levi's:-

I love Levi's . I always have and my wardrobe is full of levi's clothing. It's the "it" brand to go to for a look unique and subtle enough to stand out. And stand out the whole show did, but for all the wrong reasons. The styling is what got the show down. If anyone is aware of the what the brand is associated with, they would know that the way the levi's handles their looks, the blinged up version is definitely not one of them.

The way a collection is styled for the ramp speaks volumes about the credibility of the clothes. Levi's is simple, young and very understated. Even the rich Beverly Hills surfer brats don't carry the look the way the models on the ramp did. But hey, we have to "desify" everything. If the show was anything, it was an ode to the pindi boyz look. Skaters and surfers DO NOT dress like this!

Individually, I loved everything, and would buy it off the rack anytime, but if presented like this, never.

Levi's I love you, but please, keep true to who you are, even if you are in Pakistan.

On a lighter note, I loved the collection. Specially the jacket Adnan Malik wore. It was something the younger people can look forward to the fashion weeks as we rarely get clothes oriented towards young people, and the ones young at heart. Here's hoping the lookbook is at least better.

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Nauman Arfeen:-

So the sole menswear designer to show this season, his collection "Haute After Dark" did not disappoint. With hues of copper brown, bronze, black and dark blue, the collection was cohesive and eye candy. With almost all the basic menswear options covered; the sherwani, long coats, suits and the trendy quilted pieces, the collection was a menswear delight. My personal favorite was the ensemble that Abbas Jaffrey was donning. The embroidered pieces were great and even the prints used in a few of the pieces were very D&G. Regardless of the D&G feel of the collection, it was definitely proving that menswear in Pakistan is something to be looking forward to. It was a dapper collection, with all the pieces worth crushing over. Designers like Nauman are going to keep the menswear side of Pakistani fashion alive and young.

I just hope that this year's menswear fashion week here has more of such designers. We desperately need such aesthetic sense of menswear designers.

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Adnan Perdesy:-

The only four menswear jackets he showed were too much bling to handle for a common Pakistani man, but apart from the golden sherwani, I loved the others. The silver waistcoat was genius and it looked comfortably wearable to me! Definitely worth wearing to a mehndi.

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Zainab Chottani:-

So Zainab sent down a couple of menswear pieces, shirts. Not anything new or worth noting.

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HSY:-

Showing a select few menswear options in his Venom collection, HSY shows us that he is the best at going the unconventional way. The jumpsuit was the best piece i saw throughout the whole three days of FPW, and I'm crushing on it so bad. I specifically liked the use of embroidery on the snakeskin pattern. It was, in my opinion, very cool. I loved all of it. Simple.

While the collection is not going to be seen worn on the streets, chances are that the fashion loving men who want an edge to their wardrobe might go for the jackets HSY showed. They were exceptionally fashionable. HSY knows menswear like no other designer in Pakistan. He's different and quirky, yet managing to make his pieces look sartorially acceptable. Scratch that; sartorially loveable!

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Fahad Hussayn:-

A jumpsuit, a jacket and a sherwani. These three pieces were the menswear pieces Fahad showed and man, they left me wanting more. I am a sucker for jumpsuits, and i'm loving how this trend is coming to Pakistani menswear. The embroidered suit jacket was perfect for red carpet event and the sherwani was just beautiful. gorgeous. I WANT MORE FAHAD HUSSAYN MENSWEAR.

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Jaffer Jees ft Wardah Saleem Prints:-

I just can't, I just can't *teen girl snobby accent*. I love it! Just three prints and I believe Wardah should get into menswear ASAP. Bus, I want the one Abbas Jaffrey was wearing.

As for the bags, So chic and minimalist. But the trends are changing, and printed bags and hand painted bags are in. Can Pakistan keep up with the trends please?

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Ali Xeeshan:-

If i'll be having an Eat Pray Love moment, I'll only turn to these clothes then, to add the movie-ish effect. Although I loved how the white jumpsuit was styled. So Mughal chic!

I am doubtful if using men as accessories on the ramp even qualifies to make it to be a menswear designer, but who am I to judge!

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Tapu Javeri ft. HSY:-

The prints were roaring good. I use term roar because the tiger printed pants were just beyond cool. While the black and white collection with amazingly futuristic and artful prints might not make a big splash in the common folk, they were something that Pakistani menswear was in dire need of. The part of the collection designed by HSY was worthy of being taken to international shows, and i hope it does go around because all the pieces were terribly drool worthy!

I'm screaming out here, it's THAT good!

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Faraz Manan:-

His collection featured three menswear pieces. I liked the splintered pattern of rainbow colors on the shirts. Maybe more menswear in the future? Because the suit jacket Abbas Jaffrey was wearing was too good and left me wanting more.

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Nomi Ansari:-

The grand finale featured some meanswear pieces that was too much bling to handle. But I was happy to see the use of studs. The pieces would look good as separates though!

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With so few options for menswear, the future of menswear seems bleak. I don't know what the future holds but the way things are going, i'm not that hopeful.

But the thing that sparks interest is that these "womenswear" designers are designing such good, but little, menswear pieces that if they foray into menswear, it might be good not only for them, but for us too.