What A Country

By SALMAN MASOOD

Arif Ali/Agence France-Presse – Getty Images A model presented a creation by the Pakistani designer Nomi Ansari on the last day of Pakistan Fashion Design Council Sunsilk Fashion Week in Lahore.
LAHORE, Pakistan — Security for Lahore Fashion Week was, inevitably, tight.
The show was organized by the Pakistan Fashion Design Council and it saw the glitterati of Lahore applauding 32 designers from around the country who gathered to celebrate a glamorous event that organizers showcased as being representative of Pakistan’s rich culture, and burgeoning fashion industry.
Arif Ali/AFP – Getty A design by Sahar Atif Saai.
Seats were filled almost immediately for the eight shows every day, forcing many to stand amid mad screams, applause, boisterous cheering and blaring music as 30 models sashayed down the aisle. There was enough of a display of cleavage, navel and skin to infuriate the country’s conservative mullahs.
“Life, in actuality, is a circus,” was how the announcer introduced the colorful collection of the fashion designer Nomi Ansari on the final day.
If life in Pakistan is a circus, it is perhaps a circus of contradictions, varying perceptions and stark diversity. The guests and designers here were eager to show that Pakistan is not just about bombs exploding every second day and Taliban militants finding easy refuge in the urban sprawl.
However, the hoopla could not hide the fact that the event was organized against the backdrop of terror threats. Apprehensions ran so high that the venue, the Royal Palm Gold and Country Club, was not even mentioned on the invitation cards.
Arif Ali/AFP – Getty Creations by Ammar Belal.
Last year, Lahore, the cultural and artistic capital of the country, was attacked several times by militants who struck at military and police installations, and wreaked havoc in public places. So security for Fashion Week was tight. Nevertheless enthusiastic Lahorites attended the event in droves. The response even surprised Hassan Sheheryar Yasin, one of the country’s most famous designers, whose collection under his label HSY featured couture menswear and womenswear.
“We were not sure people would turn up”, said Mr. Yasin, who is also the spokesperson for the Pakistan Fashion Design Council. “So, a big round of applause for Lahore.”
For designers like Feeha Noor Jamshed, 25, heir to the well-known local retail brand TeeJays, events like Fashion Week showed that Pakistan should not be stereotyped. “People in the West think we live on some barren land and ride camels. We never traveled on camels. We had horses. Our history is not properly represented,” she said.
“Right now, Pakistan is under the radar. There are political upheavals in other countries as well. Militancy is not just our problem. Why should Pakistan be sidelined?”
“We are fighting a psychological war through these shows,” Ms. Jamshed added. “Our soldiers are fighting a military war.”
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Masuma Tahir Malhi, editor of the Daily Times’s Sunday Magazine, said that many of the shows had patriotic undertones and that many of the designers had found local inspirations in their pret-a-porter and haute couture collections.
“The thought of a terror attack did not cross my mind” Ms. Malhi said. “Those of us who were anticipating something horrid to happen also attended the event defiantly.”
Western themes were also featured. The Designer Ammar Belal’s collection “The King of Pop” was inspired by Michael Jackson’s Thriller-era outfits.
“Pakistani fashion is just not about weddings and saree,” Mr. Belal said.
The grand finale ended just before midnight on Friday. As the fashionable crowd spilled out of the main event building onto the driveway, in an eerie contrast, a religious sermon resounded from the loudspeaker of a nearby mosque, filling the air.