Khaadi Khas
PFDC SUNSILK FASHION WEEK 2017
The second fashion week of the season, The fashion week from Lahore had quite a few interesting collection that did explore the fun and business sides of fashion. The collections both by debutantes and established designers definitely had people sit up and take notice how pret is evolving within fashion. While there were a few that stuck to the formulaic commercialism, others did dare to venture out, pushing the envelope and making a damn point.
Vintage Vibes
Possibly the best show of the night, Khaadi Khaas’s summer presentation pretty much impressed me with its near flawless execution. Inspired by the baroque, the collection in its spirit carried that execution of exaggeration in terms of forms with floral bursts and digital prints. With a collection that impressive, i’m expecting a high end editorial and nothing else… lets hope am not disappointed
Florals never… and i do mean it never go out of vogue especially during summers. They just find a way to strike back, and this time with Khaadi Khaas, it was all going vintage. Starting off with those in fully top to bottom print looks, the collection later on moved onto pairing them with self embroidered off whites (thankfully they picked the perfect shade). Graduating further from that, they moved into major white on white looks with accents of pops of color through the embroideries against white. These embroideries in floral trellises and motifs provided the right amount of accent while being rendered in a multitude or single color. The white on white separates were perfect for this summer and had a certain aristocratic feel to it thanks to all those floral motifs in the pre renaissance era arrangements.
The seperates with uber chic crop tops to skirts, capes, jackets, sherwanis, crop jackets and moving to floor length dresses, pants and cuffed shalwars, the collection presented quite an array of options this summers . Having a fluid structure gave the whole look summer fun yet sorta authoritative look to it. The intelligently done and proportioned floorlength made models look longer. However a few of the silhouettes combined with those floral prints and embroidery came along with Sabyasachi (DCW 13) overtones. Specifically the digital print and tiered embroidery floor lengths. But having said that, they did a brilliant job and their finishing was exquisite.. no faults there. The collection was uber chic, pretty and commercial…which is very necessary for a brand like khaadi to send down its trickle downs in the stores.
The bags were another major highlight of the show. The vintage floralish bags inspired by Dolce & Gabbana Fall/Winter 2014 meets Masaba Gupta’s debut collection for Satya Paul box bags were with all the jewels and rhinestones on print. However done in their own way to suit their theme and done with equal finesses, they were in varying sizes complemented with chains. Coming in all shapes and sizes, the bags made such an impact that they were a major talking point long after the show was over. Even though being a guy, I would sooooo want them coz they would be perfect collectibles…sadly like many things, this too would not go into production because of its costs. LOVEEED ALL of THEM. Plus the marcel waves hair and bun…yes I noticed..complimented the whole thing to a T.
If had to be nitpicky, wasn’t quite keen on dividing those florals into boxes… esp in that combo in one of the earlier looks. Also a casual look with that collar shirt seemed to be a casual misfit in the collection. Also the transitions from digital into many whites and embroidered pieces was much more quickly instead of having an equal or a strong footing for printed pieces.
Loved almost everything … *sigh* u just sit and want to take it all in feeling happy. This is the kind of show that makes you want to come, sit and go home feeling satisfied yet wanting more.I just did not want the show to end.
*Images courtesy Faisal Farooqui and his team at Dragonfly…and me
Prints Galore at Khaadi Khas
Khaadi Khaas showed their spring summer 13 collection. Rocking to the Moroccan n Arab music with similar influences in their collection from the region, Khaadi’s look was sort of a mixed bag with good and interesting as well as some dated pieces. While it was a much more refined look from the brand for a relaxed yet glam outing.
The prints roamed around a very paisley turkish territory, interwoven with black and white accents. In a relax and lean silhouette, Khaadi’s collection included kaftans, tunics, jumpsuit, printed and plain palazzos and capris, shrugs, short tops, as well as floor grazing lengths. While some of the exaggerated-for-ramp tunics were fun, the floor grazing tops/dresses and long length kurtas, did not make the cut for me and felt a bit maternity due to their extra loose shape. While I do understand that these came in from their region’s inspiration, however could have been done in a contemporary context to suit the trend bill.
But it was the delectable prints that did the trick for me. While there was only one Kaftan tunic, where the print looked overwhelming on the model, the rest were fun. The merging into black and whites and the b/w prints combined with colored ones produced some interesting print on print effect, within the same print itself. Eclectic yet commercial, these silk garments were fun and are bound to sell like hotcakes as soon as they hit the stores
My picks, the aqua printed palazzos, the self printed jumpsuit sans the shrug, the print of this upper was very interesting, the print on print look of these seperates was just oh-so-chic and the black tunic with exaggerated printed sleeves fun (pity no one is gonna wear it like that and I am not a woman).
*Images courtesy Faisal Farooqui and his team at Dragonfly
