COLOURS OF THE INDUS

My first taste of Pakistani design and fashion came in the form of a stunning black and orange outfit gifted to me by the affable Pakistani High Commissioner to Singapore - Sajjad Ashraf. Lest you read this wrong, I'm not in the habit of name dropping, but this much is a fact.

Getting back to the outfit now. The cut was fabulous, made just for the average South Asian woman - read endowed in all wrong places - well, that's me. Beyond the cuts, it was the embroidery. All hand work, beads and baubles, worked in a seamless balance of what can only pass as aesthetic sensibility worked to perfection.

So when the High Commissioner mentioned a fashion show, I was all ears. After all, we keep hearing and seeing so much of Indian fashion - which barely covers all and increasingly seems to have a shorter shelf life than the ramp itself (but that's another post).... and how often does one hear of Pakistani fashion?

Not that often for sure. So it was that touch of delving into the unknown, researching about designers I'd barely heard of, that had me drawn to the 'Colours of the Indus' - a fashion show being put together by a dedicated bunch of women who form the Singapore Pakistani Association, who send me emails in the still of the night - a sure sign that sleep is a far cry away till the show is over.

And this morning, I got my first real taste of what to expect when the show rolls out in on the 25th of April.

Stunning fabrics replete with embroidery from the best of Pakistan's fashion world. That would be Maheen Khan, Imran Kureishi, Faiza Samee, Rizwan Beyg and Shamoon Sultan.

As Maheen Khan puts it "I like real clothes for the real woman." I like that too and while I'd like to tell you all about Maheen, I can't. If I did, you wouldn't watch the show would you?

So as we love to say, stay tuned and watch this space to see the 'Colours of the Indus' unfold.