Fashion Week Islamabad
For one week only, fashion-mad Pakistanis take shelter from Sharia Law in a hotel basement, in a dangerously ankle-baring celebration of style. High-security and equally hi-camp, Islamabad Fashion Week is perhaps the only event of its kind that literally
For one week only, fashion-mad Pakistanis take shelter from Sharia Law in a hotel basement, in a dangerously ankle-baring celebration of style. High-security and equally hi-camp, Islamabad Fashion Week is perhaps the only event of its kind that literally takes place underground, since last year's event in Karachi was marred by military attack.
Catwalk style teams turbans with cowboy boots, shalwar kameez with stilettos. Then there are the volunteers in full burqas, still passionate about the extravagant outfits they're excluded from wearing. Adventurous hostess Charlet Duboc defies the call to prayer, instead going out for a "Pakistani Princess" makeover from Pakistan's first fashion guru Tariq Amin. With his rapper nephew Adil Omar, Amin is also on a mission to seek out all the "kinky shit" that goes on under wraps.
For the participants, any fashion statement is also a political statement: "It's not gonna be drones," announces one of the models. "THIS is going to be the way to eradicate the war." The country has come a long way since the days when fashion was banned outright - but, as Amin says, "this is not a true representation of society. This is the one per cent."
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