RAWALPINDI: Pakistan’s first ever virtual fashion show “Catwalk Cares,” the brainchild of Catwalk Event’s CEO Frieha Altaf, had its premiere Friday night.
The three-night affair is being released on Catwalk’s digital platforms as well as their partner GEO Entertainment’s YouTube channel and played on the TV channel later in the evenings.
Industry’s top models walked designer wares from the safety of their own homes, keeping in mind social distancing, as Pakistan continues to grapple with COVID-19.
Catwalk compiled their hallway struts with interviews of the models and the designers for a three-episode online fashion event. Each interview, where precedes the collection, focused on thanking the virus frontline workers and acknowledging the tough time that Pakistan and the fashion industry was passing through.
Day one’s line-up included designs from Khaadi, Maheen Kareem, Amir Adnan, Huma Adnan, Nida Azwer and Shamaeel Ansari. Day two and three are expected to feature collections from Generation, Nomi Ansari, Sania Maskatiya, Elan, and Hussain Rehar.
The country’s fashion industry has taken a hit since the spread of COVID-19, closing stores, pausing production and cancelation fashion weeks of which Pakistan has two seasons of each year taking place in Karachi and Lahore respectively.
The fashion show crafted by Altaf is meant to serve two purposes; the first to raise funds and pay tribute to COVID-19 frontliners like doctors and health care workers which the participating designers have done in the form of donations of ration bags, PPE, and even outfits from the collections that will be shown during the show. The second is for boosting the fashion industry itself hoping that the virtual event will lead to online promotion and ultimately online sales.
The show was initially slated to premiere in late May but was postponed following the crash of the Pakistani passenger plane in which a member of the fashion fraternity who was meant to be in the show, model Zara Abid, lost her life.
Catwalk Cares’ days two and three will be released on Saturday June 6th and Sunday June 7th online at 7:00 p.m. local time and later on Geo Entertainment at 9:00 pm.
Episode one of Catwalk Cares:
