In November last year Fashion Pakistan held Pakistan's first ever fashion week, bringing to an international standard ramp 32 designers and showing the world a side of Pakistan they could not imagine. Six months later we are back, this time the bar has been raised with 54 designers show casing collections, international designers and models Pakistani fashion has truly gone global.
We realised the need for an institution that could bring all those related to fashion under one umbrella to promote fashion as a business and to project a positive and trendy image of Pakistan across the globe. This we achieved in November with Fashion Pakistan Week 1 and now, FPW 2 is positioned to take this further.
Today Fashion Pakistan is the country's single largest platform providing that much-needed boost to Pakistan 's fledgling fashion industry. A part of the Council of International Fashion Designers, which was created with an understanding of co-operation to promote and support our fashion in the global market place, our members represent a major segment of the design fraternity working together to encourage, promote and facilitate the development and growth of the fashion industry and make it competitive in international markets by building on relationships with buyers both overseas and domestic, establishing and strengthening ties with foreign designers.
We achieved our first landmark with the huge success of Fashion Pakistan Week 1. It not only opened new vistas for us and reinforced our trust on the fact that nothing is impossible. It encouraged others to take the plunge and, as a result, we have seen a recent plethora of fashion weeks in Pakistan .
Fashion Pakistan has grown since November, and as more and more designers joined the platform, it encouraged us to set sights higher and provided the impetus to organize an event that is even bigger in proportion. FPW2 is the culmination of that aspiration.
At the time of inception Fashion Pakistan had some very clear objectives that we strive to fulfil to the best of our capabilities. A company whose board is democratically elected, by the designer, for the designer, it is the fashion fraternity's representative body. One of our primary objectives is to educate, empower and encourage designers and promote traditional crafts, and in November we introduced 8 new faces on the ramp several of whom have become super stars and have shown abroad and are stocking abroad. This list includes names like Fahad Hussayn, Feeha Jamshed, Sanam Chaurhri and Rizwanullah. This year too, we are introducing fabulous new talent and some of the names to look out for are Fayez Agaria, Sania Maskatia, Zaheer Abbas, Aziz Ali, Sana Rizwan, Anum Siraj, Zaiena Haider, Summaiya Warsi and Shakeel Saigol with his incredible menswear debut show. Of course the giants like Umar Syeed, Sana Safinaz, Faiza Samee, Kamiar Rokni, Shamaeel Ansari, Maheen Khan and Deepak Perwani will all be there along with many others.
Fashion Pakistan is growing and in our journey we hope we have learned from our mistakes. One of the worlds best kept secrets is that Pakistan is a great business opportunity, a fabulous tourist destination and a very fashionable place. We promise to let that secret out by giving you our best and we look forward to welcoming you back to Fashion Pakistan Week 3.
