Runway SS’25 – Fashion For A Cause

When the fashion runway is used to promote a noble cause, the latter elevates its status to something above and beyond a fashion platform — it becomes symbolic and a harbinger of positivity and change. Runway SS’25 show held in Karachi focused on this noble cause.

A fashion segment highlighting the sartorial designs of unisex designer Zubair Shah and his all-white puritanical collection with its avant-garde design sensibilities, was elevated when he joined forces with the iconic Masarrat Misbah’s Depilex Smile Again Foundation to put the spotlight on acid burn survivors and their path to recovery overcoming personal challenges, familial constraints and social taboos. They stood tall as spokespersons for the DSF as ambassadors for their cause, to a standing ovation.

While the night belonged to the DSF survivors, others also made their mark with their contributions to the fashion. Bridal couturiers were aplenty with Mahi’s, Ramsha Iqbal, K. Yousuf and Lubna Mudassir all carving their niche on the fashion runway. While their sensibilities varied, what united them was their expression in design, eye for colours and choice of embellishments, and experimentation with newer trends in cuts and silhouettes.

In another distinctly iconic moment, actress and host Nadia Khan’s daughter Alizeh made her debut as a fashion model on the Runway SS’25 ramp for debutant bridal designer Ramsha Bilal. But they were not alone in their declaration that night as fashion students of the Millennium Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship (MITE), budding young designers displayed their full potential in brilliantly sculptured costumes on sociopolitical themes brinking on the bizarre and outlandishly insane.

Sheema Kermani performing to an exclusive recording of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s Dasht-e-Tanhai was the piece de resistance when it comes to dance performances, with the dance troupe of the trio of Naina Black, Yoshua Hussain and Shehzore Akhtar coming in a very close second with their performance to Khamaj by Shafqat Amanat Ali. Singer Syed Hasaan gave his vocal performance after the dance.

Walking away after the event suddenly made one hit the realisation that fashion outing was spiritually wholesome and uplifting, irrespective of the minor glitches.

The show had a double runway, giving a unique look, though one has to train the audience to sit and not move about during the models’ catwalk. Though there were minor glitches, the effort put in by the organisers was obvious and very commendable.