Karachi (Cliff News) LAAM Fashion Week (LFW) will bring LFW Presents to Karachi for the first time this Saturday, 26 September, with Kaleidoscopic Karachi — a five-designer showcase set within the historic Nusserwanjee Building at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS).
Marking the format’s second edition and its first outside Lahore, the evening will feature Deepak Perwani, Khaadi, The Pink Tree Company, Wardha Saleem and Sana Safinaz, opening with an immersive archival exhibition by photographer Tapu Javeri.
Karachi has never had a single language. Its identity shifts like a kaleidoscope, where every turn unveils another composition of colour, culture and character.
Kaleidoscopic Karachi is built around that plurality — a fashion portrait of Karachi with no single point of view.
Speaking about the vision, Maheen Kardar, Executive Director Designer Experience and Curation, LFW Presents, said, “I wanted Kaleidoscopic Karachi to feel less like a fashion showcase and more like stepping into the city itself — layered, restless, colorful and full of contradictions. I pictured five designers, five distinct interpretations, each revealing a different fragment of Karachi, until those fragments come together to form something larger than any one perspective.”
The evening will open with Four Decades of Fashion Through the Lens of Tapu Javeri.
“Karachi is where I live and breathe. It’s also a part of my creativity. The exhibition I am doing for Kaleidoscopic Karachi is a sort of a walk down memory lane,” said Tapu Javeri.
The Designers:
Deepak Perwani: “This collection comes from what I’ve always loved doing, sexy modern Western wear. I am always excited to show that less is more. There will be a lot of fun and excitement, but not a lot of colour. After all, it is Cocktail Hour.”
Khaadi: Saira Shamoon said, “It’s an explosion of colour, print, chaos and a bit of glamour. Karachi is a mix of a lot of things, a lot of contrast and friction; that’s where the inspiration starts from.”
The Pink Tree Company: Mohsin Sayeed said, “The Pink Tree Company’s collection depicts the beauty of Karachi: modernity blended with tradition. In this presentation, we have used a variety of fabrics, block print techniques and colours we absolutely love.”
Wardha Saleem: “In this collection there are a lot of embroideries which are very distinctive to us. A lot of fabric manipulation, modern silhouettes. It’s very earthy, very craft-oriented.”
Sana Safinaz presents Mastaani, a 20-piece heritage collection. “Our Mastaani line is a heritage line. We are inherently modernist. It’s a lot about textures, a lot of handwork, a strong strength of colours. Also, it’s very cinematic,” said Sana Hashwani.
The showcase will take place at the historic Nusserwanjee Building at IVS, Karachi — a structure built in the early twentieth century in Kharadar and later carefully dismantled and rebuilt stone-by-stone at the IVS campus by architecture students.
About LFW Presents:
LFW Presents is LAAM Fashion Week’s year-round, invitation-led showcase format, created to move fashion beyond the traditional seasonal calendar and into distinctive cultural spaces.
Leadership: Arif Iqbal (Co-Founder & CEO, LAAM), Amir Iqbal (Co-Founder & COO, LAAM), Saad Ali (Founder & CEO, Design651 & Co-Founder LFW), Maheen Kardar (Executive Director Designer Experience and Curation, LFW).
Partners: Co-Founders: LAAM and Design651 | PR: Talking Point | Event Director: Nubain Ali | Production: CKO Event Architecture | Hair & Makeup: Nabila’s | Models & Talent: ZINC Talent | Photography: Prime Productions