July Issue 2010

In a classic fundraiser at the beginning of last month, UAE’s national airline Etihad Airways and Zahir Rahimtoola’s Labels brought the latter’s first in-house fashion show to Karachi — for a cause. DIL (Developments in Literacy) managed to raise over two million rupees, from the proceeds, to build schools for underprivileged children.

The gala evening and fashion show began with a short film on how DIL functions and what it has achieved. The US-based NGO, started by a group of Pakistani-Americans in 1997, currently operates 150 schools with an enrolment of nearly 15,000 students in Pakistan.

But when a DIL representative asked the audience for donations there was awkward silence followed by whispers of, “Why can’t they just auction off an outfit?”

Then came the promised “razzle dazzle,” a surprise singing performance by Etihad’s newly signed brand ambassador, Strings, doing one of their old hits “Dhani,” followed by a fashion show.

The show kick-started with models walking the ramp dressed in creations by Faiza Samee. Samee’s choice of pieces for the ramp was repetitive and predictable, which is unfortunate given how coveted her designs are. Nomi Ansari too stuck to his signature style. Only HSY’s label had a fresh look about it. Fusion was the recurrent theme in the rest of the collections of Maheen Karim, Ayesha Farooq Hashwani and Khadija Shah of Elan which were well received. The evening ended with a luxury raffle and gourmet dinner.

The organisers pulled of an energetic fundraiser with the usual suspects of Karachi’s social scene in attendance — despite a storm warning!