LONDON: Pakistan Fashion Industry is thriving quite well and making inroads in international haute couture as its rich heritage of embroidery and fabrics is a source of attraction for the high street fashion in the European markets.

Noted Pakistani designer Hassan Sheheryar Yasin (HSY) speaking at the Asia House here as part of “Pakistan Now” series of cultural events, told the gathering that the biggest satisfaction that he draws from his work is seeing “Made in Pakistan” labels on the high class fashion apparels being displayed and sold in international markets.

He asserted that with rich heritage of embroidery and fabrics inherited from the Mughals as well as folk culture, Pakistan certainly hold treasures for international market which so far remain hidden and unexplored to a large extent.

Drawing upon his own successful experience, Sheheryar stressed on enhancing marketing efforts and adapting to the markets by tuning to the taste and choices of particular regions.

Counting Queen Rania of Jordan and the Royal princesses of Bahrain and Dubai as among his important customers, Sheheryar has 17 outlets in UAE selling his designer clothes while he has agreements with renowned fashion houses like Versace and Armani for supplying specially designed fabrics for their designs.

Sheheryar, a graduate of Pakistan School of Fashion Design, stated that taking inspirations from his mother he always felt towards empowering women and in his own organization women occupy top managerial as well as creative positions who are contributing immensely towards the promotion of Pakistani fashion apparels.

On the occasion three sets of his bridal collections were displayed by elegantly styled models. The patterns were inspired by Multani, Moghul, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern motives and colour combinations.

The recent Pakistani fashion putsch overseas comes a month or so after the popular Fashion Pakistan Week (FPW) which featured 31 designers in all. The show held in Karachi in October, was followed by a group show in November — the Autumn/Winter collections of select designers supported by a cosmetics brand which (LUX) which is beginning to do such shows on a bi-annual basis.

The show featured the likes of veterans Faiza Samee and Sonya Battla (both designers showed at FPW), Ayesha Farooq Hashwani and Zara Shahjehan (both of whom showed their debutante collections) and HSY and Saadia Mirza who had flown their collections in from Lahore.

In this show, Hasan Shehryar Yasin (HSY) showed his Rogue Royale collection which was “an ode to strength, to independent women” among other things. The Rogue Royale woman wears red which “is a sign of desire, love, passion, knows no boundaries” etc. After the elaborate adjectives describing his collection were recited on the microphone, HSY showed his ensemble of clothes which were essentially, in a nutshell, his heavy bridals — which explains the red.