Pakistan models defy Taliban with 1st fashion week

By CHRIS BRUMMITT Associated Press - 11/7/2009


KARACHI, Pakistan — Some women strode the catwalk in vicious spiked bracelets and body armor. Others had their heads covered, burqa-style, but with shoulders — and tattoos — exposed. Male models wore long, Islamic robes as well as shorts and sequined T-shirts.

As surging militant violence grabs headlines around the world, Pakistan's top designers and models are taking part in the country's first-ever fashion week. While the mix of couture and ready-to-wear fashions would not have been out of place in Milan or New York, many designers made reference to the turmoil, reflecting the contradictions and tensions coursing through this society.

The four-day event, which was postponed twice due to security fears and amid unease at hosting such a gathering during an army offensive in the northwest, is aimed at showing the world there is more to Pakistan than violence and at helping boost an industry that employs hundreds of thousands of people, organizers said.

Many of the models, designers and well-heeled fashionistas packing out each night said the gathering was a symbolic blow to the Taliban and their vision of society, where women are largely confined to the house and must wear a sack-like covering known as a burqa.

"This is our gesture of defiance to the Taliban," said Ayesha Tammy Haq, the CEO of Fashion Pakistan Week. "There is a terrible problem of militancy and political upheaval ... but that doesn't mean that the country shuts down. That doesn't mean that business comes to a halt."

The shows are taking place in Karachi, the country's largest and most cosmopolitan city, in a five-star hotel just next door to the American consulate, which was bombed by Islamist militants in 2002. It's two hours by plane from the northwest, the heartland of al-Qaida and the Taliban, and has largely been spared the violence sweeping the country over the last month.

"Unfortunately, it is the bad side of Pakistan that gets everybody's attention," said top Pakistani model Nadia Hussain as hairdressers and makeup artists fussed over her backstage. "It has never been this bad, I don't know what will happen," she said, as fellow models chain-smoked cigarettes.

While many of the city's 12 million people live in slums, hip cafes and restaurants in wealthy neighborhoods draw sophisticated crowds of young men and women into the early hours, more often than not speaking English with each other and wearing Western dress.

While the shows in Karachi resembled fashion weeks in other parts of the world, there were no foreign designers or buyers. The organizers decided not to invite them given the precarious security situation.

"Who is going to come here with such negative stuff going on?" said Tabassum Mughal, a young designer who employs about 30 people. "Those who are here already are leaving."

Textiles make up some 60 percent of Pakistan exports and are worth around $12 billion dollars a year. The country's cotton and silks are among the finest in the world. But the industry has failed to grow in recent years amid political unrest, violence and chronic power shortages.

As if on cue, a power cut during the fashion week's opening evening left the hall in darkness for several minutes.

The fashion industry represents a tiny fraction of the country's textile exports.

"We are still doing the 30 dollar a dozen T-shirt business. There is no value added," said Haq. "We should be employing millions of people, not hundreds of thousands of them."

Designers presented a mix of clothes, some drawing on traditional Pakistani outfits and tribal motifs, others that had little or no sign of traditional aesthetics. In a culture where nearly all women dress modestly, many outfits were too racy for local tastes.

"This does not represent what we are as a people," designer Ayesha Tahir Masood said. "Only 0.001 percent of Pakistani women would wear these clothes, and then only in a controlled environment when drunk out of their minds."



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Tulsa World Reader Comments
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Angry Citizen!, Bluejacket (11/7/2009 5:09:54 PM)
I'm having a difficult time understanding those people, these ladies look beautiful. How could anyone who believes in god, decide that beauty must be concealed and hidden away?

FIRE GUNDY, TULSA (11/7/2009 9:06:55 AM)
What they need is Taliban Playboy, that would shut them up for awhile, haha

FIRE GUNDY, TULSA (11/7/2009 12:51:18 PM)
Playboy without nudes? That ain't Playboy.

Mar, Tulsa (11/7/2009 10:20:36 AM)
YOU GO GIRLS!!! :-) Ignore those towel heads!

my view, Sand Springs (11/7/2009 8:06:31 AM)
They will become targets of the Taliban.

Carlos, Tulsa (11/7/2009 9:18:24 AM)
Pictures!

Popeye, T-Town (11/7/2009 7:13:06 AM)
""...where women are largely confined to the house and must wear a sack-like covering known as a burqa."" Coming soon to your neighborhood! A couple of weeks ago my wife and I were shopping when a man and (I assume) a woman came into the store. The woman was in a full burqa with her eyes peering out through a screen in the head-dress. At first we thought it was a Halloween costume, until the man vocally berated the woman a few feet from us. Unsure of the ramifications of the new "hate-crime" legislation, I kept my mouth shut. I won't miss the next chance...

Zoltar, Boltar (11/7/2009 7:44:22 AM)
I'm sure the Taliban are planning as we speak devious methods of torture for these women who would expose their flesh; have they no shame!

Exchanging views, Tulsa (11/7/2009 9:53:36 PM)
Hopefully those of the Taliban that come after these courageous model's will meet a wall of death, their deaths. Let their brothers see there is no mantle of divine protection covering them. Let them realize women are not possessions of ignorant self righteous bully's, but equal citizen's no matter where they live, and worthy of others respect and protection. Unlike those of the cursed Taliban.

Nim, Jenks (11/7/2009 7:20:22 AM)
i say "When in Rome, ...... That model is good lookin'

douglassm, tulsa (11/7/2009 11:25:32 AM)
So cool. Although it's a shallow step, it's cool to see progress happening realtime.

dustyoutlaw, Tulsa (11/10/2009 12:33:59 PM)
it's a sad day in the world when clothes models have to be the "activists". But then let's face reality. If the Fundamentalist Christians had their way women wouldn't be on the catwalk either.

Corvetteguy, Tulsa (11/11/2009 9:52:28 AM)
Change even coming to Pakistan, imagine that....

Corvetteguy, Tulsa (11/11/2009 10:12:22 AM)
Pakistan, imagine that...

Four Sixteen Rigby, Tulsa (11/7/2009 6:17:29 AM)
This story needs many more pictures.

Four Sixteen Rigby, Tulsa (11/7/2009 11:55:24 AM)
Fire Gundy: There is a Playboy Indonesia. Playboy Indonesia is a franchise of Playboy magazine in Indonesia. It is published by Velvet Silver Media and edited by Erwin Arnada. This edition of the magazine is notable in that it features no nudity and that it is the first Playboy to be published in a Muslim country since a Turkish edition that was discontinued in the mid-1990s. Despite tailoring the magazine to conservative local sensibilities, with fully-clad models and articles such as an interview with dissident author Pramoedya Ananta Toer, the magazine's premiere issue on April 6, 2006 raised significant controversy. Islamist groups such as Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI) and the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) staged large protests as well as legal challenges to the magazine. One of the more violent protests in Jakarta caused the owner of the ASEAN Aceh Fertilizer Building, where the Playboy office was located, to evict Velvet Silver Media. The magazine then moved its headquarters to Bali, which is predominantly Hindu and less restrictive than Islamic-ruled Jakarta, and put out its second issue in June 2006. The second issue carried no advertisements. Around 100,000 copies of each edition were printed and both sold out. Major advertisers returned for the third issue in July. As a result of the legal challenges, police in Jakarta investigated models Andhara Early and Kartika Gunawan, who posed in the first issue, declaring them suspects for violating indecency rules. The magazine's editor-in-chief, Erwin Arnada, was also questioned. He was charged [1] with violating the indecency provisions of the criminal code, but later acquitted upon trial.[2] The controversy surrounding Playboy in Indonesia punctuated the issue of pornography legislation opposed by prominent Indonesian Feminists, including Kamala Chandrakirana, chairwoman of the National Commission on Violence Against Women, who spoke openly in support of Playboy Indonesia. In an editorial in the June issue, Arnada wrote: "The absence of a growing monopoly of a set of values and views in our beloved country in the end is our final purpose. We believe that is also the target of all of us who live with reason and want to understand the meaning of democracy and a pluralistic society."

wisernow, spring (11/7/2009 5:18:32 PM)
i am sure these models will feel repercussions..the taliban is not tolerant of people who dont go along with them..they have murdered and tortured because of it in the past..women especially are not people but possessions..

truth fairy, (11/7/2009 2:29:13 PM)
I have to disagree with you, douglassm. These women are reclaiming their right to free choice and personal self-expression. A very deep, and brave step. And hey! It's a fashion show, not a pole dancing competition! Back in the basket, all you lecherous cobras!

wjshelton, (11/7/2009 4:48:15 PM)
Hey Mar, "Towel head", huh? And I suppose you call your black friends the N-word, too -- assuming that you have some.



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