i was running late because a part of my dress had to be sewn, while I had the dress on, at the last minute. however, the kathmandu fashion parade started late and i didn’t miss anything. not unusual for kathmandu, but it started way too late and to my disappointment, it had technical glitches. my friend R and I have both worked as members of the college tech team for 3 years, so we thought it was unacceptable for such a big show to have technical problems. You always need to have a technical rehearsal and a dress rehearsal and have a number of back ups, if in any case your master copy decides to go bonkers. you need to use a system you have tried your dvds and cds before hand.
The audience will not understand the stress you are under. nope. they will not see all the running around you have to do behind the scenes. but of course, they will complain. Thankfully, the audience of the kathmandu fashion parade were quite tolerant, I should say. No one was throwing bottles and stones at the tech crew for screwing it up, which would have happened at a concert in Fun Park or Jawlakhel ground. Esp..given the timing of the program, which was supposed to start at 6:30 pm…our empty stomachs were begin to growl by the time it was past 7:15…we’d reach there, at Yak n Yeti, at 6 pm.
That was the biggest and baddest point of the Kathmandu Fashion Parade 11. It started late and the videos prepared for the parade, weren’t working. I heard that it’s really well made and would like to see it on youtube. Hard work shouldn’t go to waste.
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On the design side of things…it was really good to not see dresses made out of condoms that were raising awareness about HIV and dresses that looked like horrible adaptations of the white witch from Narnia (it even won a prize). To not see dresses that were glued together at the last minute. To not see clothes that were supposed to be office wear but looked just like rakhi sawant’s outfit in that music video. AND esp not see clothes that were apparently ‘tribal’ but looked like Lord Shiva.
phew, it’s time to get over the cliched looks and in that aspect, kathmandu fashion parade did well.
The following photographs were taken by Bijay Gajmer.
individual designs…astik sherchan…his dresses were different for the local scene but i didn’t think that they were that innovative. personal taste, i guess. i thought that the pleats and the crinkly parts (don’t know what you call them) looked like cup cake holders..u know those papers that are used to bake and are found in chocolate wrappers. i don’t know, i thought they looked like wrappers. like one of the friends said, the tiny booklet seemed to overstate the designs…when presented upfront, the descriptions didn’t match well with the actual dresses. there was a lot of detail, but i wasn’t really liking the overall looks and the models walked so terribly slow. as for the designer himself, his outfit was much too similar to karl lagerfeld’s look: buttoned up white shirt and black pants, black jacket/blazer combo. oh, not to mention one of the models had a wardrobe malfunction.
Laura Queening and Aura Que..purely based on the show, i can’t say that i liked the bags and purses because I COULDN’T SEE THEM! the models were carrying it on their right and i was seated to their left, so each time they walked around i never got a clear view of the bags. they should have switched hands or sth like that. but i know i like Laura’s designs because i’ve seen her designs before and i know where they are made and who makes them. i like the knit and leather combo and i liked the scarves. i actually liked the looks of the models..simply white tank tops and jeans. neat and nice. read more here. they’re hairstyles were cool too.
Khusboo Dangol and Swarnim had the best designs to showcase. they were all lehengas and kurtas, but they were awesomely made. and i loved the patterns and colors. they were great, even though I would probably never wear those teeeny tiny blouses that revealed way too much for me. they looked nice, though, on the models. their use of velvet was awesome! such a tricky fabric. looked very rich and elegant. i think the best part was the fitting. it fit well and that made a big big difference. but the bun hairstyles were a little weird from the back.
Nuzhat Qazi…didn’t fancy her designs so much. mostly saris and weirdly mixed sari fabric type gowns and skirts. sth like that. don’t know which one wasn’t working…the fabric or the colors. one was like a rapunzel dress…i mean fairy tale..snow white sort of..and the last dress worn by Sneha Rana, i thought, was weird too…the corset part overhanging..like it’ll fall apart any time…i don’t know, i don’t understand such designs. hehehe…and the back part was all like tiny strings of chains…she looked uncomfortable in it.
House of Alternative Apparel. I haven’t been to the store yet, only heard of it. I was looking forward to seeing the designs. I wouldn’t say that they are very new designs, but then they are ready-to-wear street clothes and given that they were made in Nepal, I think they are quite cool. They weren’t extraordinary, but they weren’t bad either. They were simple everyday clothes, but I guess we are lacking in that very sector itself….forget high fashion for now.
In the past Nepali fashion shows I’ve been to, there were barely any clothes you could actually wear in the streets and even the so called ‘creative’ outfits were close to being cliche and over the top…they were some that looked like wedding cakes…pastel colors and frills almost everywhere…. H.A.A. just started out and I’d like to see more because there is so much more to create!!! It’s a wide-open book for everyday clothes!!!
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The runway was great, how it was laid out. everything eye-level. it was much easier to look at the designs..didn’t have to have my head titled at 45 degrees for over an hour…but i wish the runway had been painted white instead of putting down flexes, coz they were not stretched properly at some parts. anyways, i am looking forward to the next Kathmandu Fashion Parade already. I feel it’s an exciting new idea and since I love to look at clothes, I would love to see more of Nepali creations :-). and i am sure, the team has learnt to be prepared with their videos for the next show.
with love, from ktm 