Shaan e Pakistan announces first phygital fashion summit

KARACHI: Shaan e Pakistan, the brainchild of Huma Nassr, first launched five years ago. Since then, it has been promoting the culture of Pakistan within the country and beyond. Last year, the three-day event that was scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka, did not materialize due to the global pandemic. However, it did take place virtually and acknowledged the best in music. Continuing the legacy, Huma Nassr has been working on her plans for 2021 that she recently revealed at a press conference. She is gearing up for the first phygital fashion summit under Shaan e Pakistan. The SEP Fashion Summit will be taking place in Karachi, Lahore and Dubai over the course of one month and will feature much more than a mere fashion show.

The press conference took place at Koel Cafe in Karachi earlier this month, with celebrities and media personnel in attendance. The list included designers Deepak Perwani and Asim Jofa, actor and host Hira Hussain and many others.

The upcoming Fashion Summit aims to highlight less-talked-about issues within the fashion industry, in addition to showcasing talent in fashion. “I take the privilege to announce the beautiful Fashion Summit that we are going to have in Pakistan as well as internationally with some amazing panel in Dubai. When it comes to fashion, people think of the glitz and glamour associated with it but what’s beyond that? Summit is a serious talk about some hidden topics that nobody has spoken about before,” as Huma Nassr put it as the press conference commenced.

Pointing at Deepak Perwani and Asim Jofa, who were sitting on her right and left, respectively, she went on to say that these maestros will help her with the summit as they bring in their journeys. “We have raised this platform to give space to emerging designers as well. The summit aims to provide some direction to fashion; it will be a bi-annual affair,” she added.

SEMPA 2020 concludes after last spell in Karachi

She furthered that she would want to talk about the lobby system, nepotism and other issues that exist in the fashion industry. “The international SEP Fashion Summit 2021 is planned to have fashion maestros, style icons, models and other prominent individuals from the industry come together in the presence of younger emerging talent and aspiring students. The discussions are based on current issues our fashion industry faces as well as solutions addressing what can be done to help bring about a positive change.”

“I feel Shaan e Pakistan is way bigger to be talking about these issues; issues exist everywhere,” Asim Jofa pointed out. “Its purpose is to encourage talent and anyone who is talented makes his or her way to the fore. After Covid-19, we have to be united with each other because the industry has become very weak. Let’s talk about creativity and taking things forward.”

Deepak Perwani seconded Asim Jofa on this and said that SEP Fashion Summit is a great idea. “I feel, fashion is still young. We have a long way to go and that will bring changes as well as challenges. Things go on; let’s look at the new year on a positive note,” he asserted.

Owing to the global pandemic, the Summit will have an exclusive physical event with limited invite-only attendance while it has decided to go digital as well for the masses to be a part of the Summit. The official score for the Fashion Summit, titled ‘Chalta Ja’ is created by Hussain Dossa featuring Shehroze Hussain. Official partners for SEP Fashion Summit 2021 include Novacolor by Nasr Khan, Dolce Vita Home, The Social Squad, Koel Café, Hussain Dossa and The Seen, to name a few.

– Watch this space for more details