Lawn is in the air and it seems like everyone is swept with the tide. However, not all lawns are created equal. There are three primary categories of lawn: the small time shops, the mega textile retailers and the designer lawns. The small time shops are renowned for being incredibly affordable. Whereas, the mega textile retailers – the Gul Ahmads and the Nishats of the industry are slightly more expensive but usually end up having better designs and quality. Then comes the designer lawn such as the Zara Shahjahan lawn. This designer lawn trend is one that has picked up with great flux over the past few years and is constantly on the rise albeit with a side of evolution.
Designer lawn is meant to be all about aesthetic, quality and well of course, about the designer. Even though it doesn’t seem like it, but the designer lawn mania has died down a tad owing to the massive amount of energy and finance that producing it requires. Which leaves us with only big players in the lawn league such as Sana Safinaz, Élan, Zara Shahjahan, HSY, MARIA B and just a couple here and there that we actually look forward to.
By now, pretty much all of the major designers have launched their lawns and we were eagerly awaiting Zara Shahjahan’s lawn collection owing to our little trip to her factory earlier this month where she took us through the tedious process of creating this fabric we so obsess about. Her collection launched on March 20th, 2015 in an exclusive preview held for friends, family and the fashion fraternity where all her outfits were available for pre-order.
Supporting a signature Zara Shahjahan look, the lawn has been inspired by a variety of patterns that appear in Asian art and culture predominantly the Indus Valley heritage featuring floral, oriental and Indian inspired elements. The entire lawn range is a collection of 18 designs with fresh summery colors like blues, whites, sharp pinks and crisp yellows. Since March 21, 2015 her lawn collection has been available across the nation through her newly launched portal www.zarashahjahan.com and her retail stores in Lahore and Karachi available in the price range of PKR 6, 495 – PKR 7, 295. Barring the make up on the models, which really needs to be altered for outdoor day time events, everything went pretty smoothly!
In the larger scheme of things, Zara has also launched her lawn simultaneously in India, USA, Australia, UK and the Middle East through retail partners. This is also the first time that Zara Shahjahan has launched lawn independently with all pieces being designed at her factory in Lahore.
For many, the launch of any designer lawn may seem trivial and with so many happening it may even seem taxing but the bigger picture marks a successful era for the Pakistani textile industry. The designer lawn business is economically great for the textile industry creating jobs all across the country, regulating economy and is giving a hefty boost to the fashion industry at the same time. It showcases the incredible talent that we host in the country and our innate ability to harness it into something productive with quality that meets international standards.
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All images by: Usman Malik for SiddySays
