The Lux Style Awards red carpet rolled out at an unprecedented time this year. Victim to habit, people turned up late, trailing in at their convenience but a spectacular set up greeted them inside. An extremely fancy high tea was set up to lure the industry into the event at 3:30pm and this was an organized attempt to start the show on time, following international standards of afternoon red carpets.
Noman Ijaz, at the LSAs after a few years.
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The brightest stars shine at the 16th Lux Style Awards 2017!
Karachi: The Lux Style Awards red carpet rolled out at an unprecedented time this year. Victim to habit, people turned up late, trailing in at their convenience but a spectacular set up greeted them inside. An extremely fancy high tea was set up to lure the industry into the event at 3:30pm and this was an organized attempt to start the show on time, following international standards of afternoon red carpets. A really good idea, it would take a couple more years and perhaps better air conditioning to attract people to an afternoon show.
The proverbial candy house did get the people in; the event started buzzing around 5. Zara Shahjahan was actually on time, followed by Sana Safinaz – both nominees for the fashion awards. A couple of well-dressed gentlemen – Bilal Ashraf, Ali Kazmi, Zahid Ahmed could be seen standing in front of the vents to catch the cool air. There was palpable excitement in the air, despite the rising temperatures.
Tina Sani, who's winning the Lifetime Achievement this year.
Tariq Amin, who received Lifetime Achievement Award for fashion, arrived nice and early, dressed in his signature proper and yet quirky style. His turquoise pocket square matched his turquoise shoes. Armeena Rana Khan, who walked as Zara Shahjahan’s muse at the fashion presentation, made a high tea entry in a very casual blue and white summer dress. Soon after mingling, she returned to the green room to dress up for the red carpet. We spotted Mooroo, nominated for Best Album, dressed in a casual checkered shirt and it seemed as though he hadn’t left the rehearsals the previous night. We spotted the Chand Tara Orchestra, Shareef Awan and Hamza Akram Qawwal networking with the other stars. We even ran into the SomeWhatSuper boys backstage who seemed delighted to make the progression from nominees to performers. By now you know who picked up the awards but at that point, there was a nervous energy that was endearing as well as exciting.
Jimmy Khan and Ali Sethi
The high tea was a great idea but one that was dependent on people turning up on time, which they didn’t.
The red carpet started rolling around 5.30 and the stars started trailing in. The biggest star to make an early entry was Noman Ijaz, seen at the LSAs after years. However, Ijaz seemed skeptical about the credibility of the LSAs. “The LSA is just another function where the industry just gets together to have a good time. I’m personally not interested in who’s winning the awards. I’m only here to support my friend, Sheroo, who’s doing the awards for the very first time.” Ijaz also shared that he’s attending the awards for the second time since the show began more than a decade ago. We also spotted Jimmy Khan, Jamal Rehman, Ali Sethi, Bilal Nasir Khan and Saif Samejo (from Sketches) who were making their presence felt. Towards the end, we saw Sanam Saeed and Zoe Viccaji who added more glamour to the already very glamourous red carpet.
Shehla Chatoor, looking as glamorous as ever.
There were a lot of expectations attached to the evening and judging by the rehearsals, there was a lot to look forward to. We saw some of Pakistan’s most prolific artists take the stage, including Atif Aslam, who was hosting the evening for the first time, and Ali Zafar who performed with his Teefa in Trouble costar, Maya Ali.
