Setting herself apart

Iqra Mansha and Shehrbano Taseer joined Ammara Khan at the launch of her debut ready to wear line.

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Ammara Khan launches her debut ready to wear line with an intimate celebratory event in Lahore.

Lahore: Ammara Khan’s eponymous label is one based out of Lahore that has slowly but surely made a name for its ornate couture. The elusive designer has been in the market for over a decade now and has been working away at heavy duty bridals and wedding wear, growing the brand at her own pace – not allowing commercial considerations to loom over her head.

In conversation with Instep she said, “I have been around for 16 years but I never wanted to feel the market pressure and always knew I wanted to grow the brand on my own terms.” Khan is one of the handful of designers who hasn’t linked arms with a textile company for their print lines. “It’s because I didn’t want to work on my first ever print collection under pressure knowing I was doing it for someone else. I wanted to understand who Ammara Khan is as a print designer before committing to someone else,” she said.

That was the spirit with which she worked on her debut ready-to-wear collection, launched with a celebratory event at the Mercedes Benz showroom in Lahore.

The event was a chance for her clientele, friends and selected members of the press to connect with the brand on a personal level and wasn’t merely orchestrated to generate sales. The venue had a video playing on loop showing girls dressed in the collection gallivanting the streets and playing basketball ending with the message #SetYourselfApart. “The video captured the essence of the Ammara Khan woman – the young, energetic woman of today who is also my inspiration for the collection,” Khan said. “I wanted people to come interact with me and the clothes. However, I also knew I didn’t want to just have clothes on a mannequin and keep the graphics and prints the focus of the night.”

And they were, with the video and panels all around showcasing the prints, and taking center stage.

“Although I’ve specialized in couture and bridal, our patrons have started coming to us for our aesthetic in everyday wear,” she shared. The products, though available off the rack in standardized sizing will not be focusing on a mass clientele. With prices upwards of 9000 up till 100,000, it’s still going to be what the local market classifies as luxury wear. “We are selling luxury because the product is not for everyone and neither is the affordability. That’s how it becomes niche - we focus on the quality, exclusivity, attention to detail and essence of couture for our clothes; it automatically places itself at a certain position and then we price that quality, details and difference,” she explained.

Khan divided the print collection into three categories: abstract geometrical, floral and tribal with Cheetah and Zebra prints and kept the solids in denim. There were a number of patterns covered with interesting fabric treatments, velvet and machine embroidery with a great deal of detail. One of the pieces is what the designer fondly calls the Zodiac blazer that she is open to personalizing for people. The best part about the collection is that all the pieces can be worn together or styled as separates. “The spirit and energy of the collection is global,” she maintained.

Khan’s last outing was at PLBW ’15 and she has sat out fashion weeks since then. She feels that bridal weeks do not entirely make sense for her brand because patrons prefer two capsule collections twice a year as long as they’re fresh. “Once it’s been shown at fashion week and on social media it gets stale very fast,” she said. We may not see Ammara Khan on the ramp in the near future and retail expansion is not on her mind but she has her energies focused on taking the brand online. “I feel if one is developing a great online store you can do without a physical retail space.”

That’s where the future’s at – with her brand and with her muse: the young, energetic woman of today.