In a historic moment for the Pakistani fashion industry, designer Hussain Rehar has made his place at one of the biggest events in show business: the Cannes Film Festival.
The Pakistani designer will be presenting his collection Lahore — A Knot in South Asia’s Loom at the festival’s 79th edition today (Friday). The exhibition will be an invite-only event at Château St George.
Rehar posted the details of the event in an Instagram post on his brand’s page, calling the collection “a decolonisation of fashion’s origin story told through Lahore, craftsmanship and South Asian authorship”.
The post said this was the first time a Pakistani designer was presenting their work at the festival alongside global fashion giants such as Gucci and Roberto Cavalli.
Clarifying the theme of the showcase, the post said it “celebrates Lahore as a source of fashion, craft and cultural inspiration”.
Going into the anti-colonial message behind the collection, it said Rehar “confronts fashion’s erasure of South Asian craftsmanship, calling out how traditions like zardozi, phulkari, khussa and maang tikka have been renamed and stripped of their origins”.
“You cannot rename what you did not make… If a kimono can be called a kimono, then a dupatta should be called a dupatta,” the designer said.
He added that this was not just a collection, it was “a return of signature, stitch and source”. His post called for a recognition of Lahore and the Subcontinent’s influence on global fashion and craftsmanship.
This isn’t the designer’s first soiree in one of fashion’s most significant cities. He presented his collection Jeevan at Paris Fashion Week (PFW) in October. The collection made a point to highlight the intricate work perfected by Pakistan’s craftspeople.
Before Rehar, Natasha Kamal showcased her work at PFW in 2017 as part of a special exhibition of couturists from 14 countries aimed at promoting peace through cultural dialogue.
