Karachi: The collection titled “Zer: Beneath the Surface”, is about dealing with the damage of unremitting victimhood that creeps up in our day to day. From the plague and wars to sex and money, it is all cyclical and it is all inevitable. The collection is about the things we talk about the things we don’t talk about and everything in between that sits on our mind like dissonance. It is about all the things that are beneath the surface.
The story starts with a fortune teller who represents the harbinger. It progresses onwards to show the journey of man from strength to breakdown and back again. From the plague and wars to sensuality and money, it is all cyclical and it is all inevitable. The collection is about the things we talk about the things we don’t talk about and everything in between that sits on our mind like dissonance. It is about all the things that are beneath the surface.
The collection is about dealing with the damage of unremitting victimhood that creeps up in our day to day. It’s about nostalgia. Nearly wanting to delve into the past and then being unable to shake the thought. It is the ultimate human pursuit, to be recognized and understood in the dissonance of our trauma.
“It can be overwhelming at times when you find yourself a little stuck in situations that neither have an immediate gratification nor do they have an immediate horizon. Our brains tend to throw caution to the rational and focus on the fears of the irrational all the while creating a sense of panic. It is in those brief moments of dissonance that the nerves begin to tingle and the heart feels a little heavy… It is that moment that we aim to shed light on.”
The collection, as always, is a bespoke, upcycled collection, called “Zer”, meaning under the surface. The collection features one-of-a-kind pieces made from upcycled vintage materials. The outfits are a mixture of many different types of garments now, repurposed, redesigned, re-stitched, and embellished. These garments carry the regal grandeur and timelessness of the garment before, with the charismatic personality of the silhouettes now.
The soundscape for this collection was designed very carefully keeping in mind multiple variables like tempo and tone but more importantly, the feelings that needed to be evoked through textures of sound.
“I reached out to a very dear friend of mine, Mustafa Shiekh (Mufay), for the soundscape of the show because I knew I needed someone to go deep into the psychology behind the pieces we are showcasing. He started by looking at old-school horror movie scores from movies like “Psycho” and “The Shining”. We went into the depth of sounds that evoke fear and dread, sounds that would make the audience a little uncomfortable. The purpose was to remind us that sometimes we can’t escape the reality of things, as much as we would like to.”
The inspiration for the silhouettes comes from gothic architecture representing a bygone era with the realistic rendering of the human form, more complex sense of perspective, and use of lighting and shading. The architectural style’s definitive feature is the pointed arch, which can be seen in the textured embossed embroideries this season as well as in certain silhouettes. The fall-winter colors for the House are depicted by the four stages of alchemy: black, white, gold, and red.
BY : Zahid H Karani.
