Just hours after Islamist militants were believed to have killed 46 people in bomb attacks in the northwest region of Pakistan, fashionistas in Karachi  kicked off a fashion week in style and with some added security.

Participants held a one-minute silence to mourn the five people killed in a suicide car bomb and gun attack at the US embassy in Peshawar and 41 who died in a suicide attack at a political rally in the district of Lower Dir.

The event is scheduled to feature 52 designers — 49 of them from Pakistan and one each from Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates — in a follow-up to a first event held in Karachi last November.

Denim Live
Traditionally, the show is relatively light on denim, even the jeans from top designers.  You’ll have to view the latest designs for those items on sites like Artful Dodger jeans.  Even the best Mek denim takes a backstage to couture culture, where evening dresses, halter tops, pantsuits and the latest runway looks for fall are the focus.

“The fashion week has started and will continue until Friday,” organiser Tehmina Khaled told AFP.

“Security concerns keep designers and models from the West away from Pakistan, yet we have succeeded this time to get some professionals from Asia to participate,” Khaled said.

“On the one hand terrorists are attacking our country with bombings and on the other, by organising events like this, we are trying to portray a softer image of Pakistan abroad,” she added.

Models will sashay down catwalks, flaunting the latest creations by designers in the nuclear-armed Muslim nation, where most women cover up and observe varying degrees of Islamic dress.

Around 3,200 people have been killed in suicide and bomb attacks over the last three years in Pakistan, blamed on Islamist militants, although mostly concentrated in the northwest.

The fashion event is taking place in the southern port city of Karachi, considered a cosmopolitan city in Pakistan, complete with glitzy shopping malls and a thriving cafe culture.

Karachi has been relatively shielded from the violence, but Islamist cells are believed to operate in the city of 16 million, where the profits from crime and kidnappings allegedly bankroll the insurgency in the northwest.

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My Take: Karachi may be cosmopolitan, but it is still one of the most dangerous cities in the world to visit right now.  I can’t imagine the security issues involved in getting top designers through the airport, where air cargo safety has to make moving the clothes alone a logistical nightmare.  Air cargo security workers are probably just the tip of the iceberg.  I’d imagine, too that the show itself is dripping with security guards, with bomb detectors swept beneath the stage skirting and anywhere else militants might decide to hide explosives.  Even runway risers.

Interesting to ponder the juxtaposition of the fashion on display inside the show against the street wear outside, where women are not so much out shopping for dresses for homecoming as they are right now in America, and the standard “look” for women anyway is a dark burqa or, if nothing else, a westernized outfit accessorized by a headscarf and a pair of dark glasses.

Other Resources:

Gotta Puff?
The e-cig is considered a relatively safe smoking alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes and is supposed to be smoke-free, which means you can “light up” in airports and other public places where smoking is now banned.  While the electronic cigarette is not intended as a remedy for nicotine addiction, users report that the smokeless cigs do make it easier to wean yourself off the hard stuff, which is a step in the right direction if you’re trying to quit smoking for good.

The winner of the “Live the Roar of Life Sweepstakes“, Delany Roberts a Wichita Kansas resident, will drive off with a $100,000 cash prize in a contest that was sponsored by Los Angeles based Roar Clothing.  More than 88,000 people entered the contest to win a 2005 Ferrari at 434 $100,000 in cash and Delany opted to take the cash prize.  he contest is part of the company’s efforts to “spread positivity in these difficult times.”

“Since our inception in 1994, the vision has been to build a lifestyle brand based on strength and success,” said Deepak Vasandani, Roar founder and chief executive officer. “We felt a Ferrari embodied this sensibility. We are thrilled to have the opportunity and pleasure to give away a piece of the Roar lifestyle.”

The “Roar lifestyle” is key to the company’s identity and is featured in its marketing campaign, which, like the sweepstakes, features the “Live the Roar Life” tagline. After building a men’s and children’s brand, the company is now launching a women’s line, which follows the same styling of the men’s line—meaning plenty of fresh contemporary casual looks, embellished laser-cut and raw-edge appliqués, embroideries, studs, and rhinestones—all rendered with a feminine touch.

The women’s line, which already started shipping to key stores, is wholesale priced from $8 to $10 for jewelry to $25 to $29 for tees and $36 to $49 for woven’s to $50 to $80 for outerwear.  Roar sells in better chain stores, including Metropark, Nord­strom and The Buckle.  The company is currently opening an international distributorship and looking to expand to Germany and Japan.

Typically a prominent exhibitor at the Las Vegas trade shows (Roar has shown at Project Global Trade Show and at Premium at MAGIC in the past), the apparel company is skipping the trade shows this season to focus on other outreach efforts to retailers and consumers.

The company does small product giveaways through Facebook, and several years ago, Roar gave away a vintage Ford Bronco, but the Ferrari sweepstakes took the company’s efforts to a new level.  Roar has a growing fan base on Facebook, according to Carlissa Hamagaki, online-media manager, who said the company also maintains a Twitter feed and a MySpace page.

All the social-networking outlets help drive traffic to Roar’s blog, which features company information and highlights “people who Roar,” or people who embody the Roar lifestyle. (Johnny Depp and Lance Armstrong were recently featured.)  Roar also has a blog to answer questions about the company’s ad campaigns or the design and production processes that go into one of their shirts.

The company recently opened a showroom in the Los Angeles Fashion District. Covering the top floor of a building at the corner of Los Angeles and Ninth streets, the Roar showroom has a staff of about 15 working in design, sales and Internet marketing. The next step for the company is to move its women’s design and sales staff into a new space, which is currently under renovation. Roar plans to host a grand-opening party at the showroom this fall—and sweepstakes winner Roberts has been invited to join in the festivities—and perhaps take that Ferrari for a test drive.

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My Take: Any time somebody wins money, I think it is great news.  I think the guy was smart and taking the cash as well.  Ferrari’s do not have very good gas mileage in the way gas prices are today, he went and get very far on a tank.

However, he should be able to afford a good economical car after taxes of course.  Those taxes are rarely going to hurt.  Are they something like 20%?  That means he only gets about $80,000.  He might get some of that back on his income tax return.  Who knows what he will get?  He might by his girlfriend one of those love pendants.  If he happens to be into the new martial arts style of fighting the might even buy a fight symbol.

No matter what he does with his money, he is a very lucky man.  Many people would have loved to win that contest.  The only thing is, you have to enter a contest to win it.  I never would have won that contest I never entered.

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