Karachi—Four emerging designers showcased their collections through the Bank Alfalah Rising

Talent platform at the opening of the PFDC Fashion Week on Friday. Bank Alfalah Rising Talent
Programme aims to motivate, inspire and recognise young and upcoming talent in the country
and provide them with opportunities to showcase their talent.
The four debut designers contending for the Bank Alfalah Rising Talent Award and trying to
make a mark in the Pakistani fashion industry include Unza Khalid, Hira Ali, Ghulam Dastgir, and
Saiqa Raheem from the Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design. The four designers exhibited
their collections for the very first time at the first day of the PFDC Fashion Week, amid
encouraging response from the audience.
Through the award, the Bank provides a prestigious platform for young designers to showcase
their designs and an opportunity for the winner to stock up designs at the PFDC stores for six
months. The best designer, chosen through a transparent voting of jurors and public, will be
announced on 12 March 2016. Sharing his thoughts about the success of the Bank Alfalah Rising
Talent programme, Atif Bajwa, President/CEO, Bank Alfalah said that Bank Alfalah has always
supported entrepreneurs and individuals with potential to contribute to the country’s economic
growth.—PR

Bank Alfalah's Rising Talent Programme aims to motivate, inspire and recognise young
and upcoming talent in the country and provide them with opportunities to showcase
their talent. Bank Alfalah has been supporting fashion bodies operating in the country,
including the Fashion Pakistan Council as well as the PFDC. Bank Alfalah also supports
emerging talent in cricket, polo and arts.

IFS

The International Fashion Showcase (IFS) is a festival of emerging designers

organised by the British Council and the British Fashion
Council during London Fashion Week. The event is coordinated in
collaboration with London embassies and cultural institutes to showcase
their countries’ most exciting designers in an exhibition that reflects their
nations’ contemporary culture.
Established in February 2012, IFS is now an annual event that responds to
London’s reputation for promoting and supporting new designers. In contrast
to other showcases, IFS engages and invites a range of people interested in
fashion from journalists, bloggers and retailers to the general public.

In recognition of the participants' creativity and ingenuity, each year an

award is presented to the best exhibition, judged by a panel of cultural and
commercial fashion experts and chaired by Sarah Mower MBE BFC
Ambassador for Emerging Talent.
GFW

The world's leading event celebrating the creativity of students and graduates
within fashion.

Graduate Fashion Week is a charity organisation founded in 1991 by Jeff Banks CBE,
Vanessa Denza MBE and John Walford to unify both UK and International
universities and create a stronghold for the creative industries.

Showcasing the work of over 1,000 of the very best students and graduates from the
most influential and inspiring universities around the world, Graduate Fashion
Week represents the future of creative design talent. Attracting 30,000 guests each
June, the annual event features 22 catwalk shows, exhibitions from over 40
universities and an acclaimed Gala Award Show alongside a packed live talks and
workshops schedule featuring leading names from the fashion industry.

Graduate Fashion Week 2016 Dates announced soon, catwalk schedule,

tickets and industry registration to follow.

Truman Brewery, 1 Hanbury Street

London, E1 6QR

An unrivalled platform for the promotion of new talent, Graduate Fashion Week
bridges the gap between graduation and employment and is responsible for
launching the careers of some of the most successful designers of our time including
Christopher Bailey, who was the winner of the first ever Graduate Fashion Week
Gold Award, Stella McCartney, Giles Deacon, Matthew Williamson and Julien
Macdonald.

Graduate Fashion Week would like to thank title sponsor, George at Asda, for their
continued support for the fourth year running. “We are delighted to be involved in
Graduate Fashion Week, it provides a fantastic showcase for the next generation of
British creative talent. We have discovered some really exciting graduates, whom have
come to work alongside George’s team of in-house designers and buyers. There is an
the incredibly diverse array of career opportunities that exist in this fantastic
industry.” Fiona Lambert, Brand Director at George.

"I do believe that British students are flourishing because you have the best education
system in England that gives Art & Design students the freedom to think, to dream and
to do." Alber Elbaz
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Executive Committee

Mark Newton Jones - Graduate Fashion Week Chairman

Jeff Banks - President

Mark Nordan - Treasurer

Hilary Alexander - Trustee