LAST week I attended a fashion show — the NK Fashion Week — organised by Malaysian designer Norish Kareem, which debuted in London to coincide with the London Fashion Week.
Norish, who opened the Norish Kareem Couture in London last year, brought together eight designers, six of them Malaysians, to her runway at the Bentley Hotel London with the idea of introducing and exposing them to one of the fashion capitals of the world.
Not a stranger herself to the international fashion scene, Norish, who also took part in the London Fashion Week last year as well as the New York Fashion Week in 2017, decided that it was time for other designers to follow in her footsteps — Norish’s NK collections brought her fame in Dubai, UAE and even Beverly Hills, United States.
“I picked those who want to go global and think global. With our guidance and their confidence with their brand, they can make it,” said Norish after her fashion shows on Sept 15 recently.
The sold-out event showcased a variety of collections from Mimi Wahedah’s modestly-stunning turbans to Dr Normi’s Opal Swimwear and Fana Couture, which featured The Express Hijab collection by designer Azyliana.
What caught my eye and certainly many others were the stunning debut of the humble kain pelikat sarong on a London stage as cleverly interpreted and designed by Lila Majnun of the Mrs World fame.
“Pelikat is our heritage, it is in our culture,” said Lila Ruzaini Mohd Hussain, the designer behind the Lila Majnun brand, in earnest.
“My collection is the east meets west. And also I do not want our younger generation to forget our own heritage,” added Lila after the show.
The pelikat, with its chequered designs, has certainly lagged behind the batik which had seen more international runways and had been variously interpreted from clothes to handbags and shoes. In the right hands, the pelikat might give the more familiar designs famously associated with Burberry a competition to contend with.
“What I did was to make it versatile, more modern. London is very famous with trench coats and so the challenge is to design kain pelikat into trench coats and also silk.
“One pelikat sarung is not enough. I have to use four pieces. And it is interesting to work with the different patterns of the pelikat,” she gushed.
And thus it was through her clever designs that the pelikat Gajah Duduk came to be sashayed on the runway in London last week.
Not dismissing the possibility of one day designing her own pelikat for her own collections, Lila said: “For me, I want something different so that it can be acceptable in the market, the international market. I have to make sure that it is versatile.”
We have perhaps taken the pelikat for granted; a sarong to be worn to sleep, to the mosque and for everyday use, that perhaps we failed to see the unique designs and the durability of the textile.
“If you see the latest trends by Christian Dior for 2020, most of the collections are chequered. I had the idea even before I saw this — and my pelikat designs, as opposed to the pelikats just worn by men, are now worn by modern-day women,” said Lila, whose first show in London was at the Modest Fashion Week.
NK Fashion Week’s Spring-Summer 2020 also introduced the Norish Kareem X Lang Batek collection flown all the way from Langkawi island.
Norish closed her fashion show with her Norish Kareem Couture showing a great combo of feminism to spark women empowerment with their themed collection, “the colourful life”, and launched its NK bridal collection.
“People have been asking me to come up with a bridal collection and I thought this is the time to introduce it. It is to show femininity and strength and reflect women empowerment,” explained Norish, who plans to bring the show to Langkawi in March and hopes to bring the international crowd for Visit Malaysia Year 2020 and also to Doha in April.
One of the main attractions at the NK Fashion Week was the appearance of Madeleine Stuart, the 22-year-old Australian who is the world’s first Down Syndrome model to walk the catwalks at some of the fashion capitals of the world.
She recently won the Inspiration Achievement Award from Runway of Dream in New York.
Norish had Stuart on her catwalks before, in New York and in London.
“We have a good relationship with her. The idea is to show diversity in the fashion industry and to show that beauty can come in all aspects,” said Norish.
To add sparkle to the event was Datuk Emma Ibrahim in Lila Majnun Luxe Collection with Ceres Jewels.