Pakistani Fashion Cycles: Pakistanis Setting Trends
By Umar Siddiqui
Northridge, CA
The term “fashion” can trace its origins to the meaning “to make.” It is inherently a creative and multidirectional process, and people wear fashions every day.
One might not be able to go as far as to think about the process and merchandising that go into fashion. The process and merchandising work in unison to contribute to a cycle, and goods and services often bear the effects. Trends are set in a multitude of ways; it is sometimes theorized that trends trickle-up, going from lower classes and youth to higher classes; they potentially trickle-down, where highly visible elites wear trends that travel to the lower classes; and there is the theory where trends trickle across, with leaders of all socioeconomic statuses transmitting the styles. The innovators of fashion navigate the fashion cycle as do the influencers. Pakistani fashion fits into a cycle.
Adopters of styles determine if the trends will live long, and maintain the name of “classic”, or then if trends will be short-lived and have the name of a “fad.” What comes to mind when Pakistani fashion is in question? Pakistani fashion, for women, sometimes has longer shirts in vogue and sometimes longer. Then there is the tulip shalwar and the churidar pajama. A woman can mix and match, but so can the man. Both the male and female are contributing to this cycle on all sides of the spectrum, and just like there are women, men, and children using the fashions, there needs to be a brief trend analysis. Do they trickle upwards or downwards, or do they even trickle across?
In the United States, Pakistanis are typically affluent and so arguably, the trends trickle across, leaving imprints and influences on different cultures. An example of this is going to the grocery store and a non-Desi person recognizes the kurti you decided to wear. Another example is Pakistanis impacting the fashion industry by providing ideas and concepts to designers. The trends do not move in upward or downward directions here, rather they maneuver in the communities of Pakistanis. Leaders of communities are the most notable people, who act as influencers in this process.
Whether the pieces are deemed seasonal, where they change in demand because of seasons, or the pieces are deemed staples, and change less in demand, one thing is certain: the Pakistani fashions are influential and universal.
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