Event manager and podcast host Frieha Altaf is looking forward to inspiring the next generation as she announced plans for a Pakistan Fashion Museum along with The Muse Gala and exhibition in the works. Altaf is collaborating with co-organisers, journalist Fifi Haroon and make-up artist and entrepreneur, Nabila for the project.
Announcing the news on Instagram on Sunday, Altaf and her co-organisers are aiming to house a permanent fashion collection, spanning the last 75 years of Pakistan’s heritage and history at potentially a UNESCO site in Pakistan.
The Muse Gala, which will be an annual event, will aim to bring together designers and their celebrity muses, and will carry a new theme each year.
Speaking exclusively to Business Recorder, Altaf said the project is “close to her heart and that the need for it is right now”.
“The museum is a big thing for me,” she explained. “Imagine a space where people can come learn about the history of Pakistani fashion and everything that has taken place over the last 75 years, to look, feel and be inspired.”
Altaf runs an event management company, and has over 30 years of experience organising events such as the Lux Style Awards and Pakistan Fashion Week among others.
Haroon is a former fashion editor and journalist with the BBC and Nabila is a stylist and entrepreneur. Together, they will create the agenda and creative blueprint for the Pakistan Fashion Museum and execute the production of the Muse Gala.
In a joint statement, the collaborators said: “This is us paying back our debt to Pakistan and to the industry that has nurtured us. It is a record of our past and a toast to our future. We want to recognise the contributions of Pakistani designers and take Pakistani fashion to the world.”
“Fashion is at a standstill and it needed a jolt of excitement,” continued Altaf, who conceptualised the idea for both entities.
“Following Covid and now inflation, there is no platform for fashion anymore. I feel like I moved into the idea for this really very organically, and my experience with crafting shows and events definitely helped.
“A few years ago I had organised a one-day exhibit for the Lux Style Awards, showcasing the history of Pakistani fashion, and that’s when I realised that this is really doable.”
Attesting the inspiration for the accompanying gala to the annual Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) Gala, hosted by Vogue editor Anna Wintour and held in New York city each year, Altaf explained how it was important to have a launch event that fosters creativity.
“The gala itself is something fashion needs and will be a great way for people to get together,” she surmised.
The museum will differ from an entity such as the MET in that it will house no art, only a permanent exhibit for fashion.
“It can showcase something that Fatima Jinnah or madam Noor Jehan wore back in the day,” Altaf said, stating how there’s no limit to how far it dates back, even trace itself prior to 1947, if the exhibit should warrant it.
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While she did not reveal dates and venue, Altaf said she was hoping to launch later this year in the winter, or at the most, spring of next year.
Slated to be held at a potential UNESCO heritage site within Pakistan, Altaf said they are relying on both public and private funding to get it off the ground, citing no government entities are involved in the project.
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