As we bid adieu to spring lawn, we are seeing the season of summer fabric arrive upon us.

Boasting less embellishment and a lighter, cooler fabric to withstand the impending stifling heat, one such label worth noting is Sana Safinaz, which has launched its ‘Mahay’ collection - a no-fuss, fabric collection, offered at a lower price point than their other collections throughout the year.

The campaign is a welcome breath of fresh air as it features a diverse group of women, across social strata, spanning various professions, looks and sizes, draped in their fabric in a variety of ways.

Featured in the campaign, we see policewoman, a traffic warden, colourful niqabs, shalwar kameezes, western tops and pants and much more, also showing a variety of way the fabric can be stitched, truly democratizing the unstitched fabric and appealing to a wide customer base.

The resulting images are loud, colourful and powerful. Getting a group of women from all walks of life in front of a camera, instead of models, has worked well for the brand and the collection they have launched, seeing as it is offered to a wider set of customers due to its price point. The campaign and the messaging behind it - that of inclusivity and empowerment - is both groundbreaking and refreshing.

“Let Mahay be your canvas to showcase your fortitude, your freedom, and your mind,” states the campaign slogan.

Conceptualising, executing and amplifying the message all has to be credited to the entire team.

The brand’s Instagram handle boasts 2.5 million followers from all over the world. Here’s to ushering in a new era of representation and fresh new ideas coming out of fashion brands and in fashion marketing campaigns.

The campaign is very much in keeping with a shift in marketing techniques globally, following years of critique by female customers citing lack of diversity and representation by brands.

Victoria’s Secret, the American high-street lingerie brand, had to undergo an entire branding rehaul - replacing models, billboards and fashion campaigns with more diverse faces and sizes after noting a backlash and drop in shares, as reported by The New York Times in 2021. The change was much needed and welcomed by the fashion industry.

In the Times report, Martin Waters, the former head of Victoria’s Secret’s international business and now chief executive of the brand stated: “When the world was changing, we were too slow to respond. We needed to stop being about what men want and to be about what women want.”

Meanwhile Agent Provocateur, a British luxury lingerie brand, has employed similar techniques and introduced slight changes within their campaigns and representation in order to appeal to a larger variety of women, as noted on their Instagram page.

Earlier this month, Victoria Beckham, founder of her namesake fashion line, featured a plus-sized, dark skinned model to showcase her brand new VB Body line, as seen on her Instagram page. This too, is a break for the brand, who has in the past only featured models in their campaigns.

The world is changing and in Pakistan it is heartening to see local brands embrace this, paving the way for others.