Event manager and podcast host Frieha Altaf will inspire the next generation by announcing plans for a fashion museum in Pakistan, as well as the Muse gala and an ongoing exhibition. Altaf will participate with the co-organizers, journalist Fifi Haroon and makeup artist and entrepreneur Nabila for the project.
Announcing the news on Instagram on Sunday, Altaf and its co-organizers aim to present a permanent fashion collection, covering Pakistan’s more than 75 years of heritage and history, at a prospective UNESCO in Pakistan.
The Muse Gala, which will be an annual event, will aim to bring together designers and their outstanding muses, and will bring a new theme of the year.
In exclusive remarks to Business Recorder, Altaf said the assignment “is close to your center and you want it now. “
“The museum is something for me,” he explained. Imagine an area where other people can come and observe the history of Pakistani fashion and everything that has happened over the last 75 years, to look, feel and be inspired. “
Altaf runs an event control company and has over 30 years of experience in organizing events such as the Lux Style Awards and Pakistan Fashion Week, among others.
Haroon is a former fashion editor and journalist for the BBC and Nabila is a stylist and entrepreneur. Together, they will create the timeline and plan for the Pakistan Fashion Museum and execute the production of Muse Gala.
In a joint statement, he said: “We are the ones who are paying our debt to Pakistan and to the industry that fed us. It is a testimony of our afterlife and a toast to our future. We need to recognize the contributions of Pakistani designers and introduce Pakistani fashion to the world.
“Fashion is stagnant and it’s a burst of excitement,” continued Altaf, who conceptualized the concept for both entities.
“After Covid and now inflation, there is no platform for fashion. I feel like I was delivered to the concept in a very biological way, and my delight with the displays and craft events has helped.
“A few years ago, I organized a one-day exhibition for the Lux Style Awards, showcasing the history of Pakistani fashion, and that’s when I knew it was doable. “
Tuning in for the gala accompanying the annual Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) gala, hosted by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and held in New York City, Altaf explained how vital it is to have a launch occasion that fosters creativity.
“The gala itself is everything fashion desires and will be a wonderful way for other people to come together,” she surmised.
The museum will differ from an entity like the Met in that it will have art as its space, only a permanent exhibition on fashion.
“It can show anything that Fatima Jinnah or Mrs. Noor Jehan wore at that time,” Altaf said, saying there is no limit to when it goes back, even before 1947, if the display warrants it.
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While he didn’t reveal dates or locations, Altaf said he hopes to release it later this year in the winter, or at the latest in the spring of next year.
Scheduled to be held at a potential UNESCO heritage site in Pakistan, Altaf said they rely on public investment and personnel to get it off the ground, without mentioning any government entities involved in the project.
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