Hina Rasim's Luxury Shopping Event at The Dorchester

I was lucky enough to be able to a ticket to Hina Rasim's Luxury Shopping Event last week, featuring several designer collections which were also available to buy. After attending her last exhibition last year, I was pretty keen to attend because of all of the gorgeous outfits available which aren't necessarily accessible in London for a lot of buyers.

This event was more upscale, and was held at the gorgeous Dorchester Hotel in ones of the ball rooms, which was also beautifully decorated by Dream Occasions UK, who are wedding and event planners/decorators, and did an amazing job with the flowers, lanterns and candle decor.

There were several designers' outfits and collections being showcased, I wasn't able to get prices of all of them but I did find out about a few - I'll list below the ones I know about but you can also contact Hina herself for more information on prices.

Elan
The most prominent collection was Elan's latest collections, the Le Bijou Collection and the Garden of Evening Mists collection. This was also the only collection I didn't ask the prices for because I knew they would be out of my range - these were mostly bridal pieces but each were pretty gorgeous.

There was also a rail of Elan formals which were very pretty, such as these outfits below. I wasn't too keen on the orange and blue outfit, but I did like the spring green kurta with delicate work all over, which cost about £400 (I think!).

Sania Maskatiya
Being a big Sania Maskatiya fan, this was the first collection I went for, and which there was a good range of. There were a few pieces I recognised from the catwalk, such as the pink dress below, which were also very heavy and probably the most expensive from the collection.

The prices for the heavier SM formals ranged from £600-700 upwards to about £1300.00 for the heavy, fullworked outfits.

Ayesha Farook Hashwani - AFH
This was a new designer being added to Hina's collections, featuring light wraps and capes to heavier embroidered formals and maxi dresses - most of these were £150 for the basic wraps and went up to £300-500 for the heavier formals.

Shela Chatoor
These were mostly embroidered kameezes and formals, but in pretty spring colours and floral patterns. Most of these were around £500ish but the heavier pieces were slightly more.

Rozina Munib
I remembered Rozina's collection from last year and was glad to see there were a lot of new styles in her latest collection. I didn't get to take many pictures but I liked this oufit because of the colours, which I thick was about £300-400

There were several other designer collections as well, but I didn't get to take pictures of them all, mostly because the hall was so busy and I didn't want to get in the way too much! I wanted to write about outfits by other designers like Farah Talib Aziz, Saira Shakira and Maison de Lace, both of whom had lovely designs but a few of my photos got deleted, so I can't post these!

One last outfit I loved was this velvet cape which I think was by Saira Shakira but I can't remember at all - I thought this was a really elegant piece which looked very regal. I'm loving the whole cape trend right now (and have even bought one of my own!) so this is right up my street!

UPDATE: This outfit is actually by Ayesha Farooq Hashwani, I wasn't able to get the price but you can contact Hina Rasim for orders.

Tanaya Couture
Again like last year, Tanaya Couture were displaying their beautiful jewellery but in a separate room this time, and there were some really lovely pieces available which really caught my eye. A lot of these were beautiful statement pieces, which would also make amazing bridal pieces, and I think the prices for these were pretty reasonable considering they were one-off pieces and had beautiful gems and work to them.

Again, I can't remember a lot of prices because each piece was individually priced, but the earrings were around £50ish, necklaces were from £150 upwards for pendants (depending on how heavy) and heavier bridal necklaces were about £300-400 and upwards.

I took a lot of pictures of necklaces so you can see what caught my eye!

I also really loved these earrings, each which would really complete an outfit and each had beautiful stone and pearl details.

Tanaya Couture also had furs and shawls available to buy, which were quite popular seeing as it's the cold spring season!

Because the event was on Valentines Day, there were also some cupcakes provided, which were the perfect treat to end a nice day, and of course a nice way to indulge!

Even though I didn't end up buying anything, I did see a lot of outfits which I will be considering for future events, because the designs and the workmanship look so great. Althought it was a very busy event, it was a fun one and I got to speak a few other shoppers who were buying outfits.

Did you manage to attend this event? What do you think of the outfits?

Hina Rasim's Luxury Shopping Event...coming soon!

I've been lucky enough to be invited to Hina Rasim's latest shopping event, featuring high-end designer brands from Pakistan, which is taking place next month at The Dorchester (ooooh! sounds gorgeous already!)

You may remember a similar event by Hina Rasim that I attended last summer, which was an Eid event, which I really enjoyed because it gave me the chance to see beautiful outfits up-close and which gave me the chance to meet a few of the designers and speak to them.

The event is taking place next month and tickets cost £10.00, and it's an ideal opportunity for those looking for formals or party-wear, as well as pretty casual-wear!

I'm looking forward to meeting the designers who will be in attendance, and especially pleased to see their latest collections which I can usually only see from a computer/mobile screen! There's quite a few big brands being showcased such as Elan and Farah Talib Aziz which I am big fans of, and it's great that we can see the collection which isn't really that accessible to those of us in the UK.

I'll be posting about the event after I've attended - leave a comment if you'll be attending too!

Hina Rasim's Eid Soiree Exhibition

Last weekend vendor and organiser Hina Rasim held her latest exhibition in London - I thought it was a great opportunity to check out some of the latest fashions from some of Pakistan's famous designers (and also a good opportunity to pick up an Eid outfit if anything took my fancy.)

My sisters and I took a trip down to Marble Arch where the event was happening to the Raddison Blue, Portmen Hotel, and arrived early to see what was on offer.

The exhibition did not disappoint - there were several beautiful pieces from a range of designers, and I was hard put deciding which one I wanted. I managed to meet (and interview) Rozina Munib, whose designs were gorgeous (and whose interview I'll be posting in a separate post), Ammara Khan, Hina Rasim herself, as well as reknowned photographer Shahid Malik, which I was really glad about as I had a quick conversation with him and introduced myself.

Now onto some pictures of the exhibition, which had a good range of designers, you can see the beautiful designs below as an example!

I noticed that there was a good range of heavier formals (and even a few bridals) as well as semi-formals and casual formals on racks around the exhibition, so my sisters and I spent quite some time browsing and looking at different designs, and comparing styles and prices.

I didn't get a chance to take a snap of all the designer outfits, but I did have my eye on a few particular  outfits, so I'll post these below. I did, however, get to Hina Rasim (the host) and also a couple of other organisers and PR staff who gave a lot of information about both the event and contacting Hina in regards to ordering an outfit at later times should I wish to do so.

The Outfits:

Faiza Samee - this is one of my favourite designers anyway, known for her bright and electic designs, so it was nice to see these displayed. These were around £350ish and made from a lovely silky material in a range of colours and styles, although most of them were long, flowy frock styles.

Sania Maskatiya - I had my eye on a few of this designer's pieces, and I really LOVED the floral pieces. There were a few pieces I lusted after, but unfortunately pieces I liked were all priced between £500-£1000 which was just way above my budget (my sisters did point out I have expensive taste!)

The last outfit below (the light blue floral piece) was my favourite, but at £950ish it was just too much (especially as we have just come back from an expensive holiday!) so I relunctantly had to put it back.

Rozina Munib - I managed to interview this designer on her pieces and loved what she had to say (more on this coming soon!). I also liked the fact that she had a really good range of informal pieces and formals, so there was a range of prices for these outfits. I also liked the fact that there were longer hems, maxi dresses and shorter hems, to appeal to different customers.

Ammara Khan - I didn't get a proper look at this designer's outfits, but what I saw was quite heavily worked, and very colourful, with some beautiful work. There was also an opportunity to see some bridals, unfortunately I forgot to look at prices for these pieces but the work on these just lovely.

There were also a few other big names, such as Elan, Farah Aziz Talib and Sana Safinaz, which were all really lovely piece (although there were less of these pieces), and which we liked too.

I also managed to speak to Hina Rasim about her event (and also see her getting interviewed!), as well as take a snap with my sisters in front of the 'fashion wall'!

As well as outfit designers, there was also a jewellery stand for a company called Tanaya Couture, which had some beautiful pieces that caught my eye, with a good mix of traditional and contemporary styles. These sets were perfect for brides-to-be looking for something luxurious, although I liked the fact that they weren't all overly blingy or too heavy, so could easily be worn for a lot of events.

We saw a good few pieces that we loved, which were at reasonable prices (the clutch bags started from £45) and I spoke to the company's founder who told me about their pieces, as well as their beautiful scarves which were also on display.

Lastly, there was a make-up artist who was also present, Khadijah, who did a free make-up trial on myself and my sister, and also did a make-up demonstration. I asked for light contouring, and the MUA told me the best way to apply, and also what she was using on me, which was really helpful. Needless to say, she did a great job on us!

At the end of the event we also got a cupcake to take home as a treat, which I thought was lovely (they tasted really yummy!)

Photo credits - EveryPhotunity

It was really nice to see designer pieces up close and see the quality of the workmanship - it's easy to be dazzled by catwalk pictures but they don't always show the actual outfit properly. While a lot of these pieces were not cheap, they were superb quality, and certainly more unique than a lot of designs I've seen recently on the high street!

My favourite pieces were the floral Sania Maskatiya ones - although I can't quite afford them, they were a lovely example of floral pieces done right! What do you think of the pieces - do you have any favourites?