ABSTRACT
That the 2015 wedding season in Lahore was not like the usual ones became clear on 25 December. As Narendra Modi – Prime Minister of India – landed in Lahore to attend the wedding of Nawaz Sharif’s granddaughter, local social butterflies understood that no outfit worth years of children’s fees in prestigious private schools, floral arrangements or star-studded celebrations would stand comparison. The Pakistani Prime Minister had just presented Mehr-un-Nisa Safdar with a place in history and a footnote in international relations textbooks. Brides-to-be were livid. Months of preparations and hard study had just fallen through. Ladies who had not made it to Sharif’s guest list had almost certainly a bad hair day. Designers showed the white flag and started to focus on their lawn collections. The dismay of those moments would echo in their admittedly heavy-patterned textiles and subsequent flurry of buying by Lahoris. After all, embracing the less-is-more policy after what had happened that afternoon in Raiwind was not a viable option for anyone, fashionistas included.
