The up-and-coming Pakistani couturier unveiled her latest collection amid New York Fashion Week.
Circular fashion has become a buzzword for brands vying for attention at Fashion Week. For Pakistani couturier Parishae Adnan, however, circularity was at the very core of her collection presented on the Flying Solo runway on September 13.
Aptly titled “Second Skin,” the eight-look lineup reimagined archival garments, deadstock and preexisting handwork into newly constructed pieces. Adnan’s transformative work bestowed these pieces with a new life cycle, emphasizing the idea that real luxury allows the materials, craftsmanship and labor behind a garment to live beyond its original design.
“Circular fashion was important to me because I don’t think sustainability has to mean compromising on fantasy, craft or couture,” Parishae Adnan tells No Manners Magazine about the ethos inspiring her latest collection. “Some of these garments and materials have existed for more than a decade. Rather than treating their history as something that limits them, I wanted to see how far I could push them into something completely new.”
Indeed, Parishae found the foundational elements for her collection in a selection of couture designs and traditional Pakistani garments.
A bridal lehenga, a men’s waistcoat, a pishwas and an unsold sherwani were some of the preserved fashion items providing the material for the designer’s new creations. Instead of simply modernizing the silhouettes or tailoring them to fit a new model, Parishae deconstructed the pieces and repurposed the textiles.
The bridal lehenga, dated from 2008, became a sculpted bustier and matching miniskirt. The sherwani’s suede fabric, on the other hand, served to create a cropped jacket and trousers. All the looks in the collection replicated the same dynamic. “For me, that is what circularity can be: not simply preserving what already exists, but giving it another life,” Parishae says.
The outcome is an eight-piece story where South Asian craftsmanship, circular fashion and family heritage take the fore. In the first look, “My Father’s Tie,” Parishae reintroduces a gold raw-silk tie hand-embroidered in 2001 for a collection by her father, Amir Adnan. The accessory returns as the centerpiece of a hyperfeminine suit, decontextualized from its original form, but still carrying Parishae’s family legacy.
I don’t think sustainability has to mean compromising on fantasy, craft or couture
— Parishae Adnan, fashion designer
In the next looks, Parishae explores the relationship between the feminine and masculine, authority as an illusion, and nostalgia and transformation. Gilded ensembles, military-infused garments and details representing about 200 hours of atelier work bring the vision to life. In each outfit, precision, attention to detail and commitment to preserving the garment’s history shine through.
The runway closed with a look that encapsulates the collection mood: a shawl-collar coat featuring almost exclusively hand-embroidered black velvet. Now titled “Reincarnation,” the coat is the next evolution for a piece originally presented as a pishwas in 2024. “Rather than undoing years of craftsmanship simply because its original silhouette was no longer required, the embroidered velvet itself became precious raw material,” explains the brand in a collection dive-in. “The challenge was to preserve that workmanship while completely changing the garment around it.”
“Showing Second Skin in New York felt incredibly personal because so much of the collection carries pieces of my own history,” Parishae says post-show. “I grew up around these clothes, textiles and techniques, and being able to take that inheritance apart and rebuild it through my own point of view felt like a very full circle moment.”
See Parishae’s “Second Skin” collection below:
