IN olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked upon as something shocking but now anything goes. Fashion is made to become unfashionable and it exists only to be destroyed. The only way to survive in the extremely competitive fashion world is to remain creative all the time.

Keeping this in mind, Kainat, a relatively new fashion house of the city, began a four-day long fashion exhibition at the Drik Gallery on December 28 that ended yesterday. Popular television actress Shami Kaiser and her husband Ringo inaugurated the exhibition.

For Kainat, this is their third exhibition. Kainat has no outlet at present but the organizer of the show Mahbubur Rahman said, 'We are going to have our own outlet soon after the exhibition ends.'

The exhibition displays sari, shalwar kameeze, panjabi, shawl and children wear. Amirul Hasan Masud is the designer with the fashion house. Masud, who finished his studies in commerce, is a self-taught designer. His sincerity and devotion to creative art made it possible for him to design these fabulous dresses.

Masud generally uses local fabric, specially Comilla's Khaddar and Tant of Baburhat, in his apparel. There is extensive use of hand paint, brush paint and graphic form in block prints marked in the displayed dresses. In choosing shades, Masud's fascination for orange, red, yellow and white is evident. He has used both vegetable and chemical dye in his collection.

The prices are well within the reach of trendy people. The prices of shalwar kameezes are between 1150 and 2150 takas, the price of children wears is between 500 and 750 taka, shawals ranges in between 450 and 575 taka, general panjabi prices is between 650 and 700 taka while the exclusive panjabis ranges in between 1000 and 1200 taka.

A variety of saris have been displayed in the exhibition. There are cotton and silk saris and the silk saris have been exclusively designed to suit the contemporary teastes. The panjabis designed on Khadi fabric are all beautiful and unique. The shawals, for both male and female, are the main attraction of the show. '

Shomi Kaiser, when asked to comment on the exhibition, said, 'Though a few of the salwar-kameezes are traditional, the shawals and panjabis designed on Khadi fabric are really refreshing.'

The show drew a large number of trendy people of the city.