Kamalia (GNP): Fashion designer Omar Mansoor has unveiled his Spring/Summer 2027 collection, The Living Loom, built around khaddar, a handwoven organic cotton fabric produced on traditional looms. The material carries visible traces of the hands that make it, with its surface shifting from one length to the next rather than remaining uniform.
Rather than treating these irregularities as flaws, Mansoor has made them central to the collection’s identity. The changing weave catches light differently across each piece, giving the fabric a character that cannot be replicated through industrial production.
The silhouettes themselves remain deliberately restrained. Coat dresses, tailored jackets, A-line shapes and long column dresses lean on proportion and construction rather than surface decoration. An ivory and black palette keeps the focus on the texture of the khaddar rather than embellishment.
Triangular motifs recur throughout the collection, drawn from geometric forms found in Indus Valley artefacts and pottery. These shapes have been reworked into a contemporary wardrobe, linking the collection to a much older visual tradition.
The khaddar itself is woven by artisans in Kamalia, Punjab, where handweaving skills have been passed down across generations. The craft remains an integral part of these communities, though it faces growing uncertainty as industrial textile production continues to expand.
For Mansoor, the collaboration is not an exercise in nostalgia. It is an attempt to give this artisanal knowledge a place within present day fashion, with sourcing, production and longevity treated as starting points rather than afterthoughts.
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That relationship between maker and garment stays visible throughout the collection. The cloth’s journey from Kamalia to the atelier, and eventually to an international audience, keeps the labour and expertise behind it in view rather than hidden within the finished product.
Because khaddar cannot be produced with complete uniformity, no two garments in the collection carry quite the same surface. In an industry increasingly oriented around consistency and speed, this variation is presented as a point of distinction rather than an inconsistency.
The finished pieces show precision in their construction, but the fabric’s natural texture keeps them from appearing overly polished. The result situates the collection within a contemporary fashion context while retaining a visible connection to its origins.
With The Living Loom, Mansoor extends his continuing engagement with Pakistan’s textile heritage and the communities sustaining it, carrying the work of Punjab’s weaving artisans into an international setting.
Images from the collection were captured by photographer Frank Good.
