Unless your head has been stuck in the sand (or in Vogue or Style.com or WWD), you will know that Pakistan has been gripped by serious turmoil in recent weeks, forcing its embattled leader, General Pervez Musharraf, to declare a State of Emergency. Unrest and instability have become a common theme in Pakistan over the past 5 years, ever since Musharraf seized power and the country was drawn into George Bush’s War on Terror. Just today, legendary Pakistani cricket star Imran Khan was arrested for protesting against Musharraf’s government.

So what does this have to do with The Business of Fashion? It’s often during times of turmoil like this when artists and designers are able to deliver poignant messages in a subtle but positive way. Suma Project V aims to do just this, by heightening the consciousness of Karachites to the more positive aspects of their city.

Karachi is in the midst of an economic boom and boasts burgeoning industries in media-production, advertising, television, telecomunications, real estate and construction. International conglomerates and investment funds have been sizing up the market for opportunities to capture some of the value being created. Even IMG has its finger in the pie, organsing its first ever Pakistan Fashion Week. (PFWwas due to be held this month but had to be postponed due to the recent upheaval; this might have been for the best as our brief exposure to to Pakistan’s fashion scene last summer suggested that there is still a long way to go).

Suma Project V wants to celebrate this. Even before the State of Emergency was declared, its graffiti artists  have been tagging the city, Banksy-style, with I LOVE KHI slogans:

I LOVE KHI is not only for the melancholic, for those trying to swim upstream in their river of nostalgia;  but for those who find themselves in the new KHI–a strong, self-affirming city full of possibility, attracting hundreds of thousands from other parts of the country; our only true melting pot,  where life is currently knotted but charged.  Karachi is drunk with business opportunities, tele-communications, internet and real-estate deals abound, the service industry has finally awakened and we are most certainly entertained.

This has already struck a poignant chord with young Karachites who are now snapping up t-shirts with the I LOVE KHI slogan to show their solidarity with the newfound pride.  What a cool role for fashion, art and street culture to play in keeping spirits up during these difficult days.  Says Suma Project V’s founder:

As a mega-metropolis in the world today, KHI must present herself as  a dramatic, defiant, self-conscious, independent and nurturing mother whose beauty lies in the fact that she is so unconditionally loved by her inhabitants.  "I LOVE KHI" is a means of appropriating the city for oneself, for ones family, as our own.  First, there was the word;  then it was just the writing on the wall.

I love KHI tshirts are available at Deepak Perwani (16-c shop #1, lane 4, Zamzama; Shop #3, Block 20D, Park Towers, Clifton), The Basement (6c ane 4, Zamzama) and soon online at http://ilovekhi.com. Photos courtesy of Suma Project V.