The Dark Room, Lahore’s newest and most happening multi brand store, has opened its doors today. The multi brand store has a stellar line-up of designers ranging from Karachi’s hottest star designer Aisha Alam to Shahista Wahidi’s favourite designer Afsheen Mehboob to shoes and accessories by the well known Bnb Accessories label.
The Dark Room is enviably located in Ali Towers, next to McDonald’s and Sindbad. Adnan Zoraiz, the CEO of TDR, said: “I’m extremely excited that we are opening the doors for sale today and I look forward to helping turn TDR into one of the most successful multi-brand stores in the country.” The idea for launching a multi brand store came to Adnan Zoraiz when he was hunting for a multi-brand store to stock his home-grown brand of casual prêt titled ‘Pharaoh’s Closet’. “I realized that there was a huge dearth of a place where new talent is promoted and encouraged,” he said. “Most multi brand stores simply go for the name, ignoring the novelty and design value of the brand.” The Dark Room has a number of unique and exciting features, such as the Rookie Corner where new designers get a place for a week only to give them a taste of the market.
“The rookie corner is my way of supporting struggling designers and helping them out just like I was helped out not too long ago when I was a struggling designer,” he said. Other unique ventures at TDR are a cocktail rack which is inspired from a fruit cocktail: this rack displays collections from numerous designers on the same rack. Uzma Hai, a Karachi based designer, is extremely excited about the prospect of exhibiting at TDR. “I have been wanting to explore the Lahore market and I think this store is a great way for me to do it,” she said.
Another Karachi based designer Aisha Alam is also looking forward to her first month at TDR. “I can’t wait for the doors to open and I feel that the kind of support and mileage TDR is offering can’t be matched by other multi brand stores.”
