Pakistan took fashion to the runways this week hoping to promote a more glamorous side of a nation better-known worldwide for violence and militant extremism.

Textiles make up some 60 percent of Pakistan exports and are worth around US$12 billion dollars a year. The country's cotton and silks are among the finest in the world. But the industry has failed to grew in recent years amid political unrest, violence and chronic power shortages.

The fashion industry represents a tiny fraction of the country's textile exports.

We are still doing the 30 dollar a dozen T-shirt business. There is no value added. We should be employing millions of people, not hundreds of thousands of them.

Designers presented a mix of clothes, some drawing on traditional Pakistani outfits and tribal motifs; others that had little or no sign of traditional aesthetics. In a culture where most all women dress modestly, many outfits were too racy for local tastes.This does not represent what we are as a people. Only 0.001 percent of Pakistani women would wear these clothes, and then only in a controlled environment when drunk out of their minds.

The big names from the West refused to come and the event had to be pushed back by over a fortnight after a chain of terrorist attacks, but Pakistan still managed to unveil its second fashion week.The four-day event — the last was held in 2005 — was scheduled to start on October 15 but started on November 4.

No Islamic organisation has issued an edict against the fashion week yet.Pakistani celebrities, TV and sports stars as well as politicians buy the creations of Tariq Jamshed, Freiha Altaf, Deepak Perwani, Imbias, Maheen Karim, Junaid Jamshed, Nadya Mistri and many others.The Pakistani media too have promoted the event. English-language papers like Daily Times, The News, The Nation and Dawn have separate Sunday editions dedicated to fashion and new trends. Most private TV channels have telecast shows on the fashion week.