Parishae Adnan Takes Pakistani Craftsmanship to New York Fashion Week

A hand-embroidered tie made in 2001, an old bridal lehenga, and garments that had spent years in storage all found a new life on a New York runway. Pakistani fashion designer Parishae Adnan closed Flying Solo’s New York Fashion Week show on September 13, 2026, with ‘Second Skin’, an eight-look collection built from archival menswear, bridalwear, and deadstock. Instead of starting with new fabrics, Parishae worked with garments that already existed in her family fashion house. She dismantled and reconstructed them through tailoring, corsetry, and hand embroidery, creating new silhouettes around the female body. The collection gives old family garments a new purpose while preserving the craftsmanship and stories behind them.

Rebuilding the Family Archive

The collection opens with a look called ‘My Father’s Tie’, which carries a direct link to Parishae’s family history. It incorporates a hand-embroidered raw-silk tie created by her father, Pakistani designer Amir Adnan, for a 2001 collection. More than two decades later, the tie was placed on a new jacket with a sharply structured silhouette.

A bridal lehenga was reconstructed into a sculpted bustier and a 16-inch mini skirt. Another old garment, a sherwani that had remained unsold in deadstock for more than 15 years, was transformed into a cropped jacket. Its embroidered collar and belt involved around 200 hours of handwork, according to coverage of the collection.

The collection also revisited a South Asian garment that had appeared on the runway in December 2024. The piece was completely dismantled, and its black velvet embroidery was rebuilt into a floor-length Western coat. The original garment disappeared, but its craftsmanship remained part of the new design.

Giving Old Garments a New Life

‘Second Skin’ is built around the idea that existing garments can become the starting point for new designs. Rather than treating older pieces as finished products, Parishae uses their fabric, embroidery, and construction as materials for something different. The collection moves from traditional menswear tailoring toward corsetry, exposed construction, and exaggerated shapes. This creates a contrast between the original purpose of the garments and their new forms. The approach also places the collection within the wider conversation around circular fashion, which focuses on extending the life of existing materials instead of continually producing new ones. 

Taking Pakistani Craftsmanship to New York

Parishae’s presentation brought this family archive to an international runway through Flying Solo’s New York Fashion Week showcase. Flying Solo describes its shows as platforms for independent designers from around the world, and its September 2026 lineup included Parishae’s  ‘Second Skin’. The presentation also drew figures from the creative community, including Grammy Award-winning musician Arooj Aftab, artist and influencer Sufi Malik, and actor Anika Zulfikar.

For Parishae, ‘Second Skin’ represents more than a new fashion collection. It brings together pieces from her family’s past with her own approach to contemporary design. On a New York runway, traditional Pakistani embroidery and handwork were reworked into new designs using garments that already existed. By giving these pieces a new purpose, Parishae connected sustainability with the heritage of her family’s fashion house. ‘Second Skin’ shows how Pakistani craftsmanship can evolve while remaining connected to its history. 

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