Comment by Riaz Haq on March 3, 2013 at 9:40pm

Here's a Dawn story on Karachi Flower Show 2013:

Flowers bloom and nature smiles at the annual Karachi Flower Show, which will continue till Feb 27. Seasonal flowers, herbs and ornamental plants were beautifully displayed at the show. Nursery owners, organic farmers, gardeners, bonsai planters and fertilizer suppliers put their expertise and products for the promotion of gardening and farming.

Serious gardeners, nature lovers, horticulturists and ordinary people attended the flower exhibition to view the variety of cactuses, herbs, bamboos, flowers and gardening related items which were on sale and on display at the show. While Innovative green projects were also on display by school children.

People were also interested in growing vegetables at their home gardens or in planters and pots.

http://dawn.com/2012/02/25/karachi-flower-show-in-full-swing/

Comment by Riaz Haq on March 9, 2013 at 9:56am

Here's an ET story on hairstyling in Pakistan:

KARACHI: Meet Mark Hampton. He’s 28 years old, blonde, boyish and you can’t tell that he’s a maverick with hair; the youngest global ambassador, in fact, of a world-renowned hair brand like Toni&Guy.
However, get Mark to talk about hair and he transforms from the charming young British lad to hairstylist extraordinaire. He’ll talk about partings, detangling and blow-drying the ‘crazy bits’ of hair until it sweeps you into a world where hair can be coerced into wacky, glamorous hairstyles with just the right maneuvers. Oh, and you need to use the right Toni&Guy products, of course — Mark wouldn’t be a great ambassador if he didn’t advise you upon the various products of the brand he endorses.
To do them justice, the Toni&Guy ‘Hair Meet Wardrobe’ (HMW) line of products that has just launched in Pakistan actually does seem to be a lot of fun — there’s a ‘Classic Shine Gloss Serum’ that’s supposed to make hair glossy and shiny and a ‘Sea Salt Texturising Spray’ for creating the tousled beach hair look, among others. It was for the launch of this line that Mark landed in Karachi, to assert the Toni&Guy concept of dressing from “the head down”, where hair complements wardrobe and vice versa.
It may not have been the best time to visit Karachi — even though Mark was here just for two days — but he took the general unrest in the city in his stride. We meet with the threat of a city shutdown hanging over our heads and he good-naturedly shrugs. “I usually don’t bother much with current affairs,” he tells me. I can’t help but notice, though, that he has toned his appearance down — he’s dressed neatly, in a sensible full sleeved shirt that covers his tattooed arms. “Work keeps me busy and I am too wrapped up in my fashion bubble to stress out over what’s going on outside,” he says.
And what a bubble it is! Mark has been working for 11 years now and he’s trained under well-known stylist Guido Palau, assisting him in shows for Valentino and Alexander McQueen among others. More recently, he’s created hair for the Autumn/Winter 2013 shows at London Fashion Week (LFW) for the likes of Vivienne Westwood and Matthew Williamson in his capacity as a lead stylist from Toni&Guy. He plays stylist to the rich and the famous, his current favourite being Grammy-award winner Calvin Harris, who he says is very “down to earth and easygoing”. Mark’s been to the Oscars, travels constantly and has a hectic, high-flying life that he absolutely loves!...

http://tribune.com.pk/story/518324/sartorial-word-dressing-pakistan...

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