Remote Pakistani Village Attracts International Fashion Designers

During a long and stubborn winter in the Hindu Kush in northern Pakistan, eight figures rose on the horizon of the Lowari Pass. Seven porters, 20 suitcases and an Australian fashion designer. They crunched over the snowy track at 3,000 metres laden with an improbable cargo of spring and summer clothing. “Winter is tough and you just have to work around that,” says Cathy Braid, who launched the Caravana couture label with friend and business manager Kirsten Ainsworth in 2003 from Pakistan’s northern town of Chitral.