ver wondered what happens when you hand the keys of our national airline uni-form over to Pakistan’s top fashion designers? You get a striking mix of crisp pilot suits, sharp tailoring, pleated shal-wars, soft pastels and even a futuristic flight suit.

The PIA New Uniform Desi-gn Showcase 2026 brought 10 designers and design houses together to pitch fresh looks for PIA. Put together by Frieha Altaf’s Catwalk Productions, the event comes a decade after the airline’s current uniforms, designed by Nomi Ansari and Sania Maskatiya, were intro-duced in 2016.

This time, the brief was more demanding. Designers had to consider the everyday realities of cabin crew life, combining fashion with com-fort, movement and the prac-tical needs of different roles.

Maheen Khan, teaming up with Deepak & Fahad, kept things sophisticated and under-stated, pairing camel and forest green with teal accents. The men’s look featured a sleek forest green high-collar jacket with asymmetric detailing.

Faraz Manan also favoured green but offered a broader wardrobe, moving between long tunics, tailored suits and formal uniforms. One of his more distinctive pieces was a light grey utility flight suit, alongside emerald tailoring and pillbox caps for women.

HSY (Hassan Sheheryar Yasin) stayed close to classic aviation codes, working with navy, forest green and cool grey. His standout was a traditional navy double-breasted pilot uni-form with gold detailing, along-side structured outerwear and sherwani-inspired tailoring.

Nomi Ansari created a complete uniform system rather than one signature look, ranging from sand-coloured tunics and crisp pilot shirts to beige blazers and forest green jackets with mint piping.

Deepak Perwani broke away from the dominant green palette with rich maroons, crim-sons, magentas and teals. His proposal included a maroon winter coat, crimson weather-proof parka and colourful cabin crew look.

Generation took a distin-ctly local route, leaning into traditional silhouettes with a relaxed forest green tunic, pleated shalwar-style trousers and an open-front overcoat with embroidered leaf details.

Ismail Farid went for classic tailoring, pairing a charcoal-green double-breasted trench coat with a pinstriped waistcoat, striped shirt and teal tie. Beige trousers, a leather travel bag and pilot’s cap comp-leted the look.

Munib Nawaz also played with traditional proportions, pairing an olive-green struct-ured blazer with a chocolate-brown tunic and loose shalwar trousers.

Amir Adnan provided one of the biggest colour depar-tures, moving into powder blue and soft peach. The women’s look featured a short tunic, wide pleated shalwar trousers and matching waistcoat, while the men’s version translated the palette into a conventional suit.

But this wasn’t just a fashion show where everyone claps and goes home. A five-member jury was tasked with assessing how these concepts would hold up at 30,000 feet.

The panel included Khaadi founder and CEO Shamoon Sultan, couturier Nilofer Shahid, academic Hina Tayyaba Khalil, beauty and image expert Nabila Maqsood and Naseem Tehrani, a PIA aviation veteran with 33 years of experience.

They scutinised the designs for style and practical durability. For now, none of these designs are official quite yet. Once the jury selects the winning design, it will head into production before eventually making its debut across PIA’s domestic and international routes.

Personally, our favourites are the designs by Maheen Khan with Deepak & Fahad and Faraz Manan, but let’s see what the jury selects.

For an airline where the uniform has long been such a visible part of its identity, the showcase offered a glimpse at where PIA’s look could go next.