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instep
analysis
V9: The real story
Supermodel Vaneeza Ahmed and entrepreneur Shehryar Sumar have
parted ways, so what happens to the most fashionable brand of lawn
Pakistan has ever seen?
By
Aamna Haider Isani
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What
would V9 lawn be without Vaneeza Ahmed? That's the million dollar
question on everyone's minds these days. It's buzzing around the fashion
industry and it will be the question women will be asking Shehryar
Sumar when he launches the new summer collection without her this
weekend.
Vaneeza V9 lawn started out as a venture under the Suma Project V
banner, a small project under the much larger umbrella of Mohammad
Farooq Textiles that was given to Shehryar and Vaneeza Ahmed to manage,
since they were engaged to be married. Now, almost one year after
they parted ways, Shehryar has bravely taken on the challenge of manufacturing
V9 without his partner and Vaneeza will be taking her aesthetic expertise
to another textile mill, Sitara, in Faisalabad.
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| "The
brand association of V9 is definitely with Vaneeza," says Shehryar
when asked how, if at all, Vinny's absence will affect sales this
year. He adds, "We're not even trying to say that she's with
us this year. But I'm hoping women will come and stay for the designs.
People will have faith and trust in the brand. Vaneeza was a part
of the process and she will be missed. Of course she will be missed.
But I don't believe in exclusivity. The market is a big place and
she'll do well with her new partners too. Our brand will take a couple
of years to come out of this phase but women will understand the continuity
because it is basically the same design team working on the prints;
I have always been the creative director. There will be medium intensity
in terms of sales this year but I think the brand is very strong and
will survive." |
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There's
an almost personal allusion to this statement and one can sympathize,
as break ups are always painful. But the interesting thing to come
out of this division of partnerships, however, is the fact that Shehryar
Sumar has stepped in, all guns blazing, with a personal interest in
making the new V9 project successful. It's always good to see new
people stepping into the fashion industry and then again, this isn't
just anyone trying his hand at it. This is one of the two sons of
textile giant Mohammad Farooq Sumar and he is attempting the long
awaited collaboration between textile manufacturers and fashion designers
on a mass level, for the masses. Suma Project V, as Shehryar puts
it, is just a beginning of something very big.
It has taken off with the V9 lawn and the now iconic 'I love KHI'
tee shirts that have been flying off shelves. Next are plans for V9
Casuals, this year featuring upcoming designer Fahad Hussayn, and
then taking the 'I love KHI' theme to an altogether new level of tourism
for the city. |
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"We're
printing (I Love) t-shirts for Islamabad and Lahore as well,"
says Shehryar. "The plan is to start a new wave of tourism in
the cities: websites, maps, flyers and even taxi cabs that boast our
love for these places. As for V9, we've asked designers to play around
with the fabric; dress it up. Last time we had Vaneeza's friends:
Umar Sayeed, Nomi Ansari and HSY. I brought in the Karachi designers
- Deepak Perwani, Sonya Battla and Amin Gulgee - but this time we
wanted new designers. It's V9 Casuals featuring Fahad Hussayn. If
women want my brand - V9 Casuals - they can order and buy ready to
wear from us. In April we'll have a V9 runway and will launch the
casuals properly as a trade show, like the last one. The plan is to
make this project huge."
This year Shehryar has zoned in on Lahore-based designer Fahad Hussayn.
When asked how the new designer will fulfill orders and get the fitting
right, because that is something even some established designers can
mess up on, Shehryar has seems to have it sorted out "Even if
I get ten to fifteen orders in Karachi, I will fly Fahad out. He can
meet with the clients, take measurements and then deliver."
If the option of buying custom-made designer lawn suits succeeds and
becomes a feature of the annual V9 exhibitions then an important new
platform for new fashion talent will have been created. Pakistan is
as yet unchartered territory as far as fashion is concerned and it
is entrepreneurs like Shehryar who have the resources and the know
how to change that. In the textile industry, which does its own thing
and largely stays away from associating with fashion, Shehryar's attitude
is a breath of fresh air.
"I'm even going to find a designer in Peshawar," he says.
"I want V9 to be there too. Junaid Jamshed has two shops in Peshawar;
there is a market there as well. Lawn is for the people; looking at
the wearability in our weather and the low cost of the fabric, lawn
is the closest thing we have to pret. The purpose of Suma Project
V is to have a good thing for the most number of people. V9 is about
art and living and design but also about social responsibility. That's
the principal with which I work."
Shehryar Sumar, true to his word, does cut an honest figure. Having
spent most of his grown up life abroad - in Paris and Buenos Aires
- he returned just a couple of years ago to start this partnership
that bred V9. Despite being one heir to the MF textile mill, the business
is relatively new to him and he's equally new to the industry. In
fact most people have only known him as Vaneeza's fiancé. But
as a new entry to Pakistan's fashion charts, Shehryar brings a fresh
and modern perspective to the table.
"V9 has always been about a lot of things - bold colours, designs
and the empowerment of women," he says, explaining his interpretation
of the fabric that was identified with Vaneeza until now. "Lawn
is the true prêt in Pakistan; it's largely what women wear and
V9 is at the upper crust of that market. We're a small mill compared
to our competitors. But our name is in the market for the quality
we offer. People are ready for lawn collections now – the stamp
of textile mills isn't good enough anymore.
It's a trend Shamaeel and Rizwan Beyg and Sana Safinaz started in
the mid-nineties and we now are doing very well. I do both Mohammad
Farooq and V9 prints but I make them different. MF kicks back to my
mother's day; has a lot of water colour and pastels. V9 is determined
by stronger colours and design."
Shehryar certainly is at ease with art and design and his single story
house in Defence (Karachi) - practically his entire apartment in Paris
imported here - bears witness to that. It is a bachelor's pad, but
it's no dark and shady den. The west open space is breezy and cool
and leads one to a contemporary space dotted here and there with modern
artifacts, classic posters, music mixing systems, lots and lots of
logos plus loads of cartons carrying V9 and 'I love KHI' merchandise.
Shehryar fits in just as well. He changed lanes from law to design,
as the latter interested him more and dedicates a lot of his time
now to developing logos from the V9 inverted Vs to the classic signage
for the Mohammad Farooq home linen outlet - Angel Thread - in Paris.
Which brings one to the biggest controversy of V9: its copyright and
the legal ownership of the inverted V logo, which many people read
as the initials to 'Vaneeza Ahmed'.
"Let me make this very clear: 'Vaneeza V9 lawn prints' belongs
to my company," Shehryar clarifies. "That fact is in public
domain, but I won't use her name. The V alongside the inverted V logo
is mine; it's not 'VA'. I made all the logos and the precursor to
this is the inverted 'F' Fendi logo. This logo was supposed to be
the pattern that comes on linings. Sure we're using it. Why not? I'll
use it when we expand to bags and chappals and shoes. The registration
and copyright is mine."
"Vaneeza undoubtedly had great mass appeal," he adds. "Here
was a woman who's in her mid thirties, she's slim, she looks good
and she flies all over the place. It's the dream of every young girl.
People want magic and stardom. That's what Vaneeza did for V9. She
was a great brand ambassador. But other than that who was Vaneeza
in lawn? She's a lawn model. What does she know about lawn? She had
done a couple of shoots and that's it. She got into lawn because that's
the product we make. She got into it because I told her to. She learnt
everything here. She was going to be my wife, we were engaged, and
she had access to work with our team of designers because of our relationship.
A lot of things have been delayed because we split up. We were planning
to export lawn and that's what I intend to do eventually - export
to Dubai and India. But nothing is clear on exports in Pakistan. The
government says they have cleared trade but it's uncertain."
There's no doubt about the fact that Vaneeza Ahmed was the face of
V9 and its going to be an extremely difficult face to replace. What
Vinny did with V9 is what Kate Moss did with the Top Shop collection
she designed; it wouldn't be wrong to call Shehryar Sumar her Sir
Philip Green. He was the industrialist investor and the machinery
that kicked V9 into existence was all his, but the face that sold
a million metres of fabric belonged to Vinny. As with Top Shop's Kate
Moss line, the promise of wearing a little bit of Vaneeza was what
had women queued outside exhibition venues much before opening time.
Girls who never wore the shalwar kameez were buying; they wanted to
be part of the dream she seems to live. V9 managed to break the monopoly
Mausummery lawn had on the market. Women were actually saving to hoard
on V9. It was a rollicking success. With the Mohammad Farooq textile
backing, Vaneeza's supermodel-celebrity status and all the media hype
that came attached, it was the ideal formula for success.
Yet, it has to be said that when people in the industry conjecture
whether V9 will succeed without Vinny, they have it wrong. Mohammad
Farooq is one of the oldest and most reputable names in the textile
business and while V9 sales may go down, it won't affect the business
much. After all, Top Shop won't collapse if Kate Moss decides to part
ways with them. It will still remain one of the most popular clothing
chains in the West.
Ultimately, what is exciting about the V9 project that Shehryar Sumar
and Vaneeza Ahmed embarked on together is the synergy the project
has created between fashion and big business. Vaneeza may have exited
from the V9 project, but she has taken her experience to Sitara Textiles.
Meanwhile Shehryar is gung ho about Suma Project V and is all set
to take fashion, textiles and lifestyles in exciting new directions.
And the future of fashion in Pakistan seems to be a lot brighter because
they were once together, even though they're not anymore.
(Instep got
in touch with Vaneeza Ahmed but she did not want to speak about
V9. You can check out Fahad Hussayn's designs for V9 Casuals on
Style section) |
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