The
man is hard to miss and easy to remember. There aren't many men
who look like him in the fashion industry. In a jeans and t-shirt
culture that borrows heavily from the west, Yousuf Bashir Qureshi
has always made an eye-catching fashion statement in his rustic,
feudal appearance. Right from the starch in his dhoti kurta, the
punch of kohl in his eyes and the arrogance of his moustache, you
could give him a gun and send him off to take care of the lands.
But then that is what Yousuf does for a living: he is primarily
a zamindar who takes care of his ancestral land in Sindh. The twist
is that unlike most zamindars we are accustomed to, YBQ has an incredibly
creative edge that has dominated most of his growing up life in
America. Madonna, Sheryl Crow, Patrick Swayze, Naomi Campbell, Givenchy,
Christian Lacroix, Kenneth Cole, Salvatore Ferragamo, Gianfranco
Ferre… Yousuf drops these names easily and frequently as he
skims over the 16 years he spent hitchhiking across the world.
 He
returned to Pakistan with his wife and three children in 2004 upon
his grandfather's request but his grand fashion homecoming happened
only last week. The opening of the YBQ Concept Studio at the Commune
in Karachi introduced his debut collection for Pakistan and it was
as stunning as the launch itself.
A very cocky image of the man served both as invite and backdrop
over a rippling black red carpet. His store opened to an exaggerated
weaving frame, eclectic lights designed by his students at Indus
Valley and suspended mannequins, which he had sculpted himself.
The men's wear collection comprised of colourful kurtas and silk
scarves very much like what he wears and the women's wear cast in
a raw, bone white was exactly what one expects to see in an international
display. Cascades of white satin drawn together in perfect drapes,
dresses woven out of Italian yarn and interesting gold plated 'Pakistan
Zindabad' coins similar to the now extinct ten paisa coin in the
detailing. It all came together quite fascinatingly.
"I have designed this collection specifically for the Concept
Studio," Yousuf said to Instep, "and I intend stocking
other designers from Pakistan as well as India, Lebanon, and elsewhere
as long as the collections are exclusive to this place."
The Concept Studio, he furthered, was exactly what the name suggested:
a space to generate ideas which could include furniture, clothes,
shoes, bags, accessories and even the odd wall hanging. A certain
bathroom display - that had different coloured bottles suspended
from the ceiling (a gift from Bacchus, he laughed) and illuminated
for effect - was especially eye catching.
"This place now has four very strong divisions," he explained.
"We have the YBQ Design Studio that designs everything from
clothes to stationery. There is the YBQ Concept Studio, the Commune
Artist Colony, which has been hosting exhibitions, concerts, literary
readings etc. And there is the YBQ Printing Press. It's all functional."
A lot of planning had gone into putting this launch together - it
was an evening that featured a twenty-minute visual presentation
featuring Aamina Sheikh and Mohib Mirza. There was no catwalk but
as the conceptual fashion video played across several huge plasmas
across the hall, one saw this as an edgy and confident alternative
for a store opening. It was a union of high art and fashion, neither
of which should have to exist without the other. And validation
for Yousuf's work came from the people who had traveled into the
Miskeen Gali off Old Queens Road for the opening. Whoever has been
there will know it isn't the easiest place to access. Sadaf Malaterre
had done the styling for the video; she was there. Iman Ahmad, Sonya
Battla, Tariq Amin, Frieha Altaf, Iraj, Aamina Sheikh, Shallum (who
had mixed the music), Adnan Pardesy, Amean J, Shehnaz Ismail and
a further eclectic mix were all around.
YBQ has had many claims to fame ever since his return to Pakistan
in 2004: teaching at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture,
serving as Pakistan Fashion and Design Council's representative
in Karachi, creating the Commune, featuring as a creative whiz in
Khaula Jamil's book Raw Life. But nothing he has done has really
justified his fame, which has been more about his image than execution
of his craft. One has heard that he stocks at Barney's and Nordstrom
but he has never designed a collection in Pakistan to prove how
good a designer he is. All this has led to immense speculation about
the credibility of Yousuf Bashir Mirza. Until now.
 "I'm
getting great feedback," he spoke to Instep the morning after
the show, "and I've been offered to take the Concept Studio
to Dubai. I had people from Dubai (Zara Hussein of Ghanamati) and
Barcelona here last night and they've shown interest in my collection
too."
From opening the Silk Café in Nebraska, helping Naomi Campbell
plan her menu for Fashion Café in New York, training Patrick
Swayze's horse and ending up designing for him and other celebrities
in Hollywood, working for a boutique owned by a Russian mobster
and designing display windows on Rodeo Drive for Ferre and Ferragamo…Yousuf
Bashir Qureshi shares colourful, almost unbelievable, tales of his
past. Though his past may bring him invaluable experience, it is
the role he takes up in Pakistan's fashion scene that is important
now.
"I don't want to be part of any politics, national or fashion
related," he says. "I would love to participate in Fashion
Pakistan Week and even help bring foreign buyers to town but I will
only do so if designers put their egos aside and Lahore and Karachi
agree to come on one platform. We have extreme talent here and it's
time that young, raw talent was nurtured and given exposure to grow.
And it can only happen with a united effort."
– Photography of the event by Ayaz Anis
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