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Hotsteppers
of the week
Adnan Pardesy & Mahin Hussain
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Thirty
years ago anyone could have gotten up and become a fashion designer.
All it required was a certain degree of good taste which in most cases
rose from an arty background and classy lifestyle. Some of the world's
most renowned fashion designers expanded into conglomerates just on
the whim of having good taste and of course, a vision. Coco Chanel,
Gianni Versace and here in Pakistan Maheen Khan, Sana Safinaz or Rizwan
Beyg (who like Versace has studied architecture) are just a handful
out of the endless examples one can quote.
But things are different now. Fashion has become such a vast, competitive
and thus challenging industry that even though ambitious 'darzigners'
are stepping into the field nine to a dozen, only those designers
who have their techniques in control are actually a cinch to make
it big. And that applies especially to the genre of ready to wear
clothing.
This week's hotsteppers are two young and emerging designers who have
studied fashion, have a vision for where they want to take their business
and are already making a mark on the scene. Here's to Adnan Pardesy
and Mahin Hussain. |
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statement: Innovating couture without embellishment. |
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| Adnan
Pardesy graduated from the Asian Institute of Fashion Design (Karachi)
a couple of years ago with the aim that he would design couture without
the help of surface embellishment or embroidery. Though he took time
in starting off and getting noticed, he finally shot into the limelight
three weeks ago when he was given a slot to show at Karachi Fashion
Week. Adnan's collection and the experimentalism one saw in his dresses
impressed everyone and proved that the boy has a signature and he
will go far in translating it to ready to wear clothing, whenever
he got the opportunity. But he impressed his audience and his critics,
motivating Maheen Khan to take him along
to Singapore, where she was showing at a charity fashion event. According
to Maheen, "Adnan was a
star in Singapore." He managed to sell a |
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couple
of his dramatic runway costumes and got orders on more.
Adnan is committed to western wear and though he currently operates
from a private studio, he does intend to get into ready to wear soon.
Until he does, he is hotstepper for sticking to his guns and proving
that there is a market beyond the commercial bridal bazaar and outside
the ostentatious world of zari and dabka. |
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| Mission
statement: Breaking away from the black, brown and white bag stereotype.
It' good to know that not every young designer getting into fashion
is following the same route to making expensive designer wear. Mahin
Hussain, a London School of Fashion graduate, has actually been
trained and is now qualified in making leather handbags. Initially,
after studying print making from the Indus Valley School of Art
and Architecture (Karachi) she joined the team at Khaadi and made
all those fabulous fabric printed bags that we grew to love. She
then decided to get some technical training and after returning
from London and spending two years under the tutelage of Maheen
Khan, she recently branched off. Mahin launched her very first collection
of leather handbags last week (at Maheen Khan's Clifton outlet)
and they were an instant hit. Contrary to what most people had imagined,
the bags were colourful, bright and as funky as a bag of candy.
"People are so used to carrying neutral bags in Pakistan,"
she spoke to Instep, "But I want to show them that one can
have fun with them too. That's why I use so much colour." The
best thing is that these fashionable bags aren't priced as high
as one would expect. They are extremely affordable and the finish
simply points out at technical know how. As she says, "I never
could have done it without the training." Mahin is hotstepper
for having that vision to pursue her education and getting into
a business she loves as opposed to what will bring her bigger profits. |
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