In the span of his 25 year long career, Tariq Amin has been called many things. Among these are 'genius' and 'Pakistan's top stylist', but he is also the recipient of less flattering remarks. His detractors are many, people who feel that he is narcissistic, rude and opinionated. In his defense, Tariq says that he just "tells the truth".
 Deftly applying streaks to a client's hair in his salon, surrounded by black and white photographs of various models he has styled, Tariq Amin recalls the days of yore when he first started out. "When I began my career, there was no concept of style in Pakistan," he tells me. "A beauty salon basically meant an aunty slathering on make-up onto the faces of her family and friends in her house's spare room. I taught this nation how to style and yet, strangely, I am not a part of either of the fashion councils. The fashion fraternity would rather take on inexperienced newcomers than a veteran who is honest."
His 'honesty' may have earned him a few foes but Tariq Amin is still a force to reckon with. Last year, amidst much fanfare, he opened his new salon in Clifton ("My clients love the natural light here and being able to come easily without virtually having to go through immigration-style security checks when they visited me at PC.") and his days are spent careening back and forth through the country, attending to his loyal clientele. "I make sure my clients look good. If my client looks like crap, that makes me look like crap," he reasons. The lady getting her hair streaked by him looks suitably appeased on hearing this.
So, as a stalwart who has witnessed the highs and lows of the industry, what is his opinion of fashion in Pakistan? "We have come a long way … but we also have a long way to go!" he wisecracks. "I feel that we have become very complacent about mediocrity; rather, we strive towards it. There are old timers like Rizwan Beyg, Maheen Khan and Nilofer Shahid who really know their work and then there is an entire entourage of newcomers who reproduce the same styles over and over again and yet, are applauded! An aunty with a well-connected social circle can set up shop in her garage and be deemed a 'designer'. Look at India; they have Cosmo, Vogue and GQ but these publications have never ventured into Pakistan because there is no professionalism here. Over here, you don't even need a degree – you just need to go to the right parties, know the right people and, if you belong to the Lahore fashion mafia, have the right designer bag – even if you can't pronounce its name!" he chortles.
 Nevertheless, with the spate of fashion weeks scheduled to take place in 2010 as well as the recently held Fashion Pakistan Week, does he see more improvements? "I wouldn't know about Fashion Pakistan Week since I didn't attend it. I wasn't invited," he replies, much to my surprise.
And what of the rumors that he is taking part in a fashion week sponsored by Unilever? "I assure you that when I do become part of a fashion week, it'll be strong, rather than a fashion w-e-a-k," he rejoins. "But that project isn't final yet. I have only attended one meeting so far."
Moving on to his other passion, music, he has earned accolades for his performances and styling in music videos like Abbas Ali Khan's 'Sun Re' and Fuzon's 'Khamaj'. Has he worked on any new music videos of late? "No, I haven't. I won the MTV Award for Best male model in a video two years in a row. Isn't that enough?" he jokes. "I haven't even enjoyed watching the recent batch of videos that are being aired on TV. I don't think a video has been released yet that has been able to beat 'Khamaj'. There's nothing new about the videos I see on TV. I've already done a vampire video, paraded as a clown and pretended to be a genie. If and when I do perform or provide styling for a video, I assure you it will be unique."
His penchant for being unique is probably what makes him one of Pakistan's most talented stylists. Furthermore, his protégés are dispersed all over the country, stylists who have trained under him and gone off to set up salons of their own. "Shaheen Syed, Nina Lotia, Mubashir, Natasha Saigol … they have all been my students and now they are all established stylists. I really am not exaggerating when I say that I have taught Pakistan what style really is," he insists.
His claim to have dragged Pakistan out of the backwaters of a gauche, fashionless existence may strike one as egocentric. It's easy to see why so many of Pakistan's fashion fraternity find Tariq Amin's ready sarcasm hard to accept. Still, maybe he really isn't being cynical for no reason at all. He's seen Pakistani fashion metamorphose from a fraternity with just a handful of designers into a booming, media-savvy industry. Maybe, as he claims, Tariq Amin is just stating facts, just "telling the truth".
-- Photos by
Usman Malkan |
