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instep profile
Fashion's rock chick
Asmaa Humayun of Forget Pink is Lahore's answer to the pretty-pretty
fashion styling that has become Lahore's trademark and it should
be only a matter of time before she manages to contemporize the
city and make it forget pink altogether!
By Sehrish Khan
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| Asmaa
Humayun's home welcomes one into its minimalist modern ambiance. Paintings
by Asmaa hang on walls and comfy box sofas around low coffee tables
give off a casual, stylish yet comfortable feel to the home. It comes
from her arty and contemporary family background. She's married to
Farhad Humayun, lead percussionist of Overload and she shares with
Instep that their home has been artistically put together by Farhad's
sister an architect, Rima Bokhari who has evidently done a great job
of making it feel like one out of a delectable home catalog. |
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Asmaa
Mumtaz Hamayun is the brainchild behind 'Forget Pink,' an exclusive
hair and makeup salon which came into being two years ago. For Asmaa,
'Forget Pink' was a natural transition from the National College of
Art to the London College of Fashion where she studied beauty and
makeup. In both fields, she admits that her soul is still loyal to
the artist within her. So what does the name Forget Pink stand for?
"Pink symbolizes the little girly girl who's a cute little cupcake
- it's a stereotype of what a girl is supposed to symbolize. As far
as bridals and shoots are concerned the cup caked look was 10 years
ago. Forget Pink will hopefully try to educate a whole new kind of
beauty where girls don't have to hide behind make up," Asmaa
clarifies. |
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She adds that
she uses only MAC cosmetics / products and one look at her confirms
that she adheres to the MAC philosophy that dressed its girls in black
and accessorizes them with tons of colour and funk. She's in touch
with the fashion world and believes firmly that make up changes with
fashion.
"Forget Pink is not a highly commercial venture and I'm really
happy with it. I want to keep it the way it is - an exclusive salon
that's mainly based on personal interaction with clients. It's not
supposed to be a factory like venture I never want to do that. I want
my clients to be 100 percent happy when they leave," states Asmaa.
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Forget Pink attracts a lot of brides and young girls coming in for
their engagement party. It attracts girls who don't want to feel pasted
on their special day as Asmaa Humayun promises to make them look different
and gorgeous without compromising on looking young and stylish. Other
than personal clients, she has managed to create enough awareness
about her brand to attract likeminded corporations like Levi's for
example. She did the make up for the store launch of Levi's and its
consequent fashion show a couple of months back. Apart from that she
has dabbled her 'paintbrush' in several make ups and photo shoots. |
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Perfectionist
by nature, Asmaa done make up photo shoots for 'Red Earth' as well
as for her projects in England for 'Makeup Forever' and 'Morgan de
Toure.' Deconstructive to the core, her personal style is avant garde
and she feels that modern art has no specific boundaries. She pulls
apart certain looks and then remakes them as a form of a visual experiment.
The response to Forget Pink is really good but she feels that a lot
of people are still not willing to take the plunge. People still feel
safer in following trends rather be the trend setter themselves. Last
summer Asma went for a gothic Lolita, punk/rock inspired 80s look
at the Lux Style Awards, which was much appreciated. She gets noticed
on the red carpet and looks good on the arm of her husband Farhad.
Together they do look fantastic. |
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Asmaa also helps Farhad as an art director for his events. Other than
being lead member of Overload, he is also an event manager and the
brainchild behind Riot Productions. He studied sound engineering from
London and has done events for companies like Nestle, Worldcall, Total
PARCO, Crossroads, Levi's, Pakistan Television Corporation etc. Farhad
takes up cutting edge projects that give him creative control; he
feels being a creative director for events gives him a lot of design
freedom which is why he formed Riot Productions in the first place.
That's how he earns his living and strikes a balance between being
a businessman as well as having the artistic freedom to design events.
Farhad tells Instep that Asmaa smoothes out all the rough edges of
the events and gives him valuable input when working on an event.
"Marriage is like my best friend has just moved in with me! I'm
not the kind of person to have a desk job - I'm very erratic that
way, but Asmaa totally gets that!" he enthuses about his relationship
with his rock chick wife.
Farhad told Instep that when he had graduated from NCA, Asmaa had
begun her first year of college, so both of them were never in college
together. After after his graduation from NCA, Farhad was involved
in a work shop with a French film maker and had to submit a project.
He needed someone with long finger nails, that's when Farhad caught
a glimpse of Asmaa in the sculpture studio. He says him and his friends
had always admired her from afar, and it gave him the perfect excuse
to interact with her. He painted Asmaa's hands red and shot them for
his project. That's how he remembers his first meeting with Asmaa.
He says they had a lot of common friends so they were more or less
in touch with each other. Farhad flew abroad due to work for a year
and a half, and they kept in touch via email. They ended up getting
married. Their artistic temperaments complement each other.
Like any true artist, Asma does not limit her creativity. The future,
she says, might have anything in hold for her. She might pursue other
forms of art and she might hold an exhibition of her paintings later
this year. Whatever she decides to do, we're sure that her unconventional
chic will keep her in the picture. |
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