Round is a shape. I am in shape.

"Round is a shape. I am in shape"
Published in 'YOU' [The News]
21st February, 2006.
By Fariha Rashed

A curvaceous and fuller bodied woman has as much a right to wear elegant and fashionable clothes as a perfect size 12 woman

More than half the women in Pakistan fit into plus size outfits but you won't find a single local, ready-to-wear designer creating clothes for larger women, or even thinking on those lines for that matter. This is quite a shame because I believe as a designer you need to research your market not just in terms of what colour, style or fit people prefer but also with regard to what sizes they can wear and what the average woman's size really is! The Asian figure is fuller and the average size for a Pakistani woman in particular is in the range of 14 to 16. There is also a large and rapidly growing plus-size teen market on the horizon. I am sure if our local designers go with public requirements, they will receive an overwhelming demand for plus-sized clothing in the market.

The idea that the Pakistani designers cater to this largely overlooked chunk of the market is not only an appealing idea but also a smart business move. The trick is not to just make plus-sized garments, but also to design them in a way that is stylish, chic and trendy. Slightly plump or overweight people also want to feel and look good in what they wear and feel satisfied with their image. Finding the right fashionable plus-size clothes for themselves can help them do just that and avoid feeling like 'outsiders'. It becomes a kind of 'body-image therapy' for them. They would willingly spend large amounts of money to buy trendy alternatives than wearing baggy clothes that hide their bodies and do nothing for their self-esteem.

Abroad, outlets such as The Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy, J.C Penny, Sears, Nordstrom and many more, all offer extended sizes. Even the celebrities pitch in. Hip-hop star Nelly has launched her own label called 'Apple Bottoms' for larger, broader and fuller-bodied women. J.Lo started her fashion company 'Sweetface' in 2004, also catering to plus-size women and to everyone's astonishment, her company grossed over $130 million that year. All these companies and stars have shrewdly recognized that the women's plus-size market is currently the fastest growing segment of the apparel industry. They have tapped into it by making the necessary expansion in size variations.

Local designers offer no such options for larger Pakistani women. As a result, they are forced to buy imported garments. Pregnant women can't walk into any fashion outlet and pull out a smart and fashionable maternity dress for themselves. Due to this lack of choice, pregnant ladies continue wearing baggy and shapeless clothes that hang off of them like dough drooping off a wooden rod. They feel undeserving and fat who don't have the right to look good because they are suddenly shunned from 'fashion'.

I believe the wind of change and opportunity is blowing our way and our designers should make use of it. They need to stop depriving the plus-size market of the fresh and fashionable options afforded to their "average" sized counterparts.

Having an outlet in Y-Block, Defence or on Main Boulevard is no justification for the ridiculously high prices designers charge for the limited variety in sizes they offer. They should expand their target market and cater to all sizes, which will automatically increase demand and ultimately result in profit. I am positive the response to this strategy will be overwhelming for designers and they will become the 'advocates of change'. There is nothing like a happy and satisfied customer, even if that customer isn't a "perfect" and petite size 12.

Link: http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/feb2006-weekly/you-21-02-2006/index.html

The Mafia.

The Mafia
Published at Chowk.com
Link: http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00006143&channel=chaathouse
10th February, 2006.

To understand the word mafia in the context in which I am referring to it in this article, one must first specify its dictionary meaning, which is “a close-knit or influential group of people who work together and protect one another’s interests or the interests of a particular person.”

In almost very field of entertainment in Pakistan, sly workings of a tight knit group of people appear to be at work, who end up benefiting from a large chunk of the gains from that industry. This group is called a mafia and they do their best to make sure that no bustling new talent trying to break into the industry makes it very far without their help or without going through them first. In the same way the music industry has also been plagued by a similar mafia that includes a cluster of people ranging from directors, choreographers, heads of record labels, event managers to even VJs from various music channels. They form an understanding among themselves to exclusively support and work with each other in order to capture the entire market and safeguard each others interests. They end up monopolizing the industry and all work is conveniently supplied to them alone. There is also a great deal of pathetic exploitation taking place by various parties in the music industry of unsuspecting new artists coming onto the scene.

This ‘hardcore mafia’ hangs out at all important events and parties taking place in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. They usually comprise of a group of people already very well known and established in the music industry. Since Pakistan does not yet have suitable organizations to promote and market artists the way they do in the west, this ‘mafia’ takes over that crucial role in a negative and rather oppressive way. Record labels, for example, are scarce in Pakistan, but the ones that exist are very well established and have been running their manufacturing factories of CDs, tapes and DVDs since a very long time now. They are equipped with all the relevant contacts to back them and an abundance of finances which allows them to perpetually stay at the top of the game. They are not worried about competition because they know the competition would have a tough time against their esteemed success and power built out of sheer monopoly rather than through the dissemination of quality products.

Tragically record companies do not offer the artists whose albums they plan to release a whole lot to chew on in terms of incentives and support. Artists get no royalty on the sale of their CDs and cassettes and the record label offers the minimum amount of marketing for them and for the promotion or launch of their album. Coming out with a video to support the release of the album is also the artist’s own headache. The sad part is that the record label knows it can get away with this half hearted and almost unfair offer that it unjustly ‘grants’ the artists, because it realizes that it has no particular competition in the market. This lack of available competition in turn, ensures that the artists will turn to no one else for the release of their music.

An artist has to have and has to continue building a good rapport with the owners of the record labels who often have absolutely no idea about music. They only view the album as a product from which they want to gain maximum profit for themselves. They are least bothered about the quality of work or genre of music they promote. I think that if there was good and healthy competition for these already well established record companies that offered much better incentives and quality to artists, this mafia like condition would be done away with and our artists would feel more encouraged, optimistic, secure and motivated. Our music industry would flourish too!

Furthermore music directors often ask for ridiculously exorbitant sums from new artists to direct relatively easy videos, knowing that the musicians could not possibly afford that kind of a budget at an early stage in their career. As if that isn’t enough, they also insist that they will only work with particular choreographers, designers and make up artists who all come together as a package and thus form that dreaded mafia [once again]. Taking it one step further, when companies agree to sponsor a video for an upcoming musician, they too stress on the use of the same mafia of directors, make up artists, choreographers and so on. Every step becomes interlinked and dependant on the other and the music artist finds himself/herself confined and compelled to work with the same people that everyone else has worked with. It’s almost like eating the same dish of food every single day of your life, even if it starts rotting or becoming stale.

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS!
If you happen go to parties and ‘get-togethers’ anywhere in Pakistan, you will see the same faces over and over again almost like a serious case of ‘deja-vu’ happening right before your very eyes. You want to know why? Because if you want to be a success in any industry related to entertainment in Pakistan, you have to be seen at all these events and you must fit in and rub shoulders with important people. If you are a musician and the director of your next video invites you to a party, you have to go, or you take the risk of losing his interest in doing your work. If you’re an upcoming, budding music artist striving to be a huge success, more than making great music, you have to hang out with the ‘plastic mafia’ that helps shape and determine how painlessly or painfully you move forwards with your career as a musician, and with what speed. If you want your video aired relentlessly on the few music channels that there are in Pakistan, star one of the VJs in it and watch it magically enter into the charts and shoot to one of the top spots. You may even win an award for it! Better yet, just party with the VJs all night long and you’ll then be guaranteed an amazing airing on all shows on the channel that they work for. If you want your video or song to be nominated in the ‘prestigious’ Music Awards, make sure you get the ‘mafia’ behind you and don’t forget to thank them when you win and pit pat onto the stage to receive your award; and if you are a talented, new director trying to get a foothold in the music industry and create a name for yourself, you won’t be able to do it without the help, involvement or support of the ‘big fish’ already in control of the whole video making scene. It’s a jungle out there and every time I think of how our music industry has been overtaken by a few control freaks that can’t see anyone else succeed or rise to the top without their consent or direct involvement, I am reminded of the Italian mob (mafia)….and it scares me. I fear a bloodbath coming our way very soon.

By: Fariha Rashed
Chowk link: http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00006143&channel=chaathouse

Step into Maria's World.

Step into Maria’s World
Published in Fashion Collection-Annual Issue 2006.
Issue No. 103

I can’t explain this as anything else but one of the most relaxed and casual interviews I have ever taken and that also of such a well known and respected designer as Maria. B. As I sat at her comfortable home in Lahore, sipping on deliciously hot, pink colored ‘kashmiri chai’, Maria and I broke into an easy conversation about her life, career and experiences in the fashion industry. The best part of the whole ambiance was the presence of her baby daughter Fatima, who kept the mood alive with her occasional little shrieks of excitement and naughty antics throughout
the stretch of the interview. Step into Maria. B’s world.

What is your qualification as a designer?

I graduated from PSFD. Before that I did my A Levels from Karachi Grammar School. After fashion school I went straight into work.
When did you decided to create the label MARIA.B and why?I decided in second year at PSFD. I didn’t want to start something from the home or do just bridal. I wanted to reach out to people and have fashion and street wear accessible to everybody. Before we started there was just Neepunhal and Generation and nothing else. I feel there is still nothing else. I wanted to reach out to as many people as I could and if I would have just stuck to bridal wear I would have been limited. At the end of the day I had a greater purpose where I wanted to sort of revolutionize fashion.
Which countries besides Pakistan does MARIA.B cater to?
We have an Asian clientele whether it’s in the UK, US, Netherlands, Pakistan or India for that matter. Not only that, but recently some people said that my clothes work very well for the Arab women because they want trendy stuff like bootleg pants and short shirts. That’s the market I especially want to expand into, the Muslim belt of countries.

What was it like to be the first Pakistani to win an international fashion competition?
It was surreal. I was a part of the first batch of PSFD students going to Belgium and I remember thinking to myself very casually “ok so we are just going to be one of the 50 countries there and probably won’t win anyway”. The experience was amazing though because I got selected to participate on the basis of my portfolio and the judges actually said that mine was the best portfolio they had seen so far.

How has winning that competition helped you since?
It made a difference in the beginning because it gave me a lot of confidence. I thought if I can win by going to Belgium and competing with students from fashion schools from all over the world and make my own impact in the process, then I can do anything. It gave me a high and encouraged me to start something of my own. If you look at the Pakistani fashion industry, unfortunately people just want to play down achievements. There are these older designers that are just hanging onto their ‘glory’ and when I first came in to the scene they wanted to literally rip me apart. Not only me, but even today they want to put all the younger designers like Nomi Ansari, Karma and Usman Dittu down also because they are insecure and can’t handle any competition in the market. However I am above all that now and it doesn’t upset me as I realize it’s all part of the game.

What range of garments does MARIA.B offer to women?
I do everything from casuals, semi-formal party wear, formals to bridals. The casuals and formals include the prêt a porter [ready to wear] line and then the couture [high fashion] bridal line and are totally separate. I did Western wear for a while but that’s not my particular clientele. My clientele would occasionally wear the sleeveless or short shirt but 85% of them wouldn’t. When one is catering to a large group of people, these restrictions do creep in and they should be taken as a challenge. When you’re retailing in the market as a designer you can’t afford to make choices for the client. You have to give your client what they want otherwise you fail. My casuals range from Rs. 900 to Rs. 3000. My semi-formal party-wear ranges from Rs. 3000 to Rs. 6000 and the formals start from Rs. 10, 000 onwards. Bridals start from 70, 000 onwards.

Why have you decided to only stick to women’s wear?
Since I have had a baby I really want to get into children’s wear and there is such a huge market for it. Sadly, I do not have time to go into that kind of production. Designing is not a problem for me but production is, as controlling the labor is a huge responsibility. However, I would love to go for it in the future as I know I have a feel for it and ridiculously there is no choice for children’s wear in Pakistan. Mothers have to shop abroad for their kids.

What is MARIA. B’s design philosophy?
My design philosophy is generally centered on my belief in fusion. I am a big believer in fusion and gelling together of Eastern and Western influences so that I can come up with something that is internationally viable. The designing however should not be overbearingly Western or overbearingly Eastern. There needs to be a perfect balance. Furthermore I want my clothes to be different and have a certain mark in the market. They should instantly be recognized as Maria .B outfits by customers and I try to follow the latest trends to achieve that uniqueness.

What do you believe the woman of today desires in a wardrobe and what kind of an image do your clothes help her to portray of herself?
I think above all else the woman of today desires functionality and also to have some sort of an edge in her style of dressing. She does not want to look like everyone else. My clothes follow the international trends and I feel that they help the woman of today portray herself as ‘one in a million’ wearing signature clothing.

You have a bridal couture line. How do you define ‘couture’?
Couture is made to measure and it is created on order. It has the element of exclusivity. In Pakistan bridal wear or formal wear is called couture, but true couture is something that a designer designs for the first time for somebody in their own measurement and it is the only garment of its kind. That is a rare phenomenon in Pakistan at the moment but it does happen.

Who does the make-up and grooming for your shoots?
The two or three make-up artists that I have worked with are all fabulous and I choose them according to the nature of the shoot. I have a good idea now about which make-up artist [or photographer for that matter] would do well with which theme.

How important do you think it is for a designer to have photo shoots appear in magazines/publications regularly? Why?
It is extremely important because as a designer I am selling an image. It is a form of marketing and because we always put so much stress on this aspect of marketing ourselves, the Maria.B label became a big name in just two years. We were actually building our brand through constant shoots in magazines and now a Maria.B shoot is recognized instantly by people.

How have you grown as a designer in the last 4 years?
I have learnt a lot. When I was in college I had these huge dreams and I told myself I would make all kinds of clothes and be very experimental but now I know it doesn’t work. You have to create what sells and I learnt that the hard way. At the end of the day market forces are what drive the designer. You have to make your mark and give your clothes that special edge within the confines of those forces.

How old is your baby and what is her name? Do you find it difficult to balance your personal life with your career?
My baby is called Fatima and she’s a year and a half. She’s completely changed my life and made me realize that nothing is as important as her.

Which is your most memorable fashion show and why?
It is the Paris collection because the scale was very big and I hardly get to show western clothes in Pakistan. My whole Paris collection was western wear. I enjoyed it for the freedom I had.

Do you think an education in fashion is absolutely necessary for a designer? Why?
Yes, pretty much. Aesthetically I don’t think anyone can teach you anything. Either you have it or you don’t. However, if as a designer I am not technically educated then the stitcher, cutter and other people that work for me will not respect me too much as a designer and I won’t be able to guide them properly. They would take me for a ride if I didn’t know anything about the technicality of making a garment. Therefore it makes a huge difference. Do you have an accessory line? What kind?I have started an accessory line and I have hired a girl for that. She has studied Accessory Design from FIT in the States. We have a completely separate accessory department with shoes and bags now.

What is the process you go through while designing a complete line for a season?
I first think of a theme for the next season and then I think of the print and get that made. Then the silhouette and the color palette are decided and finally I do the designing.

What kind of fabrics do you use?
I work with all kinds. For casuals I use ‘khadars’, cottons, lawns and ‘marina’. For semi-formals I use silks, georgettes, ‘jamawars’ and chiffons [as well as other transparent fabrics].

If you were not a designer, what would you have liked to be?
I would have been a nuclear scientist because I loved physics and I wanted to do nuclear physics. I applied at a University in Houston [America] but my cousin who was studying there told me that as a Muslim I wouldn’t be able to study it in the States.

Which local designers do you think are doing a good job?
Out of the older lot I love Imrana [Body Focus] from Karachi and Seher Saigal in Lahore. I think she is a true entrepreneur. I also like the eccentricity of Zubair Kuman. In the younger lot I like Karma and Nomi Ansari. Do you think having an online presence (website) is important for designers?Yes it is, and although we have one I have neglected it because I don’t have the time and I need people to manage it. A lot of our customers wanted us to have online sales but I have not gotten to that yet as far as an e-service is concerned where the customer can just click on the garment they want and choose the size.

How do you dress personally? What is your fashion statement?
I am very whimsical. I get sick of looking one way constantly and I need change. I dress according to my mood. I also mix and match a lot and I always design something that I myself would wear.

Link: http://www.fashioncollection.com.pk/html/interview3.htm

By: Fariha Rashed