RAW
THE MAGAZINE
Amir Adnan
Interview withAmir Adnan
by Ahmed Hayat
be writing stories or children. This issomething that is in me.I believe in turning things around whichdon’t exist. I eel that everything is thereyou just need to rearrange the elementsand they will look totally dierent.This is exactly what I have done inPakistan I have just rearranged theelements. S halwar kurta was alwaysthere Sherwani was always there, it’s anage old garment. I have just rearrangedsome o the elements and I have madethe same things more ashionable andglobally acceptable. This is the thing Iam always up to so this is what I thoughto when I started ashion in Pakistan .This question was always in my mind;why there is no concept o ashion inPakistan ? We have all the ingredients -we have the culture, we have the designsense, we have talent, we have a lot o rich heritage that I could develop on butthat heritage had to be translated in adierent language. I have just translatedthat heritage into my own vocabularywhich is more understandable to a widespectrum o people and that is whatmade the dierence.
Ater Tee Jay you are the seconddesigner to receive “Pride o Perormance”, how does it eel to beregarded as ‘the man who has beenresponsible or reviving the Sherwaniand taking it into the realm o hautecouture’?
It is good and I am happy about itbecause you see the country has nowtaken ashion designing as a seriousproession. People never took ashiondesigning as a proession at all and I amone o the ew people who did.Ater completing my MBA and workingin a bank, I gave up everything topursue a career in ashion designing.This just proved to everybody that thisguy is serious; he is not an artist who
What is the one thing that makes youdierent rom other designers in thefeld o ashion?
Smiles before answering;
you see thereare two things which I concentrate onpursuance o a hobby and business.I have converted my hobby into mybusiness.Some people in this industry justdo ashion designing or the sake o pursuing an art. For example theyare just interested in the creative parto it and they are not involved in thebusiness side. For me both the sidesare equally important. I am probablythe rst designer in Pakistan whohas commercialized the businesso ashion. I guess this is one thingunique that I have. Now there are a loto people who are ollowing the sameline. I came up with a realistic ashionnot the one which looked nice andcreative on paper but actually nice onpeople as well.
How did you start ashion designing?
By sheer coincidence actually, I startedmaking ties or mysel as a hobby. I useto wear my ties to work and peopleused to appreciate them. They wantedto buy them rom me and that gaveme the idea that there was a market o these kinds o things. I made some tiesand started selling them. It worked! SoI quit my work opened a shop and thisis where I am today.
What was your motivation indesigning a label when Pakistanwas still learning the meaning o ashion?
My motivation, I always thought i Iwas not a ashion designer I wouldbe doing something which would beindigenous. Which would be creative,commercializing creativity or I would
www.raw.com.pkpage 1/4
RAW
THE MAGAZINE
Amir Adnan
has got his eet up in the air and emptypockets. He is not a person who is justpursuing art or the sake o art but hasa lot o business sense.Especially when I turned ashiondesigning around I made commercialsense out o what ever I made. I provedto everybody that ashion is a businessand a serious one. Getting the Pride o Perormance is an authentication o ashion as a business; a serious eldwhich people could pursue.I am very happy that I could turn thistide around and I could give a newdirection to the youth to ollow. I gavepeople in Pakistan a completely newproession to ollow.
Tell us some thing more about theFashion Council o Pakistan?
When ever ashion develops it needs tobe collected on a platorm and henceit needs a council. Like the garmentindustry started and an association wasormed. In the same way the associationo ashion is called the Fashion Councilo Pakistan. In the Fashion Council o Pakistan there are two councils at themoment.They are still developing, everythingis still at its initial stages and it willtake sometime to mature. It is onlyater they have done something andeither or both the councils manage toput all the designers together to give amore stable platorm or ashion as anindustry that they will be successul. Ithink it is denitely good and it shouldhave happened a long time ago.
Looking at these councils can we seePakistan taking part in Miss Worldor any other International beautycontest?
Why not? I don’t see any reason; it is just a matter o time when we wouldbe able to see all these things. You seeevery thing takes time “Rome was notbuilt in a day” but i you look at whatPakistani ashion was teen years ago,ten years ago, ve years ago and nowthere is a denite incline. There is aprogression in everything. I do hope tosee that Pakistan would be eatured ina lot o things.India was not eatured in all these thingssay twenty years ago. Did you thinkthat India would have a Miss Universeor Miss World? You could not but tenyears ago. People did come up, so it is just a matter o time beore Pakistanreaches that point.Once it does it will start proving itsel.It is all bound to happen as the nextglobal market is in this part o theworld it’s not going to be the west; itis the east that is going to take over thewest. I you notice all around you, weare the biggest market then the rest.In movies, in music, in ashion; east is just coming up. Eventually the tide isgoing to turn away orm the west andtowards the east. When it does turntowards the east, Pakistan being in theeast is bound to benet. It’s all a mattero time but eventually the competitionis going to be among these countriesand the west would ollow.
Your clientele include Mr. Musharra,Mr. Vajpayee and Mr. Karzai; what is it in your work and your designthat attracts prominent fgureslike them?
You see the kinds o clothes I makeare meant to make the wearer lookhis status. As I said that my clothes area symbol o achievements, so thosepeople who have achieved a lot in lieare automatically drawn towards thiskind o clothing. When they look atit they say this is what we should bewearing; it suits their stature.I you want me to dene my style in aew words it would be elegant, sober,conservative and yet stylish. These arethe our things that people o the abovestature are looking or. They cannotbe famboyant, yet they don’t want tobe dull and they want to wear stylishclothes. They are looking or verygood quality and nishing; we oer allthese things. We have a lot o designerfair within that parameter which isotherwise dicult to achieve. This isthe balance we have achieved and thisis why we attract the above mentionedclientele. I would not be a choice o arock star or a Bollywood star but I wouldbe the choice o a top industrialist or atop government ocial.
What motivated you to open a outlet in Dubai?
It is a step towards expanding in therest o the world; Dubai is the rststepping stone. We want to globalizeour business and we have started withDubai . We also have some presence inAmerica but Dubai is where we haveopened a ull fedge ashion store. Weare planning on entering the Indianand Bangladeshi market probably bynext year. It is just easy to come herecompared to India .
But don’t you look at Dubai as awestern hub?
Not exactly, Dubai is a wonderulamalgamation o all cultures in theworld. When I walked in the rst mall tobuy a shop I conronted a person whoasked me a very good line; “Are yourclothes capable o attracting peoplerom sixty ve dierent nationalities, i so then you deserve a shop in our mall”.This got me thinking where else wouldI get people rom sixty ve dierentnationalities looking at my products.No where in world!I I go to India or Bangladesh I am onlytargeting a certain group o people, Iam catering to one taste o preerence.I I am successul in Dubai I am actuallytargeting too many nationalities at thesame time; which is exactly what myclient base is in Dubai .I have designed clothes or them whohave no link with Pakistan as such rightnow I have done a wedding in Germany.So you see Dubai is not a western hubit’s a multi-national hub.
Moving on to something about you.Who is Aamir Adnan?
Aamir Adnan is a person who is deeplyrooted in his origins and has a visiono everything around the world. AamirAdnan himsel is a very dynamicindividual and does not believe in
www.raw.com.pkpage 2/4
RAW
THE MAGAZINE
Amir Adnan
stagnation. Lie is all about movementand it is a dynamic process; this is mybasic philosophy o lie.I am a very domesticated person- I lovepeople, I love amily, I love holding onto people who are dear to me, I valuerelationships and I believe in long termrelationships.
The process o making clothes?
There are several processes. I havegot many people working with me sowe have dierent teams or dierentthings. There is a team who selectsabrics, there is a team who designsand predicts what are going to be thecolors or the next season and then thecolors are nalized by me.Then there is the purchasing teamwhich goes out in the market andnotes down the quality abrics whichsuit the color theme. The whole teamsits down and decides on the designand then we produce sample products.Once it is nalized by me, it is put into production and then shipped downto our showrooms all over. A verymechanical process is ollowed.
What are your hobbies?
The best I would like to do is sit in ronto TV with my kids and watch cartoons.I I am not doing that I would be readingthem a story book. I love spendingwhat ever spare time I have with myamily. I love gardening, I love lookingat fowers, and I love to see things grow.I love creation.
Your avorite model?
In Pakistan there is this guy calledAbdullah with whom I have worked alot. He is really good I don’t do mucho women’s clothes so can’t say aboutthem but I think Vaneeza Ahmed isnice. Internationally I am a great ano Naomi Campbell. I you see rightnow the concept o super model hasnished. You have a super lookingmodel in every country. You got someRussians coming in and some Chinesemodels have done abulous work. So Ican’t mention any one in particular.
You avorite photographer?
In Pakistan it is denitely Khawar Riaz,I have not worked with any one elsemuch so cannot comment on them.
Tell us some thing about Fnk Asia ?
Fnk Asia is something Huma, my wie,has started. It is just a diversion romwhat we do. Aamir Adnan is moresober, elegant and more or men.Fnk Asia on the other hand promotesyouth & reedom o spirit. It is wildand bold in colors- it is predominatelyor women. There is this dierencebetween the schools o thoughts andhence they are two dierent labels. Itis produced by the same house andthe same set o designers. It is done bythe same people but with dierence inconcepts. In Fnk Asia new designs andnew colors are introduced every threeto six months.
Designer wear is normally consideredor the elite society. Any comments?
Not necessarily, it depends. Coutureis meant or the elite society. Couturemeans very high quality, made keepingthe client in mind. Aamir Adnan doescouture but Aamir Adnan also doesclothes which are o the shel and veryaordable. Anyone walking in could goor them. They are at a very reasonableprice, and that is how we promote FunkAsia.Essentially Funk Asia doesn’t docouture so I don’t think ashion hasanything to do with price any more;not in this world. It used to be like thatsay two decades ago when ashionwas considered only or the rich andamous. Zara is a prime example- it isvery ashionable yet at a very nominalprice.
What is your evaluation o Pakistaniashion at present in Dubai ?
Pakistan has got its own distinct mark. Iwould like to see a lot more o Pakistanin Dubai which I don’t at the moment.Pakistan has a lot o beautiul thingsto oer the only thing is its not beingoered in Dubai .We have brought a part o Pakistanwith us and I would like to see dozenso more stores like that. As ar as thepeople o Dubai are concerned theyhave not seen the best o Pakistan ,they have just seen the tip o the iceberg. The main chunk is yet to comein; when it does then they will see whatPakistan has to oer.
Do you have an interest in politics?
Yes, to a certain extent I do. I believein doing things or the country ratherthen sitting at a table and talking aboutwhat others should or should not do.I believe in doing things on my own.We want to eliminate poverty rom ourcountry and what we have done is wewent to the interiors o the country andgot hold o women who are very goodat their crat. We pick them up withthe help o the government, get themto Karachi to our actory then we trainthem, give them work and send themback to their villages. We then repeatthe cycle with another set o people.It is our target at Aamir Adnan andFunk Asia to give work to a set o vehundred people every year. There area lot o people working in a villagecalled Dadu where they are producinga lot o things or Funk Asia. This is mypolitics.This is how I empower my country.Until and unless individuals like mysel wake up and play our role thereis no point o sitting and saying thatMusharra should not do what he hasdone.I read the news paper I know what isgoing on round but I am a doer. I wantto actually reach out and do thingsmysel. This is politics or me.
What about your views on religion?
Religion is part and parcel o everybody’s lie. I would quote a very vagueexample I heard Madonna’s interviewonce and she said everyone has theirown God and she was so true. Nomatter how inclined or how spiritualyou are everyone has their own version
www.raw.com.pkpage 3/4
Search History:
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
p.
Recommended
More From This User
Notes
Load more
