Brands Just Pret: Desi funk

Fashion designer Zainab Sajid launches her new clothing line.

KARACHI:

Zainab Sajid could not have chosen a better time to launch her deliciously desi pret line. It was smack in the middle of the Karachi Literature Festival and anyone facing a last-minute wardrobe crisis should have made a serious beeline towards ‘Brands Just Pret’ at the Dolmen City Mall to grab a piece from Sajid’s ‘Aqua’ collection.

The collection, which is in simple solid colour blocks of fuchsia, earthy brown, plum, turquoise, scarlet amongst the usual blacks and greys, ranges between Rs4,000 and Rs8,000.

Sajid, who built her brand’s strength from her bridals, launched her first pret line, based on the Hala pottery of Sindh, last year at the PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week. However, it wasn’t smooth sailing for the designer as she faced much trepidation from fashion critics who felt that being a bridal designer meant that she will surely make a mess of her stated pret presentation. She pleasantly surprised and even wowed critics with her sheer white and turquoise showcase.

With Aqua, however, Sajid takes on the regurgitated desi art theme but makes it her own by incorporating elements of Pakistan street life — the dhol walas, the yellow taxi, the tricycle and the kite — along with iconic monuments like the Minar-e-Pakistan, Khyber Pass and the Empress Market. “I have always been in love with the colour aqua — I always incorporate it in my bridals as well and even though, my husband thought it was lame to name the pret line Aqua, I just stuck to my whim,” states Sajid. But, more than her pret title, it’s her individual names for the clothing — such as Bibi Shireen, Bo Kata and Tuk Tuk — that that fascinate us.

At a cursory glance, Aqua’s first instalment looks very much akin to Maheen Khan’s Gulabo, with its motifs and straight silhouettes with cowl necks. “I wanted my pret line to be very much focused on our culture but didn’t want it to look like Gulabo,” said Sajid admitting that she stayed as far away as possible from truck art and even went to the lengths of showing it first to veteran designer Maheen Khan, who initiated truck art into fashion.

While Sajid’s mentor, designer and artist Yousuf Bashir Qureshi (YBQ) was impressed with her garments’ finishing, the lady that she’s claiming to take inspiration from is completely unaware. “I am glad that Zainab has taken inspiration from my brand but she has not shown it to me prior to the collection’s placement at Brands Just Pret. This is really amusing and I am quite appalled,” states Khan indignantly revealing that she has not seen the collection to date nor has she ever visited the store.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2012.