What’s next in HSY’s bag of tricks?
Designer opens up on inspiration and efforts that brought together his collections for upcoming fashion week
HSY reveals moodboards for his PSFW luxury pret collection titled, ‘Be Yourself’. PHOTOS: MEHEK SAEED/EXPRESS
LAHORE:
Hassan Sheheryar Yasin — popularly known as HSY or Sheroo —has been on a trip of expansion ever since he stepped into Pakistani fashion 22 years ago. Ahead of the upcoming Pakistan Fashion Design Council (PFDC) Sunsilk Fashion Week, The Express Tribune spoke with the ‘King of Couture’ at his two-storey studio in Lahore, where the designer opened up on his two new collections.
The luxury pret collection is titled ‘Be Yourself’ while the second falls under HSY Limited — the more affordable line HSY launched in 2015. Both collections will be showcased on days three and four, respectively, of the PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week. “HSY Limited is close to my heart because there comes a time when every brand should start giving back,” says the designer. Two years ago, PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week 2014 unveiled HSY’s Sher collection which was the fruit of his work with a village called Shergarh. For this, he took the work in the village women. “This has empowered them tremendously and the enrolment of girls in school has increased.” This year he hopes to continue helping them in collaboration with the Kashf Foundation. HSY showcased his HSY Limited collection with Kashf at their inaugural event on Thursday but will style the collection differently for the PFDC ramp.
Game-changers of 2016
Once the cloth was embroidered in the village, HSY brought it back to his studio to give it a fashionable spin. The foundation is celebrating two decades of its work and has therefore chosen twenty different kinds of taankas for the designer to dabble with. Switching on his laptop, he excitedly ran through the different kinds of stitches and how they manifested themselves onto his designs. Jackets with mirror work, tarkashi on shift dresses and applique on high-waisted pants are some of the things HSY is preparing for the show. “We wanted things we could take to international markets. Use the embroidery they were doing and use our voice, ability and platform to show it to the world,” he explained. On the same note, HSY shared that he believes while it is good to modernise, one’s fingers must remain on the pulse of where they come from. “We have exquisite craftsmanship and everyone should utilise it.” The sentiment is shared by designer Maheen Khan, who is trying to bring back the dying craft of hand woven fabric to the Pakistani fashion industry with the Koya Initiative.
The second collection will mark a first for HSY’s design house as each piece has been made as a separate. Talking about this, the class couturier set how the inspiration for it came when he met American fashion icon Iris Apfel in New York last summer. “She’s about everything I’m about — travelling all over the world and bringing things back. I would always bring back different things but I didn’t know if I could put them together because fashion is all about singular looks and trends, one gets caught up in that,” he said. Apfel celebrates individuality in fashion and has made a name for her sharp eyes, mixing and matching things she collects from her travels in serendipitous ways. HSY fondly recollected the first time he met Apfel: she wore an Ikat jacket, orange beads around her neck, polki bangles and ripped jeans that Alexander McQueen had drawn on for her.
Eclectic mix of sartorial picks
Apfel’s multicultural, couture-infused and over-the-top outfits formed the basis and inspiration of HSY’s collection. Prolific elements from the Spanish, Mayans, Africans, Indonesians, Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese, Russian Tsars and the Ottoman Empire have come together on the designer’s moodboards this time. He has also hired fresh blood in the form of stylist Hashim Ali to help put the collection together for the ramps. “How we plan to style it may not work for everyone but that’s the point; to ‘Be Yourself,’” said HSY, who hopes to say something without saying much with this collection. “In a time and place where social media has made us a slave to trends and having to be a certain way, we’ve started following each other like herds. This collection wants you to dress by your own rules,” he explained.
The designer also revealed the sketches on which he visualised a jacket that looks like it is from Barcelona, paired with a paisley-embroidered white kurta to go with pants sporting intricate Indonesian embroidery. In addition to this, he will also be unveiling a new male brand ambassador at the fashion week.
With a lot else on the cards, HSY is sitting out this year’s lawn yawn, as he so flatly puts it. While his studio, The Mansion, is already operational in Karachi, he will officially inaugurate it along with his store in Dolmen Mall come April. Lahore will also see a second store at the upcoming Nishat Emporium later this year.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 5th, 2016.
Hassan Sheheryar Yasin — popularly known as HSY or Sheroo —has been on a trip of expansion ever since he stepped into Pakistani fashion 22 years ago. Ahead of the upcoming Pakistan Fashion Design Council (PFDC) Sunsilk Fashion Week, The Express Tribune spoke with the ‘King of Couture’ at his two-storey studio in Lahore, where the designer opened up on his two new collections.
The luxury pret collection is titled ‘Be Yourself’ while the second falls under HSY Limited — the more affordable line HSY launched in 2015. Both collections will be showcased on days three and four, respectively, of the PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week. “HSY Limited is close to my heart because there comes a time when every brand should start giving back,” says the designer. Two years ago, PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week 2014 unveiled HSY’s Sher collection which was the fruit of his work with a village called Shergarh. For this, he took the work in the village women. “This has empowered them tremendously and the enrolment of girls in school has increased.” This year he hopes to continue helping them in collaboration with the Kashf Foundation. HSY showcased his HSY Limited collection with Kashf at their inaugural event on Thursday but will style the collection differently for the PFDC ramp.
Game-changers of 2016
Once the cloth was embroidered in the village, HSY brought it back to his studio to give it a fashionable spin. The foundation is celebrating two decades of its work and has therefore chosen twenty different kinds of taankas for the designer to dabble with. Switching on his laptop, he excitedly ran through the different kinds of stitches and how they manifested themselves onto his designs. Jackets with mirror work, tarkashi on shift dresses and applique on high-waisted pants are some of the things HSY is preparing for the show. “We wanted things we could take to international markets. Use the embroidery they were doing and use our voice, ability and platform to show it to the world,” he explained. On the same note, HSY shared that he believes while it is good to modernise, one’s fingers must remain on the pulse of where they come from. “We have exquisite craftsmanship and everyone should utilise it.” The sentiment is shared by designer Maheen Khan, who is trying to bring back the dying craft of hand woven fabric to the Pakistani fashion industry with the Koya Initiative.
The second collection will mark a first for HSY’s design house as each piece has been made as a separate. Talking about this, the class couturier set how the inspiration for it came when he met American fashion icon Iris Apfel in New York last summer. “She’s about everything I’m about — travelling all over the world and bringing things back. I would always bring back different things but I didn’t know if I could put them together because fashion is all about singular looks and trends, one gets caught up in that,” he said. Apfel celebrates individuality in fashion and has made a name for her sharp eyes, mixing and matching things she collects from her travels in serendipitous ways. HSY fondly recollected the first time he met Apfel: she wore an Ikat jacket, orange beads around her neck, polki bangles and ripped jeans that Alexander McQueen had drawn on for her.
Eclectic mix of sartorial picks
Apfel’s multicultural, couture-infused and over-the-top outfits formed the basis and inspiration of HSY’s collection. Prolific elements from the Spanish, Mayans, Africans, Indonesians, Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese, Russian Tsars and the Ottoman Empire have come together on the designer’s moodboards this time. He has also hired fresh blood in the form of stylist Hashim Ali to help put the collection together for the ramps. “How we plan to style it may not work for everyone but that’s the point; to ‘Be Yourself,’” said HSY, who hopes to say something without saying much with this collection. “In a time and place where social media has made us a slave to trends and having to be a certain way, we’ve started following each other like herds. This collection wants you to dress by your own rules,” he explained.
The designer also revealed the sketches on which he visualised a jacket that looks like it is from Barcelona, paired with a paisley-embroidered white kurta to go with pants sporting intricate Indonesian embroidery. In addition to this, he will also be unveiling a new male brand ambassador at the fashion week.
With a lot else on the cards, HSY is sitting out this year’s lawn yawn, as he so flatly puts it. While his studio, The Mansion, is already operational in Karachi, he will officially inaugurate it along with his store in Dolmen Mall come April. Lahore will also see a second store at the upcoming Nishat Emporium later this year.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 5th, 2016.