Inspiration: The subaltern fashionistas

Malang­s march along street­s in mobs with ‘ghungr­oos’ signal­ing arriva­l along with reverb­eratin­g drum beats.

LAHORE: Malangs are perhaps the perfect cultural mascots of Pakistan. These monks may appear grimy and coarse, but present a pulsating image of the subaltern culture of the subcontinent as they orbit around shrines in their colourful ensembles and its associated paraphernalia. They may be the seen as the underclass of society (as Pakistanis in general are seen by the world) but malangs are by far, the most vibrant representation of our culture – a culture that may have seen itself being cloistered by extremism and anarchy lately but is resilient and still as ubiquitous as ever.

Sporting intensely hued drapes, brass bells, and colourful pom poms strapped around their bodies, these malangs march along streets in mobs with their ‘ghungroos’ signaling their arrival along with reverberating drum beats as they burst out dancing. No spiritual festivity is complete without their alluring presence that draws crowds and envelops them in their frenzy as they delve into a trance.

Although always viewed as underlings, malangs have come to feature predominately from the bottom rungs of culture to the esoteric and elitist apex. Fashion saw its most fascinating presentation in Sabeen and Athar Hafeez’s concoction that featured and depicted the malang culture in all its vivacious finery. The event was a memorable collection, and one that got replicated in its myriad forms by the design community to no end. The trend celebrated the outlandish culture of the malangs but infused it along the lines of high fashion for a creative and exotic fashion image. Soon it emerged that only those designers that went inward created collections that saw the critic’s approval and were met with an ovation from the general populace as well. Ali Xeeshan’s debut, for instance, where he deconstructed the Mughal heritage and later his psychedelic collection ‘The Pheonix’ is a pertinent example of how well the malang culture integrated itself in high fashion.

However, the collection that picked up from the malangs and went to create vagabonds was PIFD graduate, Mohsin Ali’s ‘Homeless Hazara.” The collection broke barriers and made a powerful social comment on the issues of migration by displaying ensembles created entirely from patchwork of local florid fabrics and using empty bottles and twigs for styling the collection. Such presentations lend more credibility to fashion as art, as it steps into society’s political issues and makes an inspiring artistic visual. Such collections also make an attempt to bridge the binaries that have increasingly emerged between local indigenous culture and high culture. The fact that a vital symbol of the subaltern malang - has ventured into fashion is a telling sign that culture is a holistic embodiment of a nation’s heritage, just as truck art found its way into main stream art and fashion  celebrated ‘ Folkistan’ with Kamiar Rokni’s collection this year.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2011.