HSY and the fly ‘DMPS’ costumes

Master couturier on heading fashion and design for film and diverging from Bollywood aesthetics

KARACHI: Costume design has a distinct place in the cinema realm, one that seemed to have been forgotten in the local film industry until recently. While Dekh Magar Pyaar Say (DMPS) may have been criticised for a lacklustre storyline, its visual aesthetics were anything but that. Although well-executed costumes alone can’t sustain a flawed narrative, there’s no gainsaying that Hassan Sheheryar Yasin’s apparel for DMPS seamlessly spoke for itself and for the characters. 

“The most important thing for us is that we should feel our wardrobe complements the movie and its characters,” says HSY, the creative and fashion design director for DMPS. “It’s not just about dressing the actors but to add something to the characters just like we did for this film. It gives me immense pleasure to know that filmmakers have begun to realise the importance of wardrobe in captivating their audiences,” he adds.

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HSY claims that the driving force behind the venture was its script and characters. “We drew inspiration from each character’s personality and the overall feel of the movie – its cinematography, the backdrops and, most importantly, each situation in the film,” he explains. Painting each frame with colour that telegraphed the characters’ persona, HSY’s designs exuded his signature aesthetics. “We maintained the signature HSY style for the collection.”

Touted as the master couturier, HSY’s clothes elevated the visual cohesiveness of a film otherwise overly stylised. Creating authentic people in the film, he seems to have made use of reds and blues, accentuating Annie’s (Humaima Mallick) bold and street-smart persona and Sikki’s (Sikander Rizvi) seemingly innocent approach to things.

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Breaking away from the norm of taking cue from Bollywood, HSY clarifies how he never wanted to replicate such an image for DMPS. “Since this is the first time a designer was engaged as a creative consultant for any movie released in Pakistan, we tried to  create something new [to set a precedent],” he notes. “Let’s hope this becomes a trend for all Pakistani movies. The Pakistani designer fraternity has got immense talent and potential and we really don’t need to copy anyone.”

HSY brims with hope at the prospects of fashion making its way into the nascent local film industry. “The Pakistani fashion industry has been growing at a rapid rate for the last decade. With multiple local movies coming out, the situation for creative arts will only get better in the coming years,” he states. “I can’t recall when I last witnessed so many good Pakistani movies hitting cinemas at the same time,” he adds.

Without divulging details about whether he would design outfits for more Pakistani films, HSY shares a few projects are in the pipeline. “I think it’s too soon to say anything else. For now, we’re just accepting applause for DMPS.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th,  2015.

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