Fashion takes after art

Fashion takes after art as designer Sahar Atif holds exhibit inspired by artist Saeed Akhtar’s sketches

LAHORE:

Fashion imitates art and art imitates life. Culture enthusiasts in Lahore will soon witness this age-old adage being brought to fruition as Saeed Akhtar, one of Pakistan’s finest contemporary painters, and his long-time student, designer Sahar Atif, gear up to join forces. Expressing their rapport through fashion and art, Sahar showcases designs inspired by the works of Saeed on Saturday, November 14. With digital prints on the organza folds of Sahar’s dresses reading, ‘Sirf Sahar ke pyar ke liye —  pyar ke saath’, inscribed by the artist himself, the exhibit celebrates Saeed’s prolific contribution to the spectacle of art.

In an earnest attempt to celebrate Saeed’s birthday, latest works and launch of book, which comprises the second edition of his monograph, Sahar will display designs inspired by his sketches. “He is like a father to me and he called to ask if I could contribute something to this family celebration,” Sahar told The Express Tribune at Saeed’s gallery. “Once he told me to work on it, the real challenge was to bring it all down to a few garments,” she added.

The festive and the fashionable

After some thought, Saeed and Sahar decided it would be best to draw inspiration from his sketches. Sahar felt she shouldn’t work on his paintings as they’re commercial and cater to the end-user. “His sketchbook, on the other hand, contains raw stories yet untold. For me, his sketchbook was like a totem of love and I considered myself responsible to translate his works to my medium,” she noted. Having been a student of Saeed’s, Sahar shared his works are divided into segments: segments of pencil drawing, then beautiful women, then horses and then it comes to his more contemporary works.



Aptly titled ‘The Signature’, the collection features shirt dresses, long dresses, off-shoulder tops and ball skirts with Saeed’s signatures. Of the design process, Sahar shared, “When he gave his sketches and signatures to me, the first thing I tried to do was transfer it on different mediums including organza.” Sahar shared that Saeed reserved his feedback to the art aspect of the designs. “He would comment on the proportion and colours but the minute it became about the garment, he wouldn’t speak,” she said.

A blast of colours against all white

Saeed stated how he respects Sahar’s expertise in her field, adding, “I can’t guide her. She has her own medium and knows how to work better on that.” But it couldn’t have possibly been easy to channelise the works of an artist of this stature into her own medium. “Making a beautiful garment has become second nature to me but creating something that doesn’t violate another person’s work is difficult. This is one of the hardest things I’ve had to do,” admitted Sahar.



The designer didn’t want to create designs that were too loud and would take away from Saeed’s art. “I can’t be the prime person [in this process], which is why I chose not to have models walking around in the designs as that would be too distracting,” she stated. The four designs she’s set to showcase will be displayed on mannequins on each floor of the gallery and only Vaneeza Ahmed, who Sahar calls her muse, will be seen sporting them.

Taking fashion one step at a time



Saeed’s gallery features over 50 paintings, giving a glimpse into Saeed’s lifelong work. He shared his pieces have inspired people in the past, such as when students from the Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design built on his works. “This isn’t the first time I’ve inspired art. Look at my 2009 exhibitions. Most designers were inspired by that. The tung pajama became popular after that and so did big jewellery.”

Whether this collection is a commercial venture or an artistic expression remains uncertain. Of his latest work, Saeed says, “Painting is a constant process. If an artist sings one song, it can play forever but for a painter, it must be reinvented each time.” He added, “With each painting I create, I see something missing and hope to find that in my next, and so the search goes on.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th, 2015.

Like Life & Style on Facebook, follow @ETLifeandStyle on Twitter for the latest in fashion, gossip and entertainment.