One of the most memorable collections from FPW S/S’17 has to be Humayun Alamgir’s ‘Ayaash,’ which we still haven’t been able to completely digest. While the pieces were well constructed, the OTT embroidery, bling and even the name of the collection, took away from it all. So curiosity got the better of us and we reached out to the designer to find out what he was thinking…
Our conversation with Humayun Alamgir proved our initial guess correct; his main aim was to be talked about, the designer confirmed. “Being talked about negatively is better than NOT being talked about!†he said with a hearty laugh.
He told us how he had been trying to showcase at FPW since five years, but had been rejected every time because of the “politics.†So when this time he was selected, Humayun decided to go all out to make a mark, and we must agree he did just that.
He did, however, blame the FPW management for a lot of technical errors, which he felt decreased the impact his collection was supposed to have. Humayun told us how his fashion video, starring Abbass Jafri, was the focus of the collection and was supposed to set the right mood for Ayaash. However because of the screens being on the sides instead of behind the ramp, and with the audience hovering in front of them, no one could focus on the video. “The video had everything, no one understood the props because they weren’t able to watch it properly.â€
The golden crocodile, which stole the show!
Speaking of the props, which included a gold crocodile and a roulette wheel, Humayun clarified that it had to do with the personality of an ayaash boy, “rich people have tigers here, but this guy has a crocodile, he is a show-off and can’t get more money than this…†So the consumer market for this collection happens to be the rich, show-off who might also want a baby crocodile as a pet. While at one point Humayun described his collection as “manly, loud and attractive,†he did admit that it wasn’t for everyone, but for the rich show-off.
When we questioned how the word ayaash doesn’t really have positive connotations, Humayun told us that no one wants to admit it, but “every guy wants to be ayaash, and every guy IS ayaash…the guy who is decent and gentlemanly in the day but at night he can go and do whatever, be ayaash, play poker, kill someone!†Boy, we talk about female stereotyping often, but hearing how every gentleman wants to be a douche was really something!
We do have to give credit to Humayun for his hearty spirit as he admitted that he might have made mistakes, since this was his FPW debut, but he isn’t focusing on that. “Yes there is criticism, but I’m loving it! It’s just 20%, while the other 80% is positive. And such senior bloggers and journalists are talking about the collection…â€
According to Humayun, the bigger and more senior menswear designers at FPW did not show anything interesting, and at least his collection was something different comparatively. Humayun told us he drew inspiration from Balmain, for the glitzy effect, and Christian Louboutin, complete with the red soles on the models’ shoes. “Senior designers told me to go YouTube international shows, I told them they’re the ones who need to see what is happening internationally.â€
Watch the video for Humayun Alamgir’s Ayaash here…
https://www.facebook.com/humayunalamgirpage/videos/1432699073441514/
