Eid clothing is flooding the bazaars these days but honestly, most of it is typical and very tired. The same old, same old ankle skimming shirts in chiffons and silks with the regular kind of braids and baubles adorning them. Yawn.
Images of whirling dervishes, constructed from Kufic and Nastaleeq scripts, replace the typical motifs on this crimson tunic that hangs in my wardrobe.
Pakistan’s handful of strong designers present an exception to the rule and Sania Maskatiya is one of them. You know a designer is strong when they rarely go wrong with a collection and you know that a brand is strong when it continues to thrive even when it’s creative head is on maternity leave. Sania may be busy welcoming her second baby into the world but her corporation is running like clockwork thanks to her brother and GM Umair Tabani and undoubtedly her team of talented designers.
So, while the rest of the world will be celebrating Eid over sweet meats, I’ll be indulging in Turkish Delights: that’s the stunning new collection called Lokum in store.
This caramel ensemble is adorned with Turkish scripts in wisps of brick red and brown.
I personally love scripts and proudly own a Sanskrit print that I picked up in Mumbai and a Gulabo kurta that flaunts the Urdu alphabet. Interestingly, while this collection may have attracted me for it’s scripture, it actually says nothing at all. Umair explained how the craftsmen in the workshop were uncomfortable working with text that looked like Arabic and so he had to explain it to them that this actually was a whole lot of letters that said nothing. And it wasn’t remotely like Arabic or God forbid, the Quranic text. Creatively done, it hints at calligraphy without running a risk of offending anyone.
A very fresh lime and aqua palette.
These ‘Private Notes’ confuse almost anyone looking for meaning in the script. Sometime you have to read between the lines to find it.
I found this exceptionally exciting because around a decade ago, a friend of mine who’s a brilliant artist, gifted me one of her calligraphies that looked like a paragraph of deeply meaningful text. It actually meant nothing at all. Titled ‘Private Notes’ I’ve always looked upon it as perspective and how one man’s intellect can be another’s emptiness. Suggestion truly is a powerful force.
I love the way Sania has incorporated a very artistic angle into fashion. To some this may be the dilution of art but to others like me it’ll be perceived as the enrichment of fashion.
