Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza in Karachi to launch star scents for J.

Adding to the impressive roster of 60 odd fragrances, many of them ‘star’ scents, Smash by Sania Mirza and All Rounder by Shoaib Malik was launched Friday evening in Karachi. Hosted at Owner and Managing Director J. and Almirah, Mr Sohail Hamid’s very palatial residence on Main Khayaban e Hafiz, the event took full advantage of a cool and dewy Karachi evening and set-up outdoors with a very generous floor plan. A red carpet was rolled out and led to a tastefully set media wall, a four course dinner and then the grand stage that came with confetti and fireworks.

Stars of the evening, Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza came well-dressed and ready to face a happy army of media people equipped with cameras, mics and phones. ‘NO controversial questions and NO selfies’, was the strict brief and understandable, since India-Pakistan questioning can get out of hand. Both Shoaib and Sania were cordial enough to pose with all and sundry, smiling quite genuinely through it all. Sania, who has a bit of a reputation of being unapproachable, was extremely pleasant.

“I’m not known as a very soft person, but I do like soft, flowery scents,” she laughed at herself when describing the aroma of Smash.

Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik with Mr Sohail Hamid, Owner and Managing Director J. and Almirah.

Shoaib and Sania gradually made their way to the stage, where they were joined by Mr Sohail Hamid, who outlined the J. journey, sharing how it had grown from a 10-person set-up to a business that today employs over 10,000 people and has stores all over the world. J. can’t be categorized as a fashion brand, as there’s hardly any fashion-forward innovation, but then Junaid Jamshed didn’t even conceive it as a fashion brand. In one of our conversations before his tragic passing, he very clearly outlined that J. was purely a clothing business, created in compliance with Islamic principles.

Those principles reflected in the ethos of the event, from the absence of music, to the beautiful naat being recited in the background, to the mesmerizing recitation of the Holy Quran at the beginning of the program. No expense was spared on the grandeur of the event but not a single thing was out of line of the brand’s ideology, which is exactly why the brand sits so well with the masses. And the value that J. adds to the economy definitely is something to be celebrated. In under 20 years (the brand was established in 2002) it has over 100 stores nationwide and over 30 stores in international outlets across US, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar. That’s quite an accomplishment!

Hassan and I, with Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik. Sania is wearing HSY.

My only objection would be to the Smash & All Rounder ad, that was also revealed at the event. Sania laughed when she shared how she asked when she needed to shoot the ad, to be told that it had been shot without her. The ad has a body double, whose face you never see and whose legs are covered in leggings (when playing tennis on court), even though Sania plays in short skirts. Her face, whenever onscreen, is blurred out.

I personally found that a little disturbing and felt it was unnecessary to have shown even a body double. One can respect the J. policy to not feature female models but then no female body or face should have been shown, Sania’s or the body double’s, who at the end of the day, is female too. A little imagination could have gone a longer way. If Mercedes-Benz can feature an ad with a car (love the one with the chicken, watch here), then J. can feature one without a female. But maybe it can be done more creatively.

…with Humayun Saeed

This was the only small pebble in an otherwise very grand evening, that continued with a fun interview on stage (conducted by Faizan Haqee), a mystic performance by Shaheer Khan (I’m still not convinced), a four course dinner and celebrity presence by Humayun Saeed, Aijazz Aslam, Adnan Siddiqui, Sadia Imam, Ayesha Omar and Anoushey Ashraf amongst several fashion industry peeps.

Smash by Sania Mirza and All Rounder by Shoaib Malik took two years to develop and join a long list of star scents that include Wasim Akram, Shaniera Akram, Jehangir Khan, Aisam ul Haq, Fahad Mustafa and many others.