Ten minutes into a candid conversation with Sumrin Ali, the dynamic new Director at Al Karam, made me wish I had her life from ten years ago. Her time at Central St Martins and then Parsons in Paris and eventually New York, walking into an elevator with Marc Jacobs and working under the tutelage of John Galliano, it was literally a life ‘a million girls would kill for,’ to quote The Devil Wears Prada. Her graduate show in Paris landed her and a friend an interview at Dior and Ali recalls how she got the job because her friend was three minutes late for the interview.
“They didn’t even let her in the door,†she said, raising her eyebrows even today. That says something for professionalism in the international arena, something she had to realign when she returned to Pakistan and set her well heeled foot in the domestic professional bazaar. A brief stint at IVSAA – which she found stifling – was followed by some time at Sheep and an eventual jumpstart to Al Karam. It’s been over three years in Al Karam exports and over a year since Domestic was handed over to her. It has taken time, but her vision has started to germinate and roll out now. One striking difference is the Al Karam lawn campaign for 2017; the change of vision is visible in the concept and execution of the campaign that features Mahira.
Having worked at Dior, I was curious to know how different the method of operation Between Paris and Pakistan.
(L-R): Sumrin Ali during her college days in Paris, with her model and photographer for her thesis collection.
“Dior was all about professionalism,†she remembered. “They take campaigns very seriously. I’m not just talking about the star or the photographer but everyone. There is a lack of professionalism here in Pakistan, unfortunately. I remember seeing Kirsten Dunst for a Dior campaign back when the Spiderman sequel had already released and made an impact; we’re talking 2009 or 2010. She was on location three hours before the shoot was to start so that she could practice her poses and get used to the setting. She flew from New York to Paris and she was working with us, on the shoot 36 hours non stop. No one was a bigger star than her at that point and I was absolutely amazed at how hard she worked. She was actually on location before time. They take their work very seriously.â€
Ali then shared an incident in New York, when she was traveling on the Metro and spotted Keanu Reeves sitting nearby. “He was going through his newspaper and I assume he had parked his car and had taken the Metro because there was a gridlock in the vicinity and he had to get somewhere. He wanted to arrive on time and did not wanted people to wait.â€
Ali was with Dior for a year and half, and the story she shares is just as interesting.
“We had our graduation show in Paris and that’s where people from big design houses come to vet talent. All the big representatives from Alexander McQueen to Dior were there to review our work. Part of our module is their review and the show has to be done in an extremely professional way. The module is such that even at college we were studying but working with these mentors simultaneously. So a friend of mine and I were both selected for an interview at Dior. I was on time; she was three minutes late and they dropped her on the spot, then and there. They told her to go back home. This is how things are there and I’m pretty used to that.â€
Sumrin’s graduate collection was about ‘Spiritual Warefare’.
Obviously, it took some major adjustment to get used to the system here in Pakistan. She had to stop getting to meetings half an hour ahead of time. But Ali worked at IVSAA, then Sheep before she settled down at Al Karam and she is bringing her vision and international experience to the drawing board. Al Karam is also a mega brand, a market leader and so she got so caught up with the dynamic of the system that she never left.
The next four months will be monumental for Al Karam, as the textile giant will be unveiling new concept stores all over the country. Visual artists have been employed to create stores that are designed at par with international standards. The Mahira campaign is already being talked about but there’s much more to anticipate. One is sure that this woman’s vision can prove to be monumental in making a huge brand even bigger.
