Of books and films on fashion

Maliha Rehman gets her copy of Tapulicious signed by Tapu.

Fashion week and retail fatigue, elections and the aftermath of all things fashionable and political have kept me away from blogging these past few days. And they have been busy days, from the Lux Style Awards jury, the launch of Tapulicious 2 (which I enjoyed texting for Tapu immensely), Sania Maskatiya and Nida Azwer opening in Lahore and so much more that has transpired. I have also started working for a digital firm and hope to consult on an online magazine (fashion and beauty related, what else?) but more on that later. It’s too early in its development stages to say anything about.

Aqsa Junejo gets a soundbyte from Zeba Bakhtiar who isn’t in the book but Adnan Sami is.

Trendy trio: Nomi Ansari, Ayyan (I can’t explain her expression) and Rabya who’s unrecognisable (in a good way) since she lost so much weight.

Meanwhile, things are moving along in the fashion industry. Zara Shahjehan will be opening her first retail outlet for Coco (in Lahore) anytime now. And speaking about Coco, do catch the awful film that Karl Lagerfeld has made on Coco Chanel. After seeing Audrey Tautou in the role, Brit-born Keira Knightley is a miscast of disastrous proportions. Plus, I find it rather offensive that Lagerfeld has suggested that Chanel’s love for pearls and jackets and making clothing from jersey (underwear material) was something she copied off her customers! I think I’ll have to watch Coco Avent Chanel once again, if only to get my references straight. And of course, I’m still stuck to my daily dose of Diane Vreeland in The Eye Has To Travel. If there’s ever a fashion film one has to watch, this is it!

My fashion bible.

From books to films and back to books again, I have vowed not to touch another book until I finish scripting Maheen Khan’s biography. And yes, it is a tell-all tale, from her days at the Races in Lahore, Karachi society to Lahore society, Burma to Karachi via  Khulna and Chittagong with style and strong women at the epicentre of it all…I promise you it’s an un-put-downable story, even if I don’t manage to do it justice. Fingers crossed, I hope I do!

Now because of all this work I’ve gotten myself involved in, I’ll have very little time for writing/freelancing these next two months. I will, however, try and be more regular with blogging. The LSA fashion nominations are about to be announced, the Veet show is around the corner and rumour has it that the Lux Style Awards will be held sometime in summer too. But hey, I may not be around for them either because I’ll be off for my annual pilgrimage to ancient China once again. And I’ll be happily posting and blogging from the heart of Siam, terracotta armies and  panda conservatories.