Loud and proud Karma’s rise in fashion industry
Lahore-Maheen Kardar Ali does not need any introduction as she is one of the top fashion designers of our industry catering to a large clientele in many countries.
She is a graduate of PIFD.
She started her own exclusive brand and clothing label titled Karma, which today is the leading luxury fashion house of Pakistan.
Karma has won the coveted Lux Style Award three times in the past five years which includes the best Women’s Wear for Karma Couture in Karachi and Dubai and the best Prêt Wear for Karma Pink was Malaysia in 2007.
In an exclusive interview with The Nation she talks about her career in fashion industry.
Following are excerpts of the interview:
Maheen Kardar Ali is a prominent name in the fashion industry and proved herself in a very short time period.
What is the secret of your success?
As an entrepreneur, as a full time working woman, complete hands on mother and an obsessive compulsive individual in general, I get asked this question endlessly.
My answer is always the same.
Life is how you handle what gets thrown at you and trust me many things will be chucked your way, by what you choose will define you, by how fiercely you believe in yourself, and generally how you decide to fight, strive, survive and thrive through turmoil.
I truly believe there is no substitute for hard work.
Sadly there is no short cut and most of the roads are the tough bumpy ones.
To achieve anything noteworthy in your life, your career, your relationships, you must believe in yourself first, have faith in your capabilities second and last but not least know that there is a big beautiful divine force out there that works in many mysterious ways.
What is your favourite part about being a fashion designer?
Ever since I can remember I have been the girl with the photographic memory regarding who wore what, when, how, where and why.
I remember occasions and milestones through my life from what everyone was wearing at that moment.
My brain is just wired that way.
Hence my favourite thing about being a designer is to be able to create.
How would you describe your design philosophy?
Classic & glamorous
Tell us about your first stint as a fashion designer.
How easy/tough was it to get into this professionally?
When I graduated from The Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design as the Valedictorian and Gold Medalist of my class of 2000, I knew my end goal was to start my own brand.
I was always clear that I wanted to apply what I had learnt as a professionally trained individual with a French degree in fashion to the local industry of Pakistan.
I wanted to make a difference and establish a brand that could hold its own anywhere in the world when it came to asthetic, quality, numbers and vision.
I wanted to change the way women dressed in our country and bring them loud and proud into the contemporary confident way of dressing hence the philosophy of the Karma Woman was established.
I never had many apprehensions but there were some factors that worried me, such as having to self learn embellishments and embroideries that were not taught at college and how to manage the financial aspect of a start up business.
Becoming an entrepreneur in Pakistan is a very difficult task when you have a grand vision but limited resources and it has been a challenge that I am proud having fulfilled successfully.
How would you describe the word ‘Couture’?
Karma started as a made to order couture brand and quickly became on the leading trend setting fashion houses of the country.
Since we were an inspirational brand, there was immense demand for our clothes on a more readily available and lower price range.
Hence Karma Pink (LUXURY PRET) was born.
Karma Princess was a natural progression with Luxury Pret for little girls age 1-13, I must say this label was totally inspired by my daughter.
Karma Nation is our high street label that dresses the Karma Woman for all her daily needs and occupations.
It’s difficult for me to pinpoint just one as my favourite, they all suit my mood for design at different times.
Couture for me is pure luxury and decadence.
When you start working on a subject, how do you decide the design and the colours?
All our collections are extremely well planned out from amount of detailed research, creative development, artistic thought and meticulous execution that go into it.
Your brand Karma is one of the most established and prestigious fashion brands for women wearing in Pakistan tell us something about it?
Karma was the first fashion house in the country that began with a corporate structure.
We were the first to have a headquarters in the commercial areas of the city and became the game changer that forced all the drawing room labels out of their homes and comfort zones.
It wasn’t going to cut it anymore to have to order your bridal in a designer’s annexed or getting chased by the designer’s dogs in their driveway.
Karma pushed the envelope and defined new standards in a fashion business in Pakistan.
Today Karma has a staff list of over 100 people, provides employment to over 700 skilled laborers, and is bought, booked, worn and known in many countries around the world.
We have four established labels under the umbrella brand and multiple fashion weeks, shows and collections on our portfolio, and growing client list of over 40,000 beautiful females aged 1 to 95.
As a designer what is your biggest challenge?
There are numerous challenges but the hardest I would say is running a manufacturing business in Pakistan where the state of affairs gets harder by the day.
Is Pakistani fashion industry moving ahead with the passage of time?
One must remember and credit that the last two decades have been definitive for the fashion industry in Pakistan.
Where once it was a laughable career choice, today thousands of people from models, designers, photographers, makeup artists, stylists, journalists, bloggers, pr companies make their living here.
The Pakistan Fashion Design Council of which I am a Founder Member has been integral in providing structure to a hap hazard industry at best and making their motto of the business of fashion into a reality.
Finally we are not just about random entertainment but about the numbers and the vision.
I remember the first fashion show I got as Karma was for the launch of a new antibiotic by a pharmaceutical company where my models walked out and posed with life size tablets while people ate their dinner.
When we close our shows at Fashion Week now it hits me how far we have come.
Our fashion weeks bring in foreign press and brands like us educate people around the world of the talented, educated, liberal, progressive and contemporary face of Pakistan.
This is at times such a discourse from what the world believes and perceives us to be that it is still a constant struggle.
I have been fortunate enough to show in countries such as the US, Britain, Malaysia, Canada, India, the UAE and they are always flabbergasted at that this side of our turbulent country also exists.
We are slowly but surely finding our place in the global fashion map.
Do you have any new collection in the pipeline that Maheen Kardar Ali fans should be looking forward to?
At the Karma Design Headquarters we are currently working on a multitude of things.
The fantastic Studio 54 Summer Collection that we have especially designed for the glamorous Dubai ladies is set to launch at The Palace Hotel and is in finishing stages.
Work has started on our Karma Red Couture Collection that will be showcased at PFDC L’0real Paris Bridal Week in September 2016 as well as our Summer Eid Collections for all our retail labels, Karma Pink, Karma Princess and Karma Nation are now going into production.
We have our bi-annual trunk show in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles scheduled for August 2016 and the teams are working around all these inspiring tasks on our crazy timeline!Read more at:formal dresses canberra | formal dresses
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