One benefit of having my morning walk out of my hometown (Karachi) is that I get to look around and notice things. So, while out on the deserted streets and squares, called ‘markaz’ in the capital’s lingua franca, getting my daily dosage of Vitamin D, I suddenly come face to face with a huge billboard.
The brilliant, attractive colours displayed by the model were not what really caught my eye; it was the name Farah Leghari emblazoned on it surrounded by many names that have now become pretty well established in the lawn business.
Farah entered it as an 18-year-old and went up each rung of the ladder right to the top. She became the fashion editor of the largest circulated newspaper of the country, learning all about photo shoots, models, make up and eye catching layouts — something very evident from her catalogue.
Farah Leghari has been a byword for fashion excellence due to the exquisite cuts and embellishments on outfits carrying her name. Her eye for detail and penchant for quality catapulted her to the international arena and she went on to dress up English and Jordanian royalty.
So why lawn, and why now, when the market is full of names and brands already?
Farah’s response is very simple: “I was ready for it now.”
Speaking to Pique, Farah gave a very simple account of her journey to the top: Timing!
“I can’t be pushed into doing something when I am not yet ready for it. Even for my earlier forays into developing a designer label, my family said I should make use of my talent but I ventured into it only when I felt I was ready,” Farah says.
“For me, my home and family come first. I hadn’t worked for the last four years due to personal reasons. Now, I feel more settled, my children are back home from boarding school etc. When Birmingham-based group Gohar Textiles approached me after having heard of my successes in England, especially with the royal family, I felt I was ready to try my hand at designing my signature range of lawn.”
But why lawn?
“Because the market demands have changed, the economy is not growing and people’s purchasing power has put designer stuff out of most people’s reach. This, at least, puts designer material in the hands of people, who cannot afford designer range of clothes,” Farah explains.
So what makes her different? Ask all those who have worked with Farah, including the team at Gohar Textiles and they will tell you that she is uncompromising and unforgiving where quality of workmanship is concerned.
Ask her and she says shuttling between Karachi and Faisalabad was the difficult part and quality control would have been easier if she had been able to do it all in Karachi.
Farah Leghari’s signature lawn had a year long gestation period. In that time, she made sure that the material would be of the highest quality. Export quality Egyptian cotton has been used, qualified designers employed for the patterns, boutique standard embroidery for the motifs and pure chiffons —without even a hint of polyester — for the dupattas!
Farah also does not want those wearing her lawns to look like clones and has offered variations on the theme in the same design and colour options to allow for creative and customized designing of the outfits to be made from her lawn.
So what next? Or is lawn the destination?
Farah says that though her lawn launch has been a runaway success — three of her designs have already been sold out — she had produced only 15,000 pieces each, which were sold at very select outlets in the major cities.
Farah says she will see how it goes.
When asked if she will go back to her label, she was non-committal. For now, we know that after making her mark in the fashion industry, she has arrived on the lawn front as well and in style!
The writer is a journalist based in Karachi.
