If there’s one show that industry enthusiasts, serious buyers, lovers of theatrics or red carpet socialites brace themselves for during fashion week, it’s the ramp spectacle spectacular by Fahad Hussayn, Lahore’s biggest and most awe-inspiring export. Known for his love of all things grand and dramatic, the designer fondles the eccentric but re-stylises the assured bringing to fashion a brand name that is edgy and devastatingly elegant at the same time. Here, he gives Pique an insight into his deep, dark world
The first thing one notices about the debonair designer is his affinity for black, perhaps a relentless replay of his more sinister inspirations, think ravens, midnight, smoke and black-tie. Always dressed in a pure black shalwar kameez, Fahad Hussayn leaves the animation for his collections, “I never have been and have never aspired to be the focus of attention; it is all about the clothes, the structure and the way fashion can be distorted into something beautiful with every new line.”
When I met him for this little tête-à-tête, it was a typically busy day at the designer’s studio, which was a flurry of fashion week madness and deliberation. The PFDC and L’oreal Bridal Fashion Week last month was Lahore’s biggest show stopper for the wedding season with a whole flock of designers cascading their wares down the runway but of the small handful of designers who really incited some thick-skinned hoorah it was Fahad’s collection that gave the crowd a sneak peak into what fashion has now become: the only true creative outlet for all those starved of more recreational pursuits. Titled ‘The Great Mutiny’, the collection was the usual Fahad escapade: as trippy as it was regal. Combining his love for the more smouldering fashion ideologies with his nocturnal habit to do away with the safe to replace with the challenging, the clothes gave fashion week just what it was aiming for - a show stopping good time. “Fashion is changing in Pakistan now. It’s moving from being a frilly sideshow for some entertainment and is becoming a viable business. With this predilection for money comes a need to give people something they thought their money could never buy: shocking sensibility.” And shocked I am when I get a coveted first glance at the collection he was readying for the show, a landslide of textures, ornamental detailing, specially hardened hues and over-the-top accessories designed to bring the traditional bride into a league of her own.
At 27, Fahad has been cranking open his window of opportunity for a solid decade now, starting small but aiming high, “My mother was a staple persona from the get-go telling me to follow my creative gene in any manner I saw fit. She taught me all about fabrics, embroideries, the kind of work different fabrics can carry and hold, the instinct with which to hone in on a particular trend at just the right time and how to make women look and feel sexy once again.” Inspired and imbibed, Fahad Hussayn may have been around for a while in an industry choking with newbies and spluttering to cough out true talent but he is a true provocateur of the design arts culminating his expertise with every collection into a smooth little niche from where, like a magician with a bag of tricks, he throws at patrons urban chic with a touch of fancy and old-school sultry with raw power. Think thorny headdresses, caged virgins and beautiful clothes that can be worn by the prude and the whore alike - and that’s just getting a whiff of what the man is all about.
He has his reservations about the industry alright though, saying it straight while skirting the nonsense that accompanies a regular gripe, “It really is shark infested in fashion but not because of genuine competition; too many fly-bys hoping to make it big without the talent, known without the showmanship. I can count maybe a pinch of designers who actually have something original to contribute. I’ve lost so-called ‘friends’ in the industry to this plague, people who will sit with me in my studio for a social call and get up and copy my designs the next day. It’s ugly but, then again, its part of the whole tantalising allure isn’t it? Claw your way to the top no matter how many eyes you gouge out.” While one doesn’t usually think of blood and gore when pondering over the fashion industry, his description of the mythological beast truly fits its nature - fashion is ugly business.
Coming back to his signature black, Fahad Hussayn is dark and I don’t mean the clothes. He’s moody, broody, blasé when need be and a selector of only the most hidden meanings between the lines. His desk holds a rather morbid collection of dark fiction and poetry, jealously guarded by his watchful eye, “What can I say, I like to discover and question. There’s only so much romance and popular fiction one can stomach. The rest of the world is about the wicked, clever and scintillating; why can’t my design perceptions be the same?” And they are but, contrary to his denial about the allure of the light arts, his collections do have hope, enlightenment and a strange kind of joyful pull aimed at ensuring women that they are all beautiful and every bit as deserving of a break from the tested. The Great Mutiny collection was pure splendour when it showed on the runway, catapulting Fahad to a greater nod of acceptance and anticipation from the power brokers in fashion. “I won’t ever design to just be part of the crowd, my collections have to reflect me and my idea of the feminine form, which is pure but corrupted, sexy but perverse.” This idea can be seen throughout Fahad’s career and self; besides the all black outfits, his studio floor mannequins are always clad in black and a quick glance at his Facebook updates betray his love for Burton-esque goth. His ideas, artistically crafted into his designs are as uninhibited as he is himself. From detailing Grecian goddesses and breathing life into toxic desires to bringing to the fore the most traditional and embellishment happy bridals, this young designer has managed to keep his work above par and beyond criticism.
Now that he is a regular fixture at local fashion weeks and the go-to boy for women who aren’t afraid to embrace their own sexuality and vampish chic, what’s next for Lahore’s freshest and most substantial talent? Fashion today is, thank God, alive and kicking like a high horse because so many enthusiastic people are involved but we still have to keep on refining our work ethic. I’ve done the lawn bit where I combined textiles with structure, I’ve dabbled with digital prints for my print museum launch where I combined fact and fiction to give clients a new look and I’ve started home couture and accessories once again so there’s a lot more to look forward to. If all is fair in love and war then all is well with the highs and lows of the fraternity. I keep it dark, happy, morbid, sensual, androgynous and feminine but I will never compromise.” Perhaps, that’s what makes him so exceptional.
The writer is a journalist based in Lahore.
