The Pakistani fashion industry can be a vicious pool of controversies – from plagiarism allegations to alleged affairs; from drug abuse to violent outpours – and designer Tabassum Mughal is no stranger to them. It was only recently that the young designer came under fire for plagiarizing Dolce & Gabbana’s runway look for her debut lawn collection but this time around, things have gone far too out of hand. It appears that what began as an innocent client-designer relationship turned into one marked by abuse, violence and uncontrollable anger eventually leading to a social media movement to push for the designer’s arrest.
So the story allegedly goes like this: the “abused” client had ordered an expensive bridal, which did not end up looking as instructed by the client right before the wedding date. Upon insisting to meet the designer herself, the client’s mother and Tabassum got into a verbal spat until the designer had her assistants beat up the mom,
Unverified pictures of the bride’s mother’s bruised self have been doing the social media rounds ever since and the social media activists have been quick to judge the situation, starting a movement to bring Tabassum to justice. In relation to the event, a peaceful protest is also being held today outside Tabassum’s studio at Boat Basin, Karachi, to ensure that she apologizes publicly to the client and compensates. However, could it be that there is another side to the story?
While Tabassum had posted an update on her official page deeming the story a mere exaggeration aimed only at maligning her, only to delete it later, another work associate of Tabassum’s who was present during the situation claims that the abuse was initiated by the client herself. According to her post, the “client’s mother refused to make the payment because the wedding got cancelled last minute and threw a shoe at the manager”, and that’s when things got out of hands. Another person by the name of Hira Haroon took to Facebook to clarify that she had actually helped the victims by lodging an FIR but on hearing Tabassum’s side of the story, the police felt that she was not at fault. Hence, the two parties reached a settlement. “Apparently today, Tabassum Mughal was going to be arrested but after listening to her story, he (the police officer) came to the conclusion that she was not at fault much. After negotiations, the money was refunded to the client,” she wrote.
Though there is no verification on either side of the story, it still in no way justifies the violence. It is criminal and downright unethical. However, it also does shed light on the role of social media and at times the frivolty of those using it. The young social media crowd was quick to form communities and bring the allegations to light, but hardly anybody seemed interested in investigating it deeper. Perhaps this is the reason why social issues become mere gossip and die down just as quickly as they are brought into the limelight.
– Nida Ameen