There are brands out there whose trajectory is nothing like those of the others. They are the market leaders, those that blaze trails for the rest.
Instep catches up with the eminent couturier about retail, bridal couture and the problems that plagued her lawn.
Lahore
There are brands out there whose trajectory is nothing like those of the others. They are the market leaders, those that blaze trails for the rest. The designers who are at liberty to say, ‘Hey, just because this aesthetic works for others doesn’t mean everyone should aspire to just this.’ They are original, their flair for design is ingrained in their brand ethos and they are one with it. They are designers like Zara Shahjahan, who we recently caught up with at the opening of her one-of-a-kind bridal studio, aptly named Manzil.
And a manzil it is for her, having finally (and confidently) settled into the market as a bridal designer even though she’s been dabbling in formal wear for years. Previously having stayed in the news mainly for her pret lines, lawn, occasionally for her formal wear and last year for her first full bridal collection, this year she admits she will be looking at bridals “very aggressively”. We believe only a designer with a retail mainstay brand would use the term “aggressive” to describe her plans with bridals for the year.
Zara Shahjahan’s one-of-a-kind bridal studio, aptly named Manzil, is raw, earthy and has no overt delusions of grandeur.
She has been a name that’s been around for almost a decade. We wonder why the designer took so long to open her bridal studio and steered away from what most designers consider their biggest cash cow? Talking to Instep Shahjahan said, “Bridals need your attention and retail (ready to wear) needs your attention. You can’t be split between then. We have been a ready to wear oriented brand and now that that leg of the business is doing well with new lines in every week, we can focus on bridals. Currently, we’ll only be catering to Pakistan and I feel we have a good chance with breaking through the clutter because my aesthetics are very different.”
Shahjahan makes a solid point. Her aesthetic is unique and always has been. Yousaf Shahbaz of Strata, who’s designed Manzil as well as Sapphire’s new store concurs. “Brands who have an original, signature aesthetic that is easily identifiable cannot have a generic space,” he tells us at the launch. Shahbaz used elements that Shahjahan is inspired by in her own work like her logo which is derived from Mughal architecture and is a repetitive theme around the studio. The studio is raw, earthy and has no overt delusions of grandeur. With the simple usage of chips and bricks in the interior, the space allows the clothes to truly take center stage. The designer’s piece de resistance, placed at the entrance of the studio on the day of the opening, perfectly encapsulates the studio and her brand: it was a white-on-white ensemble, with an old world charm but modern in its techniques – a lot like her studio.
According to Shahjahan, at this point her ready to wear still remains the strongest. Her lawn collection earlier this year, shot in Vietnam was a beautiful campaign but one that got reviews for not having the best quality; in that it was jacquard and not pure. About that she said, “When we experiment we can go wrong but I was happy I did something different and it still sold really well.”
Her upcoming collection of formal wear is one she feels she one could put on the runway but chose instead to do a full shoot, promote it really well and put it in stores. She sat out PFDC this time and we asked whether she was moving on from the fashion week platform?
“I need to put a collection that will sell but I won’t put up a collection for show, that only makes sense for couture,” she explained. “If you show simple wearable clothes on the catwalk they don’t look good and doing the over exaggerated show isn’t me. I just make simple, very wearable pretty clothes and they sell really well so putting them on a catwalk is a challenge for me. I’ve tried it and it always shows that I’m trying too hard.”
As far as fashion week goes, she wants to return to the platform after her solo show come November.
