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It wouldn’t be wrong to call Sana Hashwani and Safinaz Muneer revolutionaries when it comes to their brand, which has grown from a small studio operation in Karachi to one of Pakistan’s biggest fashion identities. So it’s nothing short of a coup to have one half of the brand – Sana Hashwani – come onboard the Karachi based Fashion Pakistan Council as a Board Member. There have been Board Members before, but being the no-nonsense firebrand that she is, Sana is sure to mean business and deliver what she is committing herself to.

What exactly is she committing herself to, is the question.

 I caught up with her over the phone from London, where she is spending some quality time with her family these days. She was extremely charged about her new undertaking.

“What I want to do is help the council bring fashion back,” she said. “I’m a very strong believer in both councils coming together but until that happens, we need to bring up the game and make the look around fashion week more international. The vibe needs to be cool. Not dated. I’m not there this time (for Spring/Summer 2018) but I will be working with the council then onwards.”

She elaborated that her role would be to “help clean it up aesthetically, if I can”.

“We need to think of new, younger teams and bring up the platform of fashion week so that people automatically want to join. We have to polish the image. It’s all about aspiration. The younger 18-year old needs to be targeted. We just need to bring the right people in to create the right vibe, and it’s not impossible.”

There have been undercurrents of some new and strong members coming into the Fashion Pakistan board and hopefully they’ll all be able to pull things together. Chairperson FP, Deepak Perwani has been in talks with some extremely influential people and this time around, the council seems to mean business.

It’s about time too. The ten-year old Fashion Pakistan Council has been struggling with constant internal changes as well as conflict, the implications of inner disarray being apparent in the lack of growth and development in their biggest undertaking – fashion week. Though Fashion Pakistan has been the platform to have launched several iconic designers over the years, it has not been able to build on its strengths. If these issues are addressed, targeted and resolved then there is no doubt that the potential here is immense.

“Karachi has always been the hub of fashion but has been fragmented of late,” Sana said. “We need to build our brand. Karachi has taken a backseat and we want to revive it.”

Aamna Haider Isani

Editor-in-Chief, The author is a full time writer, critic with a love for words and an intolerance for typos, although she'll make one herself every now and then.