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.
Sana Hashwani signs up as Board Member of Fashion Pakistan, and she comes with great ideas.
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” and that we would hopefully see the implemented changes by the Winter/Festive edition of fashion week.
“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 olds need 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 board and hopefully they’ll all be able to pull it 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, echoing those thoughts. “We need to build our brand. Karachi has taken a backseat and we want to revive it.”
