If, as per The Guardian, Lulu Kennedy is fashion’s ‘fairy godmother’ then Sania Maskatiya has to be the local fashion industry’s ‘overnight princess’ - who went from being a young textile graduate foraying into the unchartered, fickle realm of fashion to becoming the country’s most celebrated fashion designer in a matter of merely four years. Emerging from a city where fashion is almost always understated in an attempt to be sophisticated, Sania taught us that going ‘print-on-print’ can look just as elegant. And before we knew it, her label’s delicate silk capes accentuated with fine printing, often paired with her popular checkered pants, became a fashion staple for luminaries of the celeb world.

However, the real achievement in ‘dressing stars’ came for the brand this year when Bollywood’s ultimate style icon Sonam Kapoor was seen sporting a bralet from Sania’s Sakura collection from Lakme Fashion Week on the cover of Cosmopolitan India. "A couple of weeks after our show at Lakme, we got emails from a bunch of magazines in India to send our pieces to them to be featured in shoots," revealed Sania in an exclusive interview with Instep. "It so happened that Sonam wore our top for the cover of Cosmopolitan. It was a great surprise. We at Sania Maskatiya were extremely excited and thrilled because it had always been a distant dream to see Sonam wear our label. She is, after all, a style diva."

The Sonam cover wasn’t the only feather in Sania’s cap. The designer, who has gone from strength to strength, ticked off another milestone worth celebrating in 2014 - a nomination for the International Woolmark Prize, one of the most coveted fashion awards in the global world. However, despite a lot of hopes pinned onto the brand, Sania did not win the prize.

"The international market is a completely different ball game and indeed it came as an eye-opener for our team," admitted Sania. "We got an opportunity to meet people from all over the world, including the judges, exchange ideas and learn from their business models. It was an interesting amalgamation of like-minded people of diverse cultural backgrounds with creative ideas."

Earning a nomination for the International Woolmark Prize is no easy feat considering the stringent selection guidelines and hence, it was a proud moment for all to see some of our major brands being nominated this year. We asked Sania why other brands in Pakistan had failed to make the transition from being popular local labels to globally recognized ones. "I don’t think there is anything lacking in particular except that most of our local brands don’t aspire to become international ones," Sania pointed out. "There is a completely different market abroad which requires a completely different strategy. I understand that clothes represent our culture but something that may sell well here might not sell abroad so there needs to be a good balance of innovation and aesthetics in one’s business model."

Coming to the business front, things got grander at Sania Maskatiya in 2014. Having opened her stores across the country in 2013, the label went on to transcend international borders - not only exhibiting at Aalishan Pakistan in India amidst much appreciation from buyers, but also launching a store within a store at Ensemble in Dubai. About her experience in India, Sania shared, "We were invited to exhibit in India through legit means and we are really proud that people loved our creations. The sales were pretty decent and I feel it’s because we have always been consistent with quality. Good quality and design go hand in hand and we have set high parameters for ourselves."

While international exhibitions are a great marketing tool, stepping into retail in an unpredictable, international territory says a lot about the designer’s penchant for taking risks. It’s a brave move considering that retail still hasn’t proved its mettle in Pakistan (Read: we see malls filled with people but hardly any buyers). "We have had quite a positive response from our clientele in Dubai. We had been stocking in Dubai for quite some time now, however, considering the demand for our clothes we thought it was appropriate to have a store there," asserted Sania. "Dubai has been our destination of choice as demographically, the market is quite similar to our local market."

"When we opened our store in 2011, there weren’t many designers offering luxury prêt off the rack. Since then, we have only seen a boom in the industry. We ourselves have opened four stores which makes it quite evident that venturing into retail has been a success," added Sania dismissing any misgivings one might have regarding the mass commercial success of high-end designers.

Sania may have been a high-flyer internationally, but the local sphere was also not shy of acknowledging her for achievements.

In a surprise turn of events, the Lux Style Awards awarded Sania with two honours, against popular demand and much to the designer’s own amazement (one for Luxury Pret and one for Lawn). "We are thrilled to have won two awards this year," said a delighted Sania. "Of course there was a lot of suspense and speculation if we would win in the categories we were nominated for but we weren’t expecting two awards. We are truly humbled and full of gratitude that we are so blessed to have been given this honour."

Sania’s growing recognition has been a deserving one, for her collections offer a certain no-fuss ease along with much-needed oomph to make a style statement, but haters will always be haters. With fame has come a lot of criticism - particularly that of ‘good PR underpinning everything at Sania Maskatiya’. The designer, however, remains unfazed in the face of such accusations; in fact she admits that PR is vital for any fashion brand’s commercial success. "Good PR is essential for a brand to grow and be visible with the right amount and type of exposure. It really helps build and strengthen the brand. We at Sania Maskatiya are a testament to that. People know us because our PR," she stated.

This year promises to be no less exciting for the label, which has already bagged a major deal with Al-karam Textiles for the sartorial summer season. "We are super excited to collaborate with textile giants like Al-karam," shared Sania. "We have our niche clientele but with Al-karam we will be able to reach out to the masses."

"It’s an exciting collaboration as we will be doing not only lawn with them but also will be designing capsule, ready-to-wear collections for Al-karam Studio, thus penetrating into the ready-to-wear mass market which is quite a thrilling prospect," she added. In that case, it won’t be an overstatement to say that we are all looking forward to the upcoming lawn mania and give in to our guilty pleasure of shopping with Sania’s creations. If her previous stint at designing lawn is anything to go by, this will prove to be a winner.