Pakistani Fashion Designer - Umar Sayeed

One of the sad things to have happened to fashion in Pakistan is that in the process of accelerated commercialization it seems to have been ‘prostituted’. The new MBA degree that fashion designing has become and the freedom of easy entry (and exit) have collectively flooded the industry with new faces. This new crop of designers may have more exposure and formal training but the respectability and class that the older generation of designers has given to the Pakistani haute couture is not there anymore.

He doesn’t have an outlet because he is not an ambitious person and has been self-financed throughout his career. Living life to the fullest he feels content with whatever he has and doesn’t crave for more. But the quality is something he will never compromise upon. No matter even if he works at a miniscule level he will always remain in the top line of designers.

He is surely larger than the ‘divas’ for whom he designs but oozes no attitude that is directly associated with the latter. Complete candour is his style when he says that he is still unmarried and believes that he is better occupied in his own company and needs some space of his own. ‘How can you expect a person who can’t adjust properly with his own family to live the rest of his life with a stranger?’ He quizzes in his trademark style as we wrap the session.