It’s been 25 years since the fashion industry was first introduced to the phenomenon known as Imran Qureshi. To mark this turning point, we decided to give a bit of a twist to the obligatory interview: we had Imran interviewed by his own choice of journalist. That might not be how most people know famous fashion designer Rizwan Beyg as, but he was in actuality the perfect choice. Not only has he been a much-admired columnist of an English weekly, but he also happens to be great friends with our anniversary boy, and that is how an otherwise straightforward interview turned into a friendly chitchat session.

He sits at the table with his soft brown eyes and floppy hair and I look carefully for gray but there is none. He claims to be 47 but the face and slight build belie his claim. 25 years later Imran Qureshi is still very much a force to contend with and as the founding father of choreography in Pakistan is very much a part of the who’s who in fashion.

What is power? Who has it? How can you tell? These are questions that have no easy answers. Ask an assertive journalist, and you’ll hear a vehement dismissal of all glamour types and the list of powerful people whittling down to a stodgy industry bigwigs. Ask a starry-eyed showbiz fanatic and you’ll hear a bubbly eulogy for all the hot starlets who in reality would not even have the clout to wangle a solo project. So the dilemma remains.

Aladdin had a magic lamp and he could make his genie do everything, but that was centuries ago. Khawar Riaz doesn’t have a magic lamp but he has a mind that works far better than that. No wonder he picks up people from the streets and turn them into Greek gods and goddesses.

“Khawar grooms his models in such a way that no one really believes that they have been picked up from the streets” designer Deepak Perwani recently commented. The only problem is that at one stage the demi gods and goddesses think of themselves immortals and become too big for their own boots. Case in point: Zara Shiekh and Ahmed Butt, Two people KR took under his wings, spent money, groomed them and presented them to the world of fashion as his discoveries.

The show got bigger this year. Not only did the organizers fly out to Dubai, giving the local entertainment industry much-needed international exposure, they also collaborated with a television network, ensuring a much wider audience than our local channels could ever pull off.

Indian talent, comprising professional dancers, stage designers and technical assistants, was flown in to fill the gaps, but this year’s Lux Style Awards could easily have been better executed than last year’s programme had the picture not been overexposed to the glitter and gaudiness of Bollywood. The India-based Sony TV channel, as director and producer of the show, was perhaps given too much freedom to project it as it wanted, right from the poster at the front desk down to the silver and gold tinsel on stage.

Lux Style Awards 2004 : Sonu and Priyanka steal the thunder at Lollywood’s Oscars!

It was a night to remember for fans of icons from Bollywood and Lollywood.

Playing host to them and the stars were the organizers of the Lux Style Awards 2004 at Dubai’s lavishly extravagant Novotel Hotel, and Bollywood stars, including Sonu Nigam and Priyanka Chopra, did not disappoint.

Playback singer-cum actor Sonu Nigam carried the night so well that his fans were not fully satiated.

Sighs of, “I wish he had stayed on longer,” could be heard from many in the audience.

It’s not every day that you meet someone like Tooba. Enthusiastic but not vulnerable, upfront but not stubborn, savvy but not dumb; a girl who isn’t afraid of speaking her mind and who always delivers her best on the ramp or in front of the camera. Self-assured, Tooba knows what she wants in life and gets it. Impulsiveness and diplomacy are characteristics that are alien to her nature. But at the same time, honesty, sincerity, trust and confidence are her hallmarks.

Hair and Makeup: Saima’s
Kurtis: Umer Butt
Photography: Zahid Ghauri

Profile:
Name: Sunita Marshal
Age: 23 Years
Height: 5.8
Claim to fame: Super model
Five year Plan: Sustain the supermodel persona and a Post-Graduate degree, possibly in advertising.
Ten Year Plan: A certain marriage to be followed by motherhood.

Old is gold and new is bold. Bold enough to bowl you over with everything that they do. And they do like no one can do. Here is a great tidal wave of young fashion gurus and divas that has stormed our fashion industry shores… Rocking a lot of boats and changing the scenery of the breakwater. So charged are they that they could put KESC’s Power Station to shame. They are relatively new but surely on a signing spree. So meet the new fashion police, which is lighting up our fashion world.

Designers

Usman Dittu