Open the curtains. To pull you out of you slumber, the first thing you should do when you wake up is open the curtains and embrace the sunlight. Keeping the curtains closed will leave your mind sleeping, aching for a couple more hours of z’s. Brightness equals wide-awake. Try it. It really does work.

Be thankful to be alive. Each day we wake up it really is a blessing. Each day is a gift, we should cherish it and do whatever is best. There is no time to fight with friends or be in a bad mood about something. Be happy!

Spunk and bold moves. That’s the new mantra of the Pakistani ramp. Models from Lahore and Karachi are wooing the world of international fashion.

Meet Neha Ahmed. At 23, she’s already catwalked in Paris and Dubai. Next month, she’ll do a show in London for designer Hasan Sheriyar. “We’re getting a lot more international exposure now. I’m listed with agents in Paris and Dubai and keep going for shows there,” says Ahmed. But entry into modelling wasn’t easy. “My father, an armyman, was furious. But that was then. Now, he’s cool about it.”

Sunita Marshall, having done ramp shows in London, Sri Lanka, India, Singapore and Dubai, is one of the most sought-after models on the Pakistani ramp. “Though modeling is seen as a short-term profession in Pakistan, there’s a lot happening in the industry: we’re looked upon with respect and the money is amazing,” says Marshall, set to make her acting debut in the play Sukhay Patay, which has been shot in Canada and co-stars Suresh Oberoi.

Khawar Riaz is known as a star-maker par excellence and has been instrumental in making several careers Zara Sheikh, Farooq Mannan, Ahmed Butt, Arooj, Imran Abbas, Amina Shafat, Danial… the list of stars made by this star makers is endless. Having the Midas touch must make him feel ten feet tall!

“I love unconventional faces - faces that most other people wouldn’t consider exceptional. I sometimes get fascinated by a particular face and imagine how I could go about transforming it. For instance, when Ahmed and Zara came to me, no one would have thought that they had it in them to become models, but I saw their potential right then and there. I immediately knew that they would become the king and queen of the industry. But I had to work on them. I had to give them time, patience, and the right kind of environment. And then they just blossomed and these seemingly ordinary individuals became head-burning beauties. Stars need to be made into stars; there’s always a creator behind them”.

In a place like showbiz where careers are quite short-lived to procure numero uno status is difficult, but what is even more difficult is to sustain it. There is this general impression that Ather Shahzad have managed to keep the fire going, while Khawar’s work, on the other hand, is fast losing its edge.

How would you defend your decline?

“I think I am very successful in my own way. I am still surviving. Success does not lie in people’s praise but in your body of work - what you deliver. If you are satisfied from within, I believe you have achieved it. And this inner satisfaction is far better than keeping others happy, you have to be true to yourself and do what feels right. If you go against your inner being just for some worldly attainment, you will never be happy in the long run. People who play diplomatic games lead very disturbed personal lives. But that’s not the case with me. Thank God!” says Khawar with sheer confidence.

Nabila has a gentle presence, hardly the intimidating façade you would expect a person with her fame and popularity to have. In a way, she is larger than the celebrities she deals with. Her credibility comes from almost 20 years of hard work. The architecture and interiors of her salons are testament to her philosophy: everything must be underplayed except elegance; styles and their lines must be subdued and restrained, the Zen disturbed only by a dramatic burst of anarchy.

Her passion for discipline borders on desperation to constantly take things higher. “I believe in raising the bar. I just can’t be satisfied in taking what’s given to me. I have to push the limits.”

Few, dare to be different. Especially, in an extremely conservative society. Even fewer, find acclaim in doing so. She’s one of them. Nabila. Rebellious and revolutionary. Known for defying conventions, Nabila’s ventured into uncharted terrain and walked her way to victory as Pakistan’s top hair stylist and make-up artist. Today, she’s a name well-regarded in the international fashion scene for her unique work.

For a person whose made her mark in the make-up business over an impressive 20 years, Nabila comes across as rather soft-spoken and unassuming. Pride is a thing that’s not on her palette. A rare virtue in the world of high-fashion, where people wear ego on their sleeve. She allows her work to speak for her. Work that’s visionary, and challenges all that’s in vogue. An attitude, that’s way ahead of times.

Fashion and grooming are booming industries these days not only in Pakistan but on an international scale, and both recently came together at a pool-side venue in Karachi to launch a new variant in a line of shampoo.

Designer Moazzam Abbasi and stylist Saima Rasheed joined forces to present the fashion show based on the theme of elegant, mysterious and funk, depicted by white, black and punk, respectively. What was different about the show was that Moazzam steered clear of his signature emroidered motifs for the outfits this time round and experimented more with western cuts and material. For her part Saima, toyed with her makeup palette and blowdryer to give the models a dramatic look. The end result was a fusing of both their efforts paraded on the ramp by the likes of Iraj, Rubab, Sunita Marshal, Gia Ali and others after the corporate bigwigs had made their respective addresses to launch the new Pantene line.-FQ

Source: Dawn

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.

‘My age is an asset. I feel great when people come up to me and say I don’t look 30. What is there to hide? I’m so against cosmetic surgery to make one look younger. I want people to know I’m a real person’.

She shocked the world with her first shoot 12 years ago. Here was a 5-foot-10 inch dusky girl with long, curly locks posing in a mini-skirt and knee high boots - a far cry from the petite, fair, straight-haired models that were the icons of beauty then. Iraj changed the rules. She had spunk, not sweetness, style, incentive and a whole lot of attitude. And now, with more than a decade of hard work behind her, she rules the roost as one of the top three supermodels in Pakistan

The fashion industry of Pakistan is growing in volume with every passing day. The credit goes chiefly to the mainstream fashion people, who have been instrumental in this change. While a lot of new designers are venturing into this field, the old ones are just getting better day-by-day. But those who have education and experience are dominating the scene right now. Among the few good designers in the fashion arena, one designer whose work has captured the eyes of many is Moazzam Abbasi. His label Riwayat is a trend-setter for the women of today.

Three reasons why Abdullah wouldn’t make a good model:[1.] he seems to be the product of non-indigenous genes. [2.] He has a laid back attitude towards PR in modeling. [3.] He sometimes deceives the viewer into thinking that he/she is looking at Farooq Mannan.

Firstly, If people cannot at some level relate to the face they see in the image, they will not buy into the fantasy of whatever he is so alluring advocating. Furthermore, shyly spurning diversification and trading fashion magazines and swanky celebrity soirées for textbooks and motorcycle joyrides is not the way to go about advancing a career hinged on media appearances and keeping up appearances. And finally, fashion is about change: people don’t want to see variations of the same face over and over again.