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.

Marriages feature as the most important event in a person’s life in practically all civilized cultures, since time long gone by. In our part of the world, especially, wedding ceremonies have always tended to be elaborate affairs spreading over quite a few days and involving at least three to four formal occasions. Regardless of whether a person can afford to indulge in the festivities and celebrations associated with marriages, the prime concern has invariably been to put up the best show possible. But, when one compares the finest of those of yesteryear, one finds that they are far removed from anything witnessed before in terms of conceptualization and execution, and, although admittedly, such weddings are confined to the moneyed classes. The trend is fast catching on so that even middle-income groups are now coming up with economical ways of introducing imaginative touches to wedding festivities.