|
|
| |
instep
analysis
The true arrival of Kamiar Rokni
Kamiar Rokni has always been a force of fashion and now that
he is out there on his own, he's made up his mind to blow us away
By
Sehrish Khan
|
| |
Sinking
into the lounging sofas at Kamiar Rokni's workshop in Gulberg, one
can notice how swamped he is thanks to the eminent wedding season
in Lahore. He's so busy in fact that he's saying no to friends like
Aaminah Haq who calls to ask him to make her a dress for New Year's
Eve. He tells her to go to Maheen Karim.
"Maheen Karim should thank me," exclaims Kami "I'm
passing on all my New Year's business to her!"
Kamiar himself is going haywire with wedding season in full swing
and stocking at Ensemble in Karachi and The Boulevard in Lahore. He
never expected to sell so well. While Instep is at the workshop, two
young working women (their ranks are increasing in Lahore) Fatima
Salahuddin (interior decorator/furniture designer and Yusuf Salahuddin's
daughter) and Munizeh Jehangir (broadcast journalist and Asma Jehangir's
daughter) come in to get Kamiar's ready to wear line, which according
to them has sold out at The Boulevard.
|
 |
| |
"You
can't take that darling. I have to take all of that to Ensemble in
Karachi," says Kamiar when Fatima tries on a hot pink outfit
with a striking black motif. "Order, order."
With meetings coming up, both girls were there to shop for presentable,
wearable chic clothes. This then is the new emerging market for working
women and Kamiar Rokni's ready to wear fits right into the brave new
ethos. And his white bridal line is rather lovely too, but how cutting
edge can bridals possibly be?
"The philosophy behind the Kamiar Rokni brand is chic, elegant
and feminine clothing at a versatile price point," says Kamiar
who seems to have made up his mind about where he wants to go. "Most
designers are not concentrating on day-wear, and concentrate more
on evening wear. I'm very versatile design-wise, so I really want
to do something that's broad range in terms of different kinds of
products available at one design store."
You can walk in to anywhere where Kamiar is stocking his line and
walk out with a valuable addition to your wardrobe, be it to stand
out at a high society wedding or to power dress for that crucial boardroom
meeting. Considering that we can safely state that these outfits will
be flying off the shelves, how does Kamiar intend to keep up with
the demand? After all, the corporate power of a design house like
Karma is no longer behind him.
"It's the Sana Safinaz role model," says Kamiar "And
that will never fail in Pakistan. I never really needed to rely on
anyone as far as the design aspect of things go. I'm very fortunate
that I have people who are very competent and close to me, working
with me. My immediate core team includes my cousin Tia, who is my
partner in work and business, and my cousin Rehan – so it's
like a family, tight-knit set up. I think there is something to be
said about family. Look at all the design partnerships that have worked
in Pakistan so far… Nickie Nina, Sana and Safinaz." And
well Maheen Kardar and Saad Ali.
Kamiar Rokni has been working in the field of fashion for a total
of seven years now, but as a designer and not as a business person.
But he dispels the notion that design was all that he was doing: "Even
though Karma was a corporate identity and people were taking care
of the business side of things – everything still had to be
on a certain level, a collaborative effort, and a designer never just
makes a drawing – you're always dealing with human resource
issues and other trouble shooting issues. I mean you really have to
be thick to not have learnt something along the way. Yeah, starting
out on my own was a little challenging – because I was understaffed,
having gone from being somebody with a lot of people that I could
rely on in terms of work to somebody who has very less people."
As long as one's network of friends and well wishers is alive and
kicking, things cannot go bad for a designer striking out on his own,
especially one like Kamiar who is known for his flair.
"I'm very lucky - I'm generally a person who has a lot of friends
and they're very supportive. From Maliha Naipaul to Aaminah Haq –
within the industry - as well as completely random people as well,"
he admits and he is being modest. Kamiar is one of the most loved
members of the fashion fraternity in both fashion capitals of Pakistan,
that is Lahore and Karachi. Kamiar is firm friends with HSY (they
were batch mates at the PSFD), Ammar Belal but people in Karachi like
ace photographer Tapu Javeri and the fashion designer par excellence
Maheen think that he will fly higher now that he has gone solo.
And Kamiar himself is confident that he has put a system in place
that will over time grow into a design house. "I've got three
very competent teams working for me, three different pattern cutters,
three different embellishment teams, a machine embroidery team –
I've settled in and am quite organized with the business aspect of
it – so its up and running and everyday there is more structure."
And he is confident that the new set up has it's own advantages. "I'm
quite pleased that I have a very loyal clientele and a lot of them
have stuck with me. A lot of people who were no longer coming back
to Karma are now coming back to me. A lot of people who used to come
in the early days between 2000 – 2002, before Karma had merged
into a corporation – I'm finding that a lot of those people
are coming to me. So, yes there's a certain kind of clientele that
likes the privacy and low key-ness of my current work environment."
And speaking about his personal style as a designer, he stated: "Versatility
is my style, as a designer I usually get associated with somebody
who is very modern or somebody whose very funky but I think my main
strength as a designer is the fact that I'm very versatile –
I can do most looks and I'm going to capitalize on that. I'm just
going to utilize lots of aspects of my design vocabulary and now that
I'm working on my own, not for a company, I think I have more time
to experiment - and when you experiment…you innovate, so I think
the 'Kamiar Rokni' label will probably be a lot more innovative than
Karma."
One of the most sharply dressed men in the fashion world of Pakistan
himself, it is an innate style that sets Kamiar apart from so many
of his contemporaries. In relation to the fashion industry, Kamiar
expresses that he does gets irritated by the lack of quality in manufacturing
and design and especially at bad taste, "Our impeccable good
taste is not what we are known for as a nation. We are known for our
warmth and our hospitality but we're not very much known for our chic-ness
and I wish that wasn't so."
However, he loves being a part of the fashion fraternity that is known
for being a beast of a highly politicized nature. Kami has no complaints
about it. "I'm not particularly irritated by my industry. I try
not to think about my industry when my working day is over. I'm not
someone who is obsessed with the fashion industry but I do enjoy very
much being a part of this community and the fraternity we have. And
whenever we're all together at some place, I tend to have the most
fun out of a lot of other people. Overall I really enjoy my industry."
And Kamiar Rokni was one of the designers most excited about Pakistan
Fashion Week. At the media launch of the event in Lahore, he was ecstatic.
"I am so ready for it!" he exclaimed to Instep. And when
the week was happening and Kamiar had taken flight from Karma, and
wanted a solo show of his own, he admits that he faced a challenging
situation.
"There was a lot to decide, whether latecomers could join or
not, whether they'll be making allowances for one person… and
then other people also have a right so nobody should be treated in
a special manner than anybody else. I know it's a first year and I
know taking PFW off the ground is not an easy project, they have a
small office and I think they might have needed some more people."
Kamiar is diplomatic, but he is one designer from Lahore who admits
that something was not quite right with the way Pakistan Fashion Week
was being put together. "Something was seriously wrong when you
have so many irate fashion designers, so many irate people who had
dealings with the organizers regarding PFW," he observes. "It
can't be like the entire industry is cuckoo, I mean sure we have a
few people who are difficult in our industry, but more or less everybody
except for a handful of people – had some complaint or another."
"I had a particular situation as well," admits Kamiar, "They
could have easily told me within ten days whether I could be a part
of it or not, it shouldn't take long. In the end, I was offered a
slot and was expected to put a show together in like two weeks, which
is very unrealistic. At the moment I'm really working towards having
my solo debut show and launching in Pakistan."
Kamiar Rokni is willing to let bygones be bygones. And he is so happy
these days and his energy level which was always rather high has hit
it's peak. This is not a designer who is wanting to make things happen.
His attitude is of a designer for whom things are happening and he
knows it. He openly admits that he is feeling a lot more empowered,
and a lot more in control of his destiny, "I'm becoming a lot
more responsible. It's very different when you're paying the bills
yourself and as a result it gives you clarity on what you want to
achieve. The more I design, the happier I am as an individual."
And he is getting a charge out of doing it all. "Bridals are
an ultimate expression of a certain craft that we do in terms of design
and embellishment, it's the most lavish thing a designer can do. It's
very glamourous so I enjoy it. My forte is the fact I'm versatile
– I go through my phases of doing super ethnic stuff…
it really varies. I enjoy everything, I like making ready to wear
stuff. I think ready-to-wear is where you want to be, and in terms
of a designer I think you want the maximum amount of people wearing
your clothes. I don't think people have the time to sit at a darzi
and go to Liberty to buy the lace or go to the dyer so there's a huge
vacuum - you design more with ready-to-wear stuff."
He'll do everything but for him, ready to wear is it. And that is
a savvy forward thinking mind at work. The West has always been the
yardstick that Kamiar measures himself by, but strangely enough these
days he is going through a phase of not going through Vogue or Harper's
Bazaar. "I don't know, again, I go through phases - I'm very
plugged into what's happening, I'm generally an information junkie,
devour magazines and the internet and yes, Western designers have
always had an influence on my work. I think one of the reasons why
Karma had an edge over other designers was the fact that being trained
in what I do, I always look for inspiration to the West." But
these days he isn't devouring those magazines.
And that we suppose is natural. After all Kamiar Rokni is in the process
of creating his very own fashion vocabulary. What could be more inspiring
than that?
Check out Kamiar Rokni's first collection on Style Section. |
| |
|
