Sania Maskatiya: the beginning of a great brand

Sohai, Sania Maskatiya, Maheen Karim and Umair Tabani

Sania Maskatiya recently celebrated the first anniversary of her shop and it was amazing to see women buying clothes as if they were doing their monthly groceries. All credit goes to this young firebrand who not only has her head wrapped around the commerce of fashion but knows how to balance it with the edginess it takes to be called a designer.

Smart designers will make sure the press covers their work, leaving their social activities for exclusives

Sania with powerhouse Frieha Altaf. Photo: iPhone

Sania with Shernaz and Shezray of Ensemble Pakistan, where the label is stocked as well

The window display at Maskaiya's flagship store elegantly displays the 'Oscar outfit' that Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy wore to the Oscar luncheon in LA

Sania with her brother Umair and Zahir and Sherezad Rahimtoola of Labels, where she also stocks!

All pictures (except two) courtesy Lotus PR, another reason why Sania Maskatiya’s brand identity has managed to get so strong in just a year.

Sonam Kapoor features in the new Firdous Lawn campaign

 

A rocking Snog party in Karachi

Karachi Snog Street Party

Saturday Night Fever began with the Snog Street Party and ended with Humsafar. The unmentionable Pakistan versus England ODI would have permeated all the fun had one taken it seriously!

A frail yet spirited Ardeshir Cowasjee officially inaugurated Snog this Saturday

The talented and stylish LUMS graduate Maleeha Chaudhry, who has found her niche in fashion with Daaman

ActOne performers delighted all Snoggers at the street party

Fathma Amir (right) was one of the many fun people to be found on the pink carpet

I stuck around till 8:00pm and then rushed off to catch Humsafar but apparently the Snog party got even more delightful with appearances by models, celebrities and the ever-green Ali Saleem cast in a pink Begum Nawazish persona.

PR: Ayesha Nasir for Voila. I’ll update professional pictures once they come in. Till then, iPhone zindabad.

Exclusive peak: Sana Safinaz pret look for SS 2012

Neha models the Sana Safinaz SS 2012 new look: short and streamlined for the day!

This was the first shoot I have ever coordinated in my fourteen year career, that too for a magazine I have never written for before. You’ll have to wait to look at results of the full production (and it was nothing less) but I can promise that these will be images you have never seen before.

This picture, blogged of course with Sana and Safinaz’s consent, is a sneak peak into what their label will be trend-setting as the pret look for spring/summer 2012. Enjoy!

Nomi Ansari’s all for bridals

Nomi Ansari is unapologetic about his love for bridals and his focus is what makes him so good.

I’ve seen Nomi Ansari rise from the time when he had a little, colourful studio on the mezzanine floor of an unimpressive building in one of the lanes of 26th street. Now he has an impressive space near Teen Talwar, one that boasts hundreds of samples of his vibrant shaadi-wear. Each and every outfit is separated by a plastic laminate (to avoid embellishment snagging the fabric) and each outfit is coded and marked with a visual card. These cards often get stolen, says the man who faces the threat of being one of the most plagiarized designers in Pakistan. For that he requests me not to take close ups of his clothes.

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy carries Polly&Me

Spotted: Oscar nominee Obaid-Chinoy at Xander's Cafe with her Polly&Me shoulder bag

There you see Sharmeen with a friend, a day ahead of her session at KLF

This weekend was quite hectic, with the Karachi Literature Festival taking place and great films releases in the cinema. But between two different genres of art, one did have to catch a quick bite. Where else to go other than Clifton’s favourite new cafe, Xander’s, which is all the more popular for the cheerful and bright ambience and the fact that Xander’s always has a surprise or two on it’s menu. If you haven’t yet tried, I would go for the new fire-oven baked thin crust pizza margheritas and the Eton mess, which will be around for as long as strawberries are.

Anyway, the cherry on the pie is always bumping into ‘interesting’ people at Xander’s whether Nimra Buccha and Mohammad Hanif at 8am, Sherry Rehman with her family on a crowded Sunday, Sonya Jehan whenever she’s in Karachi and this weekend, Oscar nominee Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. It was heartening to see that the ‘public’ – usually averse to recognizing stars – was openly appreciating and congratulating her on her Oscar nomination. She was in town between Oscar-related activities in LA and said she would be flying back for the main ceremony very soon. I think she must have left by now, considering the Oscars are just around the corner. We wish her the best; she’s a star already!

Ps. Sharmeen’s bag caught my eye – Polly&Me bags are made in Chitral by a London based brand – and I must add that they are available at Labels in Karachi whereas an inspired local version by the name of Krizmah is available at Ensemble.

For the love for Snogging!

Saraa Gheewala (left) at the Snog meet-up for bloggers or Blog meet-up for Snoggers Photo courtesy Farah Kamal @ Gourmalicious

A jazzy. cool ambience will be very welcome in the long summer ahead.

Held a day ahead of Valentine’s Day, the idea of Snogging was fun: anything for that first kiss of snow So this was a Bloggers meet-up organized by Voila PR and Snog owner Saraa Gheewala (whose family also owns and runs Butlers and Sweet Factory in Pakistan). While I hate to think of print as a dying medium I do have to give in to immense influence of being on the world wide net via a blog, Twitter or even Facebook. So a Bloggers meet-up this was and one bumped into interesting people that are rarely seen elsewhere but online.

Back to the fro-yo (that has become the hottest thing in town since sliced bread) I had a good taste and decided that the flavours were refreshingly underwhelming. That means that they all retained the base note of yogurt with a tinge of the added flavour without posing as a substitute to ice cream. And between Original, Chocolate, Strawberry, Blueberry and Passionfruit I would safely go for passionfruit every single time. The fresh fruit toppings were ample and the chocolately options were also served up as guilty Snogs. I would recommend the granola which was spot on crunchy.

The best thing about Snog is that it’s sugar free as well as fat free which basically means it is guilt free and can be enjoyed freely. I look forward to bringing my dad in, who’s diabetic and rarely indulges in sweet treats!

Very, berry strawbelicious! Photo courtesy Farah Kamal @ Gourmalicious

Okay, so now for the catch: Snog is a tad bit pricier than other fro-yos around town. Take a look at the four offered sizes (below) and remember that you’ll be paying Rs 390 for Little which is exactly 140g, Rs 540 for the 210g Classic, Rs 775 for Big (at 350g) and a whopping Rs 1300 for Massive, which is enough to feed an army of sugar starved kids. Add around Rs 50 per topping and you have quite a bill to pay. That said, the Little Snog is just about as much as you need to have!

Little, Classic, Big and Massive only for the supremely greedy

Ps. Snog will be hosting an ‘invite only’ Snog-Street party this weekend so if you’re in town and are lucky enough to have received a bright pink Snog Card then join in for some live music and Snog on the house!