As a designer, Faiza Samee may belong to the old world of revivalists, but in the past couple of years she has emerged with very solid footing in contemporary fashion. Faiza has modified the beautiful wood block prints on silk (that she has been making for decades) into trendy ready to wear with modern cuts and affordable price points. Her cotton tunics - free on fuss and focusing on style - have sold for as little as 1800 rupees a piece. And one needn’t take the trip to Karsaz (where she lives and does business) to source them anymore. Becoming a lot more accessible, Faiza is now stocking at Ensemble in Karachi, along with providing a very steady stream of collections to Carma in Delhi. And success is following her everywhere. What’s more amazing than her sudden leap into contemporary fashion is the fact that she has involved all her daughters in the business. This does seem like a fashion empire in the making.
“My daughter Rabia and my sister Farida’s daughter Saleha are designing the prêt line,” Faiza confirms. “They are both working mothers so they juggle the work. Very soon we’ll be branching off the label too - it’ll be called SLATE. It will retain the Faiza Samee signature while being designed by these young girls. My other daughter Aamna is designing her own line of affordable jewelry, also stocking at Ensemble. And my eldest daughter Ayesha, who lives in Lahore, is designing mirrors for Kalamkaar, and is exporting them. So yes, they are all involved in one way or the other.”
Instep Today: Do you feel that coming into ready to wear has changed the way you have been operating for decades?
Faiza Samee: I think that people have been a little hasty to label me as a couturier only. While reviving ancient embroideries has been my passion, I also have been making exclusive wood-block prints on silk and chiffon. They have been access points for all those people who cannot afford a Faiza Samee made-to-order outfit, and they have always done very well. I would call them prêt a porter too. But yes, getting into ready to wear clothing is as important and these days I’m just trying to figure out how to get the costing down.
Instep Today: A Ritu Kumar franchise has come to Karachi with lower price points than any of our designers. Are you competing with that?
Faiza Samee: Look, the market is big enough to accommodate us all. I’ve been selling in India for ages without threatening anyone’s sales. So it’s a good thing that Indian designers are coming here too. As for the pricing, look at the state of our economy. The Indian government has controlled inflation whereas here it is affecting everything we do. Secondly, you have to understand that the set up of Pakistani and Indian designers is totally different. I work with kaarighars who have been with me for ages; they get excellent wages and we take care of their children’s education, their medical bills etc. I would rank them as lower middle class citizens. In India, these workers come from the lowest strata of society and work for minimum wages. I take pride in the fact that we take such good care of our staff. The third thing is that most of India’s top designers get work done on contract basis. They do not own their own units and so have no overhead expenses. All of this enables them to make cheaper clothes.
Instep Today: Contrary to that, you do operate quite an empire of workers. And you were cut out to be quite the queen bee in an article recently written by Indian fashion journalist Hindol Sengupta.
Faiza Samee: I don’t get up at four…that was ridiculous! I actually called Hindol up and asked him how I could wake up at four and open my shop at the same time, as he had written. It was totally insane. But the truth is that they all like to glorify us a bit when they write about us. It’s how they operate.
Instep Today: How would you compare that to the way our media operates?
Faiza Samee: Right now I’m very bothered with the recent Eid programming. Our media has really grown in the past few years but it appears they have forgotten how to do their job. When any country goes through the kind of crisis we are going through, it’s everyone’s responsibility to help build people’s morale, not constantly run them down. Media shouldn’t brush important issues under the carpet but they shouldn’t be made the focal point of everything. I was in India when the recent bomb lasts happened. They were reported but not longer than that same evening.
The next day everything was back to normal. Our media goes on and on, depressing viewers to no end. And the Eid programming was shocking because there was no programming. What every channel is conveniently doing is getting three people in a room and taking their views on where this county is headed. Or going to marketplaces and asking people how expensive things have become. Is that how you entertain people? There used to be fabulous skits and comedy programmes but the more money channels are making, the less interested they are in investing that money in making good programmes.
Hindol Sengupta describes Faiza Samee in The Hindu
"Like Ritu Kumar back home, (Faiza) Samee has single-handedly saved scores of heritage textile crafts from dying out in Pakistan. The elegant, salwar-kameezed, peaches and cream complexioned woman lives in the old-moneyed Karsaz neighbourhood of Karachi where every Indian going to Pakistan for the first time has to go to show their face at the Foreigner Registration Office.
But I wasn't going only to see her revivalist genius. I wanted to see her legendary store, in one part of her workshop-cum-home, which opens for only two hours everyday.
People fly in from Lahore to arrive between 4.30 and 6.30 p.m. when Faiza Samee opens her doors. Such is the luxury of the rich in Karachi.
Samee, who buys Birkins (from Hermes and one of the most expensive handbags in the world) on whim, lives in a leafy white-washed home that is slightly My Name is Red meets Gone with the Wind, once dazzlingly white-washed, it now has intricate filigree patterns as Samee reinvents age-old architecture traditions on her walls in the same way that she resurrects vintage stitch and weave techniques.
Over kebabs and a stinging mixed dal (from Sri Lanka and Pakistan, she told me), Samee said she is often bored of commerce. She doesn't wake up before four p.m., she likes to go away to London in summer, she doesn't care much about brand building, she is not interested in doing pret lines and she is now more interested in rebuilding her home (it has already taken three years and likely to take another three) rather than clothes."
- Hindol Sengupta, from 'The rich in Karachi and other luxuries' printed in The Hindu, September 28, 2008
The studio is very basic and not contemporary like a HSY or Karma studio. I reckon she hasn't made any changes to it since it first started up, except for the computer in their office to handle client queries.
Faiza's studio is basically adjacent to her home, which I think is part of the house itself. You actually have to remove your shoes when you enter, since everyone inside including Faiza and her assistants walk around barefoot around the room. Her assistants are all girls an there are quite a few, relatively young and all and not the highly educated type (possibly back from her home village?)
The furniture is very old world and she has outfit samples hanging all around the room and a few mannequins which she uses to display her bridal pieces on. She also has this fabric cabinet full of gorgeous fabrics, which she either purchases locally as well as from places like India when she's over there...
You have to call her up to make an appointment and they start from 4pm to 6pm, but she will stay around till 6:30pm usually. You will find that this isn't really a one-to-one appointment as other clients turn up as well during those hours, so you have to grab her attention if it gets busy in there.
As said, the studio is very simple, but the outfits really do take your breath away when you see them upfront and the colours are amazing! :)
interesting you say that the girls that work for her don't seem educated. of course education is an advantage, being able to speak in english etc...but i think the most important thing is the designer's senior assistants and managers need to have an interest in fashion. they need to know the outfits the designer is selling off by heart, they should know the material, type of kaam, modifications that can be made, price and recent advertisements without having to go and ask the designer.
unfortunately they do not. which is a shame. until the managerial aspects can be fixed up paki fashion cannot be compared to an international platform, even hsy's staff hardly respond to emails (although the girls at his studio seem pretty clued in)
They don't speak english, yet I found her senior assitants very informed, since they were the people you would deal with. Faiza could never remember prices of her outfits since they were never tagged, so she would ask her senior assistant. Faiza was usually there as a token figure, but the senior assistants would do the running around, explain the fabrics and kaam they were using and discuss your own peronal requirements...alot of them had been with her for many years!
HSY staff are a joke altogether. I sent them a request for prices of a couple of outfits, and I had to chase them up on at least 3 occasions before I got an answer. I mean if they're that useless on request for prices, then I would have no hope if I placed an order!
I was actually quite annoyed by the article in the Hindu.
It seemed to be written more to lampoon Karachi's elite and their alleged laziness than as an actual honest profile of Faiza. I hope she doesn't grant them any interviews in the future.
^ziggy:
i agree with the slack from HSY. his staff is useless. my bridal is from HSY (absolutely exquisite, custom-made sharara) but it was a month late! the outfit is breathtakingly beautiful, made for my budget, styled by me and perfected by them. the fitting was a a dream. the service, HORRIBLE.
i had some other outfits being made from HSY as well. i went in for at least 12 fittings! either the fittings were completely wrong or the outfit was still at the kaarkhaana, or some excuse or the other. EVERY single outfit was delayed by weeks.
Janab-e-ali - from what I understand, she has a huge clientele in India, so I guess she thought it would have a positive impact, but you're right...it is a dig at the elite of Karachi.
Bride2Be - I do like HSY outfits, but like you, I wouldn't really want to go through that kind of experience with them, especially if i'm ordering from abroad. 12 fittings is a little too much and you're right, it's excuses upon excuses with them...
^maybe it was just that one time his service was that bad? he's so well known, i mean i don't think everyone has the same problem of receiving their orders late. and if that IS the case then he better step up his game!
^ People have probably put up with his service since the designs are so chic. The work on them however, as I've heard, is less attractive up close.
The second article on Faiza is a very bad reflection of her character/image as a professional. How is that making her look more desirable as a designer? Waking up at 4pm...dude that is LAZINESS. She should have them re-print it.
I was actually quite annoyed by the article in the Hindu.
It seemed to be written more to lampoon Karachi's elite and their alleged laziness than as an actual honest profile of Faiza. I hope she doesn't grant them any interviews in the future.
I agree with u...the article was getting on my nerves!
i guess it does make her sound lazy....but coming from a family of ppl who like to get up in the afternoon it doesn't seem weird. some ppl prefer the night to the day