Came across the following link and thought I’d share it on here, Do click on the link as there is a short video
The Telegraph’s Hilary Alexander chatted with several supermodels backstage at Pakistan Fashion Week who revealed what it’s like to walk the runway in the Islamic republic.
Mehreen Syed explained, “I chose this profession and I love this profession. And, of course, our culture is different because people think that in Pakistan there’s no fashion shows and there’s no fashion designers. And that there’s no models. But I am glad that our fashion industry is popular and is helping us.”
However her decision wasn’t accepted by most of her family members. “My uncles, they beat me, and they said, ‘You are not doing this profession’…but only my mother said, ‘You should do this, whatever you want’…My whole family, they wear burqas, they cover their faces.”
Aaminah Haq said it was difficult for her father, who was the governor and chief minister of Punjab, to deal with her showing off her body and rising to a higher level of fame than perhaps he had achieved. She added, “I started modeling in 1995 at that time things were very different, we hadn’t had terrorism, things were very open.”
Ayyan Ali told the cameras, “You should know the difference between vulgar and decent. You can carry a short skirt in a nice way. It depends on you.”
Re: Pakistani models - short Interview by the Telegraph
it's sad that mehreen syed was beaten up by her uncle and brother for going into the modeling industry though. she must've really had a passion for the fashion industry to go through so much pain to be a model. proud of her for standing up for herself.
still why were they allowed to hurt her like that :(.....this type of abuse is so easily overlooked in our desi society.
Re: Pakistani models - short Interview by the Telegraph
that’s really interesting and wrong yes, forcing people to take off the burqa or turban but i’m talking about only physical abuse here. when i say desi society i’m including all of south asia and not only muslim south asia or pakistan, eastern culture doesn’t really take abuse as a criminal offense as does the west.
no need to get defensive and i was not talking about islamic culture but south asian culture which includes india, bangladesh, sri lanka, nepal along with pakistan
i think it’s b/c of the string of physical abuse and domestic violence threads in life1 that I made that comment. OUR society takes such things lightly or something that can be easily fixed.
Re: Pakistani models - short Interview by the Telegraph
^ Oho I wasn't getting defensive, I saw both pieces of news on the same page on the huffington post so I just pointed out the two very different views. Agreed with your post.
Re: Pakistani models - short Interview by the Telegraph
"you can carry a mini skirt in a decent way"
Seriously? I thought our models were "educated". They shouldn't come up with stupid excuses like this, they should admit that it's their job and they get paid for wearing outfits and they are comfortable with wearing whatever.
Re: Pakistani models - short Interview by the Telegraph
"you can carry a mini skirt in a decent way"
Seriously? I thought our models were "educated". They shouldn't come up with stupid excuses like this, they should admit that it's their job and they get paid for wearing outfits and they are comfortable with wearing whatever.
Maybe she meant that you could keep your legs together, wear tights and all...:(
I don't have issues with their choice of profession but when they complain about not getting the support, they should understand why.
Re: Pakistani models - short Interview by the Telegraph
^shes more of a commercial model then a runway model. she pretty i agree, but the movie she worked in, it was a canadian-desi movie was a big dissapointment. she had alot of makeout and all the nasty scenes you wouldnt expect.but shes still gorgeous lol
