The dot that walked out of line | Fashion

#dot #walked #line #Fashion

Interview

This year marks 33 years for Generation in the fashion business. To survive, if not thrive in retail for over three decades is an honor in itself for any brand and Generation has achieved more than just survival. A staple of the fashion circuit during the late 80s and 90s when there weren’t many ready-to-wear options available, the iconic brand suffered a decline in the first half of the new millennium. Just to pick up. Its game and return to consumers with a new identity but retaining the same eclectic ethos. Creative director Khadija Rehman is spearheading the revamp, taking the baton from her mother Nosheen.

The rise of the race from the stupidity of disinterest could not have come at a more perfect time. The country’s changing retail landscape meant that competitors needed to go big or go home, especially with the introduction of brands such as Sapphire that captured a large portion of the consumer base through the exclusivity and accessibility of their products. Easily got along. Sapphire’s meteoric rise saw many retailers trying to adapt to its business model, but by maintaining its distinct identity and refreshing its existing structure with modern demands, Generation avoided a common strategic dilemma. Did and emerged triumphantly. Rahman’s first collection for the generation, A Dot that Went for a Walk, was showcased at FPW in Karachi earlier this year which kept the brand from walking in the middle of the pack to the forefront. Going Generation is cool again.

With so much going in their favour, the pressure is on the brand’s new helm(wo)man to continue delivering on the success of Generation’s iconic fashion week. Instep sat down with the charming, down-to-earth and self-inspiring new visionary for a chat.

Rahman cited the new trend of generation and savior fair as the reason for the reshuffle in his ranks. She explains that the operation was not due to sluggishness or lack of interest for a few years, but because the organization was undergoing a major structural overhaul, including building a larger team, hiring new designers and rapidly This involved developing current and relevant aesthetics in a changing market.

A dot that went for the walk may have been Rahman’s debut but the brand also exhibited at Fashion Week last year, albeit as a high street brand at PSFW in Lahore. When asked why Rahman chose Karachi for his first show, he said several reasons made him choose the port city for the showcase. “Firstly, we didn’t want midday. We couldn’t meet Sahar Sehgal in time to approve the collection, so we missed the deadline. Thirdly, Karachi is half of our customer base; we Wanted to keep them busy. And I had a great experience at FPW to keep a strong presence there; would love to do a show in Lahore next year but it really depends on whether we get the evening or not No because afternoon shows get very little attention,” he explained do

Bringing the conversation back to retail, Rahman revealed that the team is targeting the highly-anticipated collection in stores by mid-June. “I hope and pray that we get it to the stores by the deadline,” she laughs, adding, “The collection will hit the racks mostly because it was on the runway, including items like bralettes. were surprisingly very dynamic. Interestingly, even among the more conservative clients I wasn’t sure how many to produce so we only did limited pieces in stretch camisoles and catering. Its size since It’s exceptionally difficult to find a specific size in an item that matches intimate clothing.”

One piece that doesn’t make the (retail) cut is the intricate, hand-embroidered final dress worn on the runway by the brand’s muse Zara Abid. “This year I tried to create pieces that could be produced easily and quickly because we had delays the last two seasons because the designs were so complex that it took ages to reproduce them in large numbers. Finished Done we are ready to send the pieces to storage but since we are not there yet I reasoned that if we could reduce the production time at least we could get the customer as much stock as possible. May be able to. Quickly,” she says happily. “People were also very interested in the shalwars so we are making them as they were but they are a bit expensive as they are embroidered at the base. I have also left out the deep waist, low lines and sleeveless pieces. “Given. Retail as they were; maybe the collection won’t do well,” she continues with a smile.

Generation’s flagship store in Gulbarg is now lined up with new retailers everywhere who want a piece of the fast fashion pie. Khadi, Neelam, Soo Kamal, Daman and recently Crescent are all within walking distance of the store, which has turned the area into a seriously competitive zone, with consumers spoiled for choice; The traffic may be high but the cash register rings only when the customer is truly impressed.

“We’ve definitely felt the pressure of the influx of competition. In fact, everyone in the industry is feeling the heat. Previously, you could make massive mistakes in the store and no one would notice or sell. There won’t be as much impact but now there’s no room for mistakes and the audience is becoming more discerning, it’s difficult but I think that’s a huge motivating factor There is a need,” Rahman said. “Obviously you have to stay on your toes and that means you also make better clothes so in the end it’s a win-win.”

“What brings down the quality of products in the market is the price war,” Rahman added. “To stay competitive you have to lower your prices but ultimately that means you compromise on growth and quality. It also kills creativity. Fast fashion, as it is, a format follows where you don’t get much time to incubate ideas so that makes things worse by bringing the added pressure of a price war on an already annoying design time. Been feeling it since its reformation Yes, especially after last summer the designing may have sped up and the pace has changed but our process has stabilized and I feel we have fostered a creative environment that empowers our designers. creates, allows them to take ownership of their departments and therefore feel more invested in their work.”

But fashion is no longer just about selling on the ground or traditional advertising. E-commerce and social media influence the brand’s business strategy and also how consumers perceive the brand. Generation’s offbeat aesthetic is mirrored by their Instagram, which features hip, curated posts that often include social awareness campaigns on issues that resonate with the brand. Their social media strategy though is quite different from what most brands follow.

“We’re really bad in some ways because we get a little too clever with our material,” Rahman says with a self-deprecating chuckle. “We have so many posts on Instagram with no clothes on! We spent a whole month last year doing a breast cancer awareness campaign and didn’t post any product photos. I thought that was crazy. The idea was that the campaign meant a lot to me, but I thought our engagement was over this month, although when we went to meet Salina Rashid of Lotus, she claimed that the campaign was well received. So much for our image and rebranding It’s been good, although we’re planning to tone it down perhaps because of our approach as a well-wisher recently described our page as ‘burger’ to make it more mass-market and accessible We love the look of our Instagram and we want to maintain our authenticity rather than go down a conventional path, but you have to strike a balance for the sake of the audience.”

Another modern phenomenon conspicuously missing from the generation’s social media is the use of girl power. Brands regularly host shoots or events where they send social influencers clothes from their collections to be photographed. Can be done and used as social media fodder. “We didn’t go down that route even though we have many competitors and it has worked for them. If we talk about a brand like Sapphire, they ‘s whole strategy works very well for them in terms of quality products, pricing and image, but it’s not really us When we thought about what we wanted to do for our summer adventure this year, we realized that a trip to Sri Lanka or Thailand or somewhere overseas. And shoot the lawn in an over-glamorized way that makes it look more expensive than it is. Mania, so we thought we’d do the exact opposite. Our Manjit diary ended with the shoot, where we took the girl and took her on the road, one At the dhaba, playing cricket, it will give a nice break. Beautiful adventures with flowing dupattas and all that are almost expected now.”

Rahman became so invested in the ethos of the campaign that she created the hashtag #StepOutside and contacted Girls at Dhabas, a feminist collective that reclaims public spaces in South Asia with its Why Loiter program. and advocates greater freedom of movement for women. She wanted to connect their cause with the campaign.

“We are passionate about such causes and love to be associated with socially relevant issues. We approached the founders of Girls in Dhabas and they said they would support the campaign when we launched them. They were shocked by this because they felt we should have used real girls instead of models, but Abdullah Harris, our photographer, felt very strongly about using models. That the way he shoots is very special However, the founders of the movement called the shoot a disaster and advised us that we were trying to appropriate their campaign for a glamorized commercial project, but the truth is that our heart was in the right place and we He was really serious about investing in it and his reaction at the time worried us even though he had recently been in touch with my brand manager, Alizi, who was in touch with him and praised him. How we ran this campaign, he said maybe They might not have done it but they were happy to see that we didn’t turn it into a frivolous image of a serious movement,” Rahman explained.

Coming back to the topic of It Girls and following up, Rahman revealed that the actor and his childhood friend, Ayesha Umar, volunteered to be his showstopper in Karachi. “Ayesha asked who was walking for us and we didn’t even think about asking a celebrity or using a celebrity. It wasn’t just that we wanted to represent our brand,” Selena said. Generations are seen as thought leaders (which I found a bit extreme) since reformulation as I was concerned that some demographics might think we might be an ‘aunty’ brand but seems to be our point. The look is working, or at least we do “Consciously building an image as a brand,” she reveals.

It’s easy to get caught up in the self-promotional, exhibitionist environment that has emerged with the rise of social media and even easier to copy a successful formula that’s already worked for others, but the generation’s recent metamorphosis has ensured that. It could have been easy for Rahman to take a commercially viable route as opposed to the alternative approach of fashion and brand image, but it is precisely this risk that has paid off for him and the generation. On the map again placed This is what you get when you step outside the box.

Photography by Usman Saeed.