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Hassan Sheheryar Yasin is one of Pakistan's leading fashion designers, if not the top designer, in bridal and formal wear. Hassan's HSY Studio has been a rage with young brides, and everyone attending a wedding for the last several years, but it has truly reached the frenzied "I am not getting married without a dress from HSY" heights in the last 2-3 years. These days, Hassan (known as Sheru to his friends) is in the US, where he has choreographed a series of fantastic fashion shows for a nonprofit, charity organization called Developments in Literacy (DIL). "I am here for DIL. When we make sales or take orders, a large percentage goes towards the charity we are supporting. DIL is a good organization! They are doing great work and have made huge changes in the educational field, especially for girls in the rural areas. I'm just glad I can help them."

Hassan brought his Virasat collection and has bowled over the US audience with class, quality, and sheer creativity that would make you want to get married all over again if only to wear one of Hassan's creations. We met with Hassan in Virginia, a couple of days before he swept over the DC residents with his fashion show for DIL at the Sheraton in Tysons Corner. This young man, barely out of his 20s, is not only a fantastic designer, but a very inspirational person, with deep thoughts and high ambitions. We are truly impressed with his creative genius and business acumen, and hope that you will enjoy reading our conversation with him.

Tell us about your start in the world of fashion design...

I started in 1994 as a fashion choreographer and I have been directing fashion shows since then. Then I joined the Pakistan School of Fashion Design, which is a government sponsored school, and graduated in 2000 after completing a four year degree program. The school is affiliated with Les Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, France, which is a leading chamber of couture in Europe. I launched my label in 2000, after I graduated. So, in total, I have been working in fashion for eleven years now. I just had a show in London last week where we opened the Fashion Week; this was my 206th show! I have just been appointed by the Government of Pakistan to serve on the school's Board of Directors, which is great!

What made you choose fashion design - this not being the typical field for Pakistani men?

I have always loved fashion and that's something I wanted to do since the age of five! I have always had an obsession with dress designing. In 1994, when I was doing my A-levels, I got really serious about it and decided to go for it. I started directing fashion shows. When I graduated from the Pakistan School of Fashion Design, I worked for a couple of designers for a few months, but I wanted to do my own thing so I started my label at the end of 2000. I was very lucky because I had already built a name in the industry and media as a successful choreographer, so that initial media push was easy. But then you have to prove yourself as a designer! Again, it's been great and I've achieved a lot of success. I was nominated for the Lux Style Designer of the Year Award for the 3rd year in a row so that's nice. The ceremony is in October in Pakistan, so let's see (fingers crossed!)

How do you rate your experience of launching and running a retail business in Pakistan - is it easy or difficult? Did you face any hurdles?

You are constantly faced with hurdles in this field, but I don't really see them as hurdles. Challenges just motivate me to do more! I am a very competitive person, I always have been. But I have been very lucky and we have had very rapid growth. We started in 2000 with one employee and now we have over 300 people working for us and we have stores in Lahore, Karachi, studios in Dubai and London. Basically, a retail business will run anywhere in the world but just now it is difficult, economically, because the whole world is going through so many changes. Personally I try not to ponder on the negative. Also, I don't just believe in doing everything without proper management. All of our businesses and lines are set up as proper organizations, with their own management. I do what I'm best at, which is the designing and marketing, because I have a natural flair for both.

You're always faced with hurdles, but I don't see them as hurdles...they just motivate me to do more!

What is HSY Studio and what kind of clothes do you specialize in?

HSY Studio specializes in bridal wear. We started out with evening wear, but for the last three years we have become known for our bridal collections. We also have a line called R2W, which is a ready to wear line. Then we have a Studio line, with Western clothes. We do a couture line, a men's line, and we are also launching a furniture line in January. My label, HSY, is about a lifestyle and not just about clothes, and that's what we want to sell - a timeless, classic lifestyle that will fit well with today's fast paced modern life. We can easily claim to be high end because we are not off the rack designers.

Who are your main clients?

.We have a lot of varied clients; we sell a lot to the Middle East market, and we sell a lot in Pakistan. We have a lot of clientele in India and I've have had many shows in India and actually a lot of shows in Dubai, Muscat, Prague, Greece, Poland, London, Germany, New York, LA, Atlanta, Toronto, and Ottawa. The show in Prague was for the President and the First Lady, which was a great honor and lots of fun. Max Mara (a leading Italian designer) was also in this show. We both showed our collections together on the same ramp, which was a first for a Pakistani designer. This was a big show because we were doing it for the President and it was also a charity event. The proceeds went to UNICEF. It was a lot of fun especially since we were doing it for a good cause.

Where do you get your inspiration for designing such great outfits?

My inspiration comes from traveling. I travel extensively and get to see a lot of different places in the world. It could be anything big or small. I am inspired by the colors and hues of the monsoon season (Saawan) and the feel of Saawan. I am also inspired by poetry and paintings, especially the paintings of Sadequain, the poetry of the Sufis and Mirza Ghalib. Just recently I have been exposed to this poetry because of my mom and I love listening to it. I am also inspired by jewelry (Zaiwar). I am actually obsessed with jewelry and it is something I could venture into in the near future. I am also a big believer in promoting our culture and heritage but keeping it main stream. Not making it look like a costume from the Mughal

I am a big believer in promoting our culture and heritage but keeping it main stream

When raising funds, or in your outreach programs, do you focus only on Pakistanis or the larger non-Pakistani community as well?

Actually, this is an area where we need to focus in the future. The last event we had, the fashion show, is something that non-Pakistanis would have enjoyed as well. It boils down to resources and with an entirely volunteer based organization, there's only so many areas on which you can focus without spreading your resources too thin. But we hope that next year we will broaden our focus on other cultures and faiths as well. It's a great opportunity for us to bridge the gap between the different ethnicities and faiths as well, and to promote our culture and society to them.

What kind of woman do you design for?

I design for the woman of today and that's a strong, modern, independent woman; not someone who would stay home all the time. A working woman who works hard and needs clothes that not only look like a million bucks but feel like a million bucks too. The fabric should be the best quality and the cut should be comfortable. The culture is all about celebrating your body and working out and she should be able to celebrate whatever she is doing for herself by wearing our clothes. I think Pakistani women are perhaps the most beautiful women in the world; they are absolutely stunning. They have the Eastern aura of mystery which is very hard to capture with just any kind of clothes. So I keep that in mind even when I'm designing Western clothes.

If you were to compare your style with any international fashion designer, who would it be?

I honestly cannot even dare to dream about comparing myself with global names. But if I did, I would think I lean more towards an Armani philosophy. I think if you wore something from Armani which was ten years old, it would still look current and in-style. That is what I aim for as well. I work towards a good quality product, good service, and pray for returning customers. I also don't believe in real fanatical fashion statements. Our label is more about timeless classics. If fashion is a whirlwind, a storm, we would like to be the eye of the storm where it's peaceful and calm. Our pieces are something that you can wear ten years down the line and not feel that you are stuck in a fashion moment.

There are a lot of young people entering the fashion design world - either as designers, models, or retailers. What has caused this revolution?

Yes it is a revolution in Pakistan because before it was either the bored housewives or the failed architects who did this! Just a few years back, there were hardly any fashion shows and now this field has become really huge. We are following international trends plus we are bringing to Pakistan for the first time ever, a Fashion Week at the end of this year, where international buyers and designers come together for displaying and trading their design creations. I am directing this event so I am very excited about that and that is going to open up a lot of markets for us.

What is the big benefit of having a Fashion Week in Pakistan?

My main aim besides fashion, which I obviously love, is to promote a positive image of Pakistan. I am in many ways a very patriotic person. I think this Fashion Week will really help us out. The world will not see Pakistan as fundamentalist and extremist nation, but a more progressive and talented nation with so much potential. Unfortunately the media over here only portrays the wrong side of Pakistan. We are open hearted and fun people. I think it's really sad that people "fix" the same kind of picture onto Pakistan and then they think that's what it really is. What they show on CNN and Fox news is a complete misrepresentation of Pakistan. With the right kind of media coverage, we can portray the softer image of Pakistan, because that is who we really are! There is a new Pakistan and it's good for people to see that.

So what is this new Pakistan and what is causing these changes?

There was a huge brain drain and now the people are coming back and giving back to the country. The new generation wants to stay; they are not interested in going anywhere outside the country. There are huge possibilities for making money and doing something for their country and I think people are interested in that. This kind of patriotic feeling has never been around since 1947. I think this change has a lot to do with president Musharaf being in power. I think he has changed the way we think about ourselves. There are more opportunities now, we have a far larger middle class economy, consumer awareness is increasing, and I think people are beginning to feel proud of the fact that they are Pakistanis. People are forgetting the Nawaz Sharifs and Benazir Bhuttos of our history and they are beginning to realize it's not just about politics; it's about our own lives, our neighborhoods, our society, and giving back to our country.

Is this change only economic or is it social as well?

It's the same thing socially! Before it was the haves and the have-nots but now you don't need to have a big last name to be in the social scene. There are new people coming up with new possibilities and education, who might not have a big last name, but they have the oomph and the power, and the personalities and charisma which they are mixing into our social culture. I personally think it's never been better! Of course we have our hurdles just like everyone else, and we need to go a long way to overcome them, so don't me wrong - I don't want to oversimplify our problems. But I will say that if we have crime in Pakistan, then the statistics are that a woman gets raped in the US every few minutes! So let's not just hang on the negative. If you just look at the positive side, there is so much happening there. As much as I love the US and the West, I would never give up my life in Pakistan because I think that is the future! We are a gem that has not been discovered yet, and the day we are discovered would be a great day and we would have hopefully discovered ourselves by then.

You are doing a lot for the country and for the community - tell us about it and also why you consider it to be so important?

We are involved in a lot of projects of our own, and we also do shows for charity organizations every year. We provide for education for our workers' children who want to learn job skills so they get vocational training as well as basic schooling. We enroll them in embroidery classes, for example, as well as sponsor their school education. This is something we do for our workers; there is no government involved in this and it is our own personal project. Embroidery is not the important part, it's educating them which is important. I think it's good for your soul really because you feel better about yourself at the end of the day.

Would you recommend fashion designing to young individuals who want to adopt it as a career?

Yes, definitely! First of all, dress designing is one of the largest businesses in the world and I think Time magazine classified it as the third fastest growing business in the world. The need right now is pure economics. Our country is competing with China and India. Textile is our biggest business. Sure we have the cotton, we have the production, but do we have the designs and value addition capability? No! And this is where the designers come in handy. A lot of us are already working with different textile manufacturers to come up with different products so instead of selling a $2 product we can make a product that will sell for maybe $25-$100 dollars. And that's how the foreign investment and foreign currency will come in and that is where we have to concentrate the most. How long are we going to sell mooli and gaajar and how long are we going to sell the same T-shirt to K-Mart? It's time to hit the higher end market. We need to fall in step with the rest of the world. Like the New York Fashion Week has become a big event all over the world. We need to cater to the buyers who go there. We need big markets like Europe, America, and Japan. It's time to show the world that we too can design for them and we can show them designs they have never seen before. We have a cultural edge, our cotton is great, and the world is really our oyster if we just concentrate on the right products and the right marketing.

For 16 years, the music of Strings, one of the most popular duos in the Pakistani pop music industry, has struck a high note for listeners.

Inspite of an 8 year hiatus from their existence as Strings, their songs like "Sar Kiye Yeh Pahaar" stayed on listeners' minds and with their comeback in year 2000 with "Dur", Strings has captured the top of the charts with one hit after another.

The Saturday Post met with Strings in Washington DC, during their recent US tour, dubbed the "Zinda Tour" to celebrate their latest hit "Yeh Hai Meri Kahani" from the Sanjay Gupta film starring Sanjay Dutt and John Abraham.

Faisal Kapadia and Bilal Maqsood are among the nicest people we have had a chance to interview. They are soft spoken, articulate, intellectual, humble, and really funny.

Let us not keep you any more from reading our exclusive Rendezvous with Faisal Kapadia and Bilal Maqsood, aka Strings...

What is the story of Strings…how did it all begin?

Bilal: It goes back to 1989. We met in college. We realized we both really liked music. Faisal knew Rafeeq and Kareem, who were a part of the initial line-up. We started by jamming together. It was a time when there was a boom in the pop music industry in Pakistan; a lot of bands were being formed. Strings was one of those bands. We started with some TV shows and then went on from there.

Strings released their first album in 1990

The big break for Strings was the song "Sar Kiye Yeh Pahaar" in 1992

From 1992-2000, Faisal and Bilal took a break from Strings

In 2000, they came back and released the hit single "Duur" followed by the album "Duur" in 2002

The next big release was "Dhaani" in 2004, from which "Naa Jaanay Kyon" became part of the official soundtrack of Spiderman 2's release in India

The latest buzz created by Strings is with the song "Yeh Hai Meri Kahaani" from the soundtrack of Sanjay Gupta's movie "Zinda"

You can listen to all of Strings' songs on www.stringsonline.net

Bilal: We knew that eventually we will go back to our music. The break was mainly to complete our education. In 2000 after we released Duur, we had no option but to do it full time. It was quite an effort to revive the band and Faisal's thinking was that we have to burn all our boats and do this full time. So Faisal left his business, I left my job, which was a big decision for us and our wives as well. When life is going well and you make such a drastic move, "kay music full time karna hai", it is quite difficult.

(In the 8-year hiatus from Strings, Bilal was working for an ad agency and Faisal was working with his father's business).

Bilal: Even we didn't know how much we would have to travel. We didn't realize how big the market had grown. Every day it is growing. The media boom on the internet has taken the market by storm. Pakistani music has reached everywhere. India has suddenly become the biggest market for Pakistani music. We spend as much time in Bombay as we do in Karachi. But it's great. Our families have gotten used to it. They also travel with us whenever there's an opportunity. Plus, it's not a 9-5 job, so when we are with them in Karachi, we are at home all day! So we get to spend that quality time with them; in fact maybe it gets to be a bit too much for them (laughs).

Zinda was an ideal project. The team and cast were great. Plus the storyline was such that it almost called out for Strings' music. So it went off very well and everyone was really happy about it; the song's been a great success.

Bilal: I think the video did the trick. In a lot of songs, you see that the star cast gets a lot of coverage but the singers make a short appearance, if any. The way Sanjay Gupta did it, Strings, Sanjay Dutt, and John Abraham were all really well mixed and given equal airtime. It just ended up giving the song a lot of prominence and importance, which was just amazing.

When we met him he told us that he'd been a big fan of our music since the very first songs we released in India. He had always wanted to get us to do a song for one of his movies, but he said that none of the movies he had made up to Zinda had the right place for a song by Strings. When he conceived Zinda, he knew he wanted us to do a song.

Faisal: They are all extremely professional. Sanjay Gupta knew exactly what he wanted to do with the video and when, so from a work standpoint, it was all very high standard. But the really great thing about working with them was that they are really good hearted people. They are all very nice and down to earth. Sanjay Dutt and John Abraham never make you feel like they are such big stars and you're working with them. It's become a really good friendship, actually.

Bilal: Usually one does projects and moves on, but here we are 8-9 months after the song was shot and we are still in constant touch. Every time we go to Bombay, we have to have dinner at Sanjay Dutt's house, just like you would be invited to a close friend's house. Then we recently heard that while touring the US for his Rock Stars show, John Abraham was promoting our concert tour to his audience by making an on-stage announcement. As for Sanjay Gupta, once the project was done, he took us to Goa for a 3-day vacation. He didn't really need to do that, because once the work is done, it's done. So what we were really taken by was not just the professionalism but the warmth and friendship that they've extended to us and we really value that the most in this whole experience.

Was the song "Yeh Hai Meri Kahani" written and composed specifically for Zinda??

Bilal: Yes. Sanjay Gupta narrated the whole story to us in our first meeting. When we came back to Karachi, we narrated the same story to my father (Anwar Maqsood). And if you look at the movie and hear the song, it's one and the same.

Faisal: The way Sanjay Gupta narrated the story was so strong that we've never witnessed that in any other project. He knew each and every one of the scenes, the camera angles, zoom ins and zoom outs, etc. It was just fascinating.

Bilal: We first did the music; that's how it always works. We first do the music and then the lyrics. It took me about fifteen minutes to do the chorus (Chubhtay kaante yaadon kay..). I was really inspired by the story and it just came very quickly. The song was maybe done in 4-5 days. But the whole project with the final version and the video took between one and two months. In fact, when I sent the rough cut to Sanjay Gupta, and then sent him the final one, he said "woh pehlay wala zyada acha tha!" (laughs). He had grown accustomed to hearing the rough cut while shooting, so when he got the final one it was just different.

What about the next album - when is it coming out and will we hear more of the traditional Strings music or something different and darker?

Bilal: The way it's coming up, it's very different. It's definitely more along the darker lines. But it will take time. We have not been getting enough time to focus on it. But we are hoping that it will be done by January or February of 2007.

Faisal: We are doing songs for a couple of Indian films. There's a UNICEF project we are working on. For UNICEF, they basically rely on us to create awareness about HIV/AIDS. We are the Pakistani Ambassadors for UNICEF's AIDS/HIV awareness program. We do workshops for homeless or street children, who don't have any guardians or responsible adults to educate them about these issues. Plus we go to schools and colleges to start talking about this subject, because people aren't very open about it. So we want to encourage dialog and discussion of this topic, behaving nicely with AIDS/HIV patients and their families, e.g. children who have lost a parent to HIV/AIDS should not face any negative attitudes. We will be doing concerts and a special video on this topic.

Strings are the UN Goodwill Ambassadors for HIV/AIDS in Pakistan

Bilal: They are receptive. It is really difficult to talk about these issues but if you use the right language and talk about it maturely, people are very responsive and receptive to this discussion. There's a lot of ignorance about this topic, especially in rural areas. They would have no idea if someone is dying of AIDS in front of them. But we have to be careful and we are given guidance on what kind of language to use so it's not offensive to people.

Faisal: It also helps that we are not asking for donations. We have no monetary interest in talking to them and it's just about discussing the problems and issues associated with identifying and coping with HIV/AIDS. We've gone to educational institutes for women and talked to them. We've gone to schools and talked to children. You just have to handle it maturely.

Faisal: You have to be careful with how many and what kind of concerts you do. Like we prefer not to perform for smaller audiences except if we really feel like entertaining a specific segment of our fans. Plus, we don't want over exposure either.

All about Faisal...

Born June 29, 1971

Married? Yes. Wife's name is Seema. "I met her 18 years ago when I was in college. She lived in the same apartment complex as us. That's how we met, and we got married 8 years ago."

Children? "Two boys, 6 and 2. I thoroughly enjoy spending time with them. I used to have a huge circle of friends and play cricket and video games with them. But now, my time is mostly spent with my kids."

Parents and siblings? Faisal's late father was the one who nudged him towards music. "He bought me a harmonium and appointed a music teacher for me when I was younger. He passed away in 1995, but I'm really glad he saw the first phase of Strings. Ammi passed away 3 years ago, while we were actually on a tour of the US. So she actually saw the second phase. They were both really supportive of our music." Faisal has three brothers and one sister, all of whom have lived in the US for the last 20-25 years.

All about Bilal...

Born March 23

Married? Yes. Wife's name is Tina. " We met at Indus Valley (school of art), we were studying there together." What fans may not know is that Tina figures in almost all of Bilal's compositions..."I've composed a lot of songs for her like Sar Kiye Yeh Pahaar, Aaj Din Bhar Bekaar Tha. If you look at the video for Sar Kiye Yeh Pahaar, there's some sea shells in them. I had brought those sea shells from Tina because she used to see sea shells in her dreams. She didn't know then that I was shooting a video. In almost all of my songs, there's something about her or for her." Then Bilal adds with a smile, "It's not a junoon like it was before, but there's still some little touches."

Children? "Three kids, Mikail 8, Khizer 6, Zehra 3. They really don't care about my music (laughs). They consider it my office work. I'm not a celebrity for them!"

Parents and siblings? Bilal is famous TV playwright and author Anwar Maqsood's son. "I'm very close to him. He's been my best friend as long as I can remember. Right from school days when I remember him hurriedly polishing our shoes in the morning, helping us get ready, or making us breakfast. My friends and I played cricket with him." Bilal has one younger sister, who is married.
"She'd also taken classical music lessons, but didn't pursue it as a serious interest or career."