Sabah Iqbal could be big in Pakistan

“In my research, I was trying to portray the experience of coming from a Pakistani background while having been raised in the UK.”

Sabah Iqbal’s grandparents were the first of the family to move from Pakistan to the UK. Still, her mother, who was born in Birmingham, was brought up and raised in Pakistan. The importance of this circumstance reflects the primary influence of Iqbal’s final collection: “My family’s upbringing is quite traditional. In my research, I was trying to portray the experience of coming from a Pakistani background while having been raised in the UK.” Facing the difficulty of transforming a feeling into a concept, let alone a collection, the graduate approached her idea by visiting Pakistan for two weeks to do first-hand research. During this time, she tried to see her own heritage with fresh eyes. With an album of impressions in her pocket, Iqbal returned to London and continued her research by collecting images she believed had potential to create a story. However, the approach turned out to be laborious. “It was quite a long journey. Because my project was very personal and basically about me, I didn’t have a concept. It was just before Christmas that my research evolved into a structure, which was quite late,” Iqbal says.

“In my designs, I was trying to express my feelings. As I explored my identity, I was designing for a person that portrayed the way I felt better than I did myself.”

Therefore, the mood the pile of images created had to resonate with Sabah Iqbal. She explains, “In my designs, I was trying to express my feelings. As I explored my identity, I was designing for a person that portrayed the way I felt better than I did myself.” Simultaneously, Iqbal reflected on how she would unconsciously adapt to her surrounding environment. When she was at home wearing traditional Pakistani clothes, she veered towards more modest behaviour, whilst on the other hand stepping out and wearing her English clothes made her feel more like herself again. Trying to grasp this behavioural change, Iqbal says, “When you are dressing a mannequin, you obviously don’t know the personality of the person who will later actually wear these designs. Thus, you are dressing for a mere body without a soul. That resonates with me when I am wearing Asian clothes: Inside I am not actually there.”

“It’s the same if you took me out of England and put me into another country: you could never take England out of me.”

The soulless body is depicted by Sabah Iqbal in the image 5 Elements. Therefore, she took photos of herself sitting sideward with crossed legs on a chair, hands folded in her lap. The image is broken down into five different emotions which are accompanied by Iqbal being dressed differently in each of them. Each element is an attempt to describe one trait of her personality. Whilst exploring these elements, she made an important discovery: she could fit into her family’s community and simultaneously be her British self. “There is a saying in our language that you can take someone out of a village, but you can’t take a village out of them,” she says. “It’s the same if you took me out of England and put me into another country: you could never take England out of me.”

It turns out, Sabah Iqbal is quite the rebel. Her grandma, who was a tailor, considered making money from stitching a hard way to earn a living. Iqbal wished for tailoring to be her career, thus, her family talked her out of it. Iqbal remembers scenes with her Dad in particular, who tried to convince her that an office job would be better paid. The designer responded that she would probably lose her sanity out of boredom and, instead, started studying Art at the City of Westminster College. It was not until her uncle supported her to drop out. “He said to not shy away from something I am passionate about out of fear of what the family might say. So there was a support system but a very faint one.” It is important to note, however, that the lacking support was because Iqbal’s family didn’t know about the economic significance of the fashion industry. Besides, they were somewhat familiar with people’s struggles from working in the Pakistan fashion industry.

Representation matters. Sabah Iqbal’s family didn’t know one example in favour of working in fashion. Iqbal herself experienced her island position throughout her studies. “When I was interning at Balenciaga and Maison Margiela, I worked with these incredible people from all over the world. But I never met anyone who was from my background or ethnicity or someone who was a Muslim, to be quite fair,” Iqbal admits. Further, both placements disconnected the graduate from herself. “I was working so hard for these other brands, I forgot what I wanted to do. I felt like I lost who I was.”

Lockdown, as such, enabled Sabah Iqbal to catch up with creating pieces that represented the same energy and words that came to her head when reflecting on her research. The two looks created in isolation ended up being made from scraps of materials because she couldn’t access any other fabrics during the lockdown. With the world shutting down, every student had to become a photographer, videographer and, in Iqbal’s case, the fitting model at the same time. Bear in mind the South London designer is 5ft 2in height. Iqbal remembers her tutor comment on her treasury tag coat saying, “Your mannequin is really short, you need to put on height.” Eventually, when Iqbal found a model shortly before the collection’s deadline and saw her pieces on the body she had been designing for, her heart was pounding: The graduate saw her final collection’s fit for the very first time. “It didn’t look too bad. But then I also didn’t have much of a choice anymore. If I am honest, I tried the Pleat Trousers every day sending my mates pictures. They said that the pants looked great, but then again it wasn’t supposed to fit on my body size.”

Indeed, wrapping one’s personality into two looks is an almost unfeasible challenge. But Sabah Iqbal found a way to tell her story and at the same time learn about who she is and wants to be. Even her family sees a designer job and the fashion industry in general differently now. This has much to do with the eye-opening experience for Iqbal’s dad, when the owner of the factory they visited in Pakistan not only treated her with the utmost respect but offered her a very-well paid job as a manufacturer and a house. “In the beginning, my Dad was the one who advised me not to do this degree. After we visited the factory, he was stunned that this was the life I could live.” And although Sabah Iqbal is not that kind of person, she couldn’t hold herself back but tease her father for it. “Dad, look who I am, anything’s possible if you put your mind to it. I made it!”

“Who knows, I could be big in Pakistan.”

Talking about her future plans, Sabah Iqbal laughs, “I would definitely want a job.” But not at any cost. Ideally, she explains, the position would enable her to work for another brand and simultaneously still integrate her personal style into the creation. Most importantly, she doesn’t want to lose herself again. Either way, the graduate is still willing to learn and develop, personally and professionally. And although the times are quite serious for young, striving designers, Sabah Iqbal doesn’t lose her sense of humour. “Who knows, I could be big in Pakistan.”