From the heart is Asra Khalid’s very first collection as a fashion designer. She cites her surroundings and Old Lahore as major inspirations for her work. The contrast between the timeless architecture in Lahore, and the brash nature of graffiti was a major influence on her creative endeavors. While she has struggled with an artistic block in the past, she praises the endless support from her family as a reason for her to get back on her feet.
Her collection is textile oriented as opposed to focusing on the cuts alone. The intricacy of the designs and printing compliments the simple, but elegant silhouettes perfectly. If you were to take a closer look at the jackets, blouses and pencil skirts, you’d find all sorts of graffiti hidden in plain sight amongst the muted colors and floral prints. Some of the graffiti she found on the walls of Lahore, some of it was drawn by her friends.
From the heart is a very personalized collection with a sense of individuality, as the prints are the designer’s own. She takes pictures of graffiti and whatever else catches her eye, and fuses them with floral prints in an elegant color palette, as opposed to lifting already existing designs or changing up the same flowers, baroque and the likes that we see everywhere. The random and often rebellious nature of the graffiti juxtaposed against the elegance of flowers on perfectly tailored clothing creates a very contemporary, but beautiful piece of fashionable art.
She greatly admires Vivienne Westwood, a fashion designer and activist whose work represents the same duality that she is now trying to convey, and cites her as an influence. While Asra is happy where she currently is in life, she’d like to work harder and attain international exposure in order to represent Pakistan on a larger creative platform.
Kluchit Staff
Ameera Mehmood
