Pakistan’s pride

Hassan Sheheryar Yasin is quite possibly the hottest name to come out of the region since Imran Khan. His bold designs are blurring the lines of East meets West but the dynamic designer is only living his dream thanks to a second chance at life.

By Manila Chansmouth

A nearly fatal car accident in the wet, rainy, mountainside of Pakistan nearly deprived the fashion world of its newest star. The wreck left – then university student, Hassan blind for the better part of a year. This story could have very well ended tragically but both he and his friend lived to talk about the wreck.

“It was late at night. We were just driving home from a school play rehearsal in this old bucket of a car – no airbags or anything. The wipers didn’t work very well, the defroster was out. Now that I look back on it, I know it was an accident waiting to happen.”
One false jerk of the wheel to avoid a concrete road block would change his future forever. Hassan went through the windshield, landing several metres away from the wreckage.

“I woke up in a hospital with my face all bandaged up. My whole face. Everything. I couldn’t see a thing. Unfortunately, this happened during Ramadan that year and the doctors were at Iftar dinner, so the nurse, not knowing any better just wrapped my whole head. Turns out I had glass all in my skin and eyes.”

He was studying politics at another university, at the time of the crash, despite his natural inclination toward the arts. This is where his pivotal life choice began to take shape. After a bout with severe depression, regaining his sight and several corrective surgeries, Hassan took this as a second chance to live the life he really wanted.

“I think I’ve always been interested in fashion. I remember being just four or five years old when I used to take my sisters Barbie dolls and stick tissue paper to them and make gowns for them. But I didn’t really actively pursue designing professionally until 2000,” said Hassan.

With looks fit to be a model himself, his heart directed him behind the scenes. He entered the Pakistan School of Fashion Design, in affiliation with Chambre Syndicate de la Couture Parisienne France, graduating with highest marks.

Immediately after graduation, Hassan’s aptitude and flair landed him gigs as a fashion show choreographer and director. He quickly garnered much buzz in the industry as the ‘go to guy’ to put together a hot show.  

“I had to take whatever jobs that came to me because no matter how talented you are, if you don’t get yourself out there, if you don’t make yourself present – you’re never going to make it. So even though I wanted to create the clothes, I knew I had to pay my dues and just get my foot in the door.”

Seven years with his foot on the door, Hassan found himself unfulfilled by this job description. He sought the help of his new-found industry connections only to his detriment.

“I really wanted to be a designer but nobody would give me a chance. They all looked at me as just a choreographer or just a director, not as a designer. Some even refused to help me because they felt that my name was bigger than theirs – even though I was the guy behind the scenes. It was awful.”

Fed up with the caddy games everyone played, Hassan took a leap of faith with just money in his pocket.

“I’m very close to my mom. She’s a tough, independent lady but she knew the troubles I had with designers not wanting to mentor me. I told her I just want to start my own business and she was like ‘How much money do you have?’ I said ‘$50.’ She said ‘How much fabric can you buy with $50?’”

With that push from his mother, $50 in his pocket, sketches in hand, he purchased some interesting fabric and hired a guy to stitch it all together. The HSY fashion label launched in Pakistan about eight years ago. Today, the house of HSY employs over 700 people in Pakistan, New York and Dubai.

Despite the sudden, immense growth and wild popularity of his clothes, HSY remains a family business; mom tidies up the paperwork from base camp in Pakistan, sister Afshan handles marketing and PR in Dubai and Hassan travels between there and New York City. Although Hassan does have a business partner in the GCC, he maintains full creative license of his lines. He is hands on and has built a small empire that is completely independent of even fabric manufacturers.

“I’ve come this far. I figure ‘why bother with outside sources to get my materials?’ If we just do everything in-house, I can assure that everything is top-quality.”

The success of HSY continues to grow with his haute couture runway line often stealing the show and off the rack merchandise flying off the shelves at Harvey Nichols.

“I also design-to-order a lot of bridal gowns. Believe it or not, with the world becoming smaller and smaller, people want their special day to be really unique. The old white dress is fast becoming passé. I’m noticing more and more Western women ordering gowns from us because Pakistani wedding dresses are so colourful and drape wonderfully on most any body shape,” said Hassan.

Often times, this level of success in a relatively short period of time, goes straight to one’s head but not in this case. HSY donates millions of dirhams to charitable and non-profit organisations such as CARE International and UNICEF to build schools in some of the poorest parts of Pakistan.

“My mom has been an educator for over 35 years. Her entire family is in the educational field in Pakistan. I know that only through education can these kids get a fair chance at life. Education is the only thing that will free them from poverty. Already, in the past eight years, we’ve put over 250,000 kids in primary school all the way to high school.

“I was lucky to be born into a family where I never went without. I know that. I appreciate that and now – I want to give back.”
Hassan has his heart in the right place, his goals clearly mapped out and a wonderful support system in the people he loves most; his mother and sister. The three musketeers have circled the earth together and they’re just getting started. It’s no wonder that HSY is growing faster than any other line in this region.

He now calls Dubai his primary residence but considers himself a citizen of the world.

“Someday, I would like my label to be global. A branch on every continent, so I can wake up in Dubai, hop on a plane to do lunch in Paris and then dinner in New York City. If I can achieve this, then it means I can also do more good to help less fortunate people.”
When asked where he would retire when this was achieved, his response was, “Retire? I don’t know what that means. I will travel the world and design until my last day. I love it.”

Background

Born into an aristocratic family in North Pakistan – an educator mom and politician father, Hassan and elder sister Afshan began a childhood that seemed likely to be cookie-cutter. Hassan would be destined to either be a politician or a teacher, as both sides of his family were multi-generational in their respective fields.

At only age three, Hassan’s mother divorced their father and moved the kids to suburban Long Island, New York, where he and his sister grew up.

“I love New York. We lived in various other places in the states too but we kind of settled in Long Island when I was in third or fourth grade. I was pretty much the only Pakistani kid in the area, I think but believe it or not – I never had any problems with race growing up. I had friends from all ethnicities, all religions, everything you can think of.

Living just a short train ride outside of NYC, Hassan found his footing in the Big Apple. There, the teenaged Hassan took in all the cultural tapestry that only New York City could offer.

He found hidden fashion shops in SoHo, favorite restaurants in Chelsea, and caught the arts in Manhattan.

“We remained in New York until I graduated high school. By then my sister had already moved out of the house and went away to university, so really it was just me and my mom. She wanted to go back to Pakistan, so I went with. That’s where I first enrolled in university.”

One would think NYC would be the place to be for a fashion designer but for Hassan, he’s bringing a bit of NYC to Pakistan and now the GCC.