“I started working in 2005 and ended up opening a store in 2007,” fashion designer Humayun Alamgir says in an exclusive interview. “I had never imagined or wanted to be a designer but some situations where you end up targeting something like making money, that is how I started. I was playing cricket professionally and injured myself,” he says. Humayun Alamgir is one of the most influential celebrities of Pakistan. He says his family business was garments so he always had on the job training. He says once he got injured and had the time to bring out the artist in him. He wanted to bring life into clothes so started small scale among family, friends and university at the age of 18. “Once the demand exceeded, me and my partner opened up a store and the rest is history,” he adds. Alamgir says capturing and opening a store or a studio internationally would be more of a dream come true for him. “I’m working on it, Insha Allah,” he says during the interview. “This year, I see the best of two ends; both extreme ends, to the extreme fashion at one side compared to basics and formal to the other. Eastern and western sides will be fun to dress up this coming season,” he says while talking about the current trends to follow. “Fashion weeks have been a disaster. It had been given to wrong people at most times. We need to be professional. We have no registered agencies. Anyone willing to work for weeks is signed and hired which is totally unacceptable. You need top notch people attending and organising these events. Every other person is a blogger, influencer, journalist or a designer. It’s a long debate. I can only pray and wish well for these organisation in Pakistan. I also feel we should follow international rules and system,” he said while talking about the fashion industry of Pakistan. Alamgir says he has been in the industry for more than 15 years now and has seen the ups and downs of it but the reach one gets now is insane. “E-commerce and social media power has such a big influence, it saddens me sometimes as people with more social media power have an edge over other brands who have better quality to offer which leads to misuse of power sometimes, but it’s getting better as people are more educated now about what is happening around,” he says. “I think at the start, no one influenced me, hence it was quite challenging for me. I wanted to prove to everyone around me that I could work on my own. I always wanted to make shirts, printed shirts and then when I started, I started off with my cousin who was my partner in H&B and we became an instant hit among friends and family. We started doing music videos. It’s a journey where every mistake turned into experience. I was very loyal and dedicated to my work. It’s a mix or art and entrepreneurship and in the end, I would like to add that nothing is possible without Allah’s will.”