Designer Maria Butt, who often makes headlines for her opinions more than her clothes, shared some untold stories of struggle and triumph in a candid conversation on her own podcast.
With an illustrious career spanning over two decades, Butt revealed that the ride to success wasn’t a smooth one for her. From being a single mother struggling to meet ends to facing the “fashion mafia” standing against her during the lowest point in her business, the designer went through a lot after her divorce.
Butt sat with her friend Afia for the latest episode of her podcast Dialogue with Maria B and the two of them opened up about the challenges – financial and emotional – they faced throughout her journey to success. “A few years ago, someone asked me to reflect on my life and share a defining moment. For me, that defining moment – one of the lowest times in my life – was when I was newly divorced, my daughter Fatima was 3 years old, my business was at an all-time low, I could barely pay my employees and I lived in a rented house,” she shared.
Butt also shared a glimpse of the podcast interview on her official Instagram account. “Trials of life… untold stories of learnings behind the success. Only care about Allah’s approval… never society or people,” she wrote. In the video, Butt spoke about how people only see the big, luxurious house that she has now but they barely know that it took 20 years of financial struggles to get here.
“I lived in a rented space for about 20 years. And I always wanted a house of my own. All of my friends know how much I would work for it, but one thing or the other would take it away from me,” she exclaimed, adding that she’s grateful for the life she has now.
While her parents offered to help her, Butt wanted to support her daughter on her own. “I had this feminist energy that I’ll do everything on my own. I told myself that I’ll work and raise my daughter independently. But what I didn’t realise was that time from before divorce to after it goes very slow and it is a really long process. You’re alone and you’re physically and mentally disturbed,” she said.
“My mental capacity to design and work was at its lowest. I couldn’t focus. I wouldn’t call it depression but there was frustration and anger towards God also on why He put these hardships in my life. My business started going down to a point where one month, I didn’t know how to pay salaries to my employees,” she teared up. “My father, who handled accounts at that time saw how bad the cash situation was. We needed money to sustain the business. Without telling me, he sold that our family home – the only house he had – and put 80 percent of the money into my business.”
Butt also shed light on the existence of a so-called “fashion mafia” that vehemently opposed her, primarily due to her status as an “awaami designer” or a designer for the masses. “The whole ‘fashion mafia’ was against me. They believed that I would never get successful. There was a lot of pressure. And on top of that, there were rumours in Lahore that Maria got divorced and she got billions in alimony. I would just listen to them and think about it in my rented house,” she recalled.
Despite their predictions of failure, Butt defied their expectations and continued to forge her own path to success. “That time taught me that society can talk about anything without knowing the truth behind it. The gossip is always far from the truth. So, let people say what they want. What matter is that Allah knows. People can call me whatever but as long as I know my God is with me, I am okay. Nothing bothers me now,” she asserted. “However, the concept that the successful have always been successful is wrong. The Maria that I am today is because of my teenage rebellions, my failed love marriage, the crisis with the fashion mafia, the joy and difficulties of being a single mother and fighting loneliness. Everything taught me something,” she concluded. “Today, the resilient, outspoken and brave woman that I am is because Allah trained me to be the one I am.”