This Pakistani Designer Built an Entire Fashion Brand via Her Instagram

 Plenty of people jumped on the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) bandwagon when it had been trendy. a number of them even created a career out of it. Pakistani designer Nausheen is one among them. She started her own clothing line ‘Nausheen Sootwala‘ by doing it herself.

Nausheen Sootwala basically makes bespoke couture, semiformal, luxe-pret and bridals to order.
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“You can get good clothes designed for you consistent with your taste, your style and your budget without compromising the standard of design. You don’t got to spend millions to interact a designer and you don’t got to get caricatured replicas of rampant designs already done to death.”

Nausheen Sootwala takes orders from customers that message them on Instagram. this is often to supply people with the comfort of online shopping without even having to travel to an internet site . After all, most folks inspect designs and trends on Instagram anyway.
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“For a business lately , its more important to possess a social media presence than a physical shop.”

The idea of using her marketing platform for sales was an excellent idea laying in plain sight.

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“60% of my customers are people that order from different cities and countries. I can and have only been ready to do that with my social media handles. It works simultaneously, the more visible you're on social media, the higher it's for your business.”

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So how did this amazing brand come to be? The designer explained how the magic happened.

In The Beginnin

It all started when there was a marriage within the family. Nausheen remembers that the dress she wanted cost the maximum amount as a car. She ended up making it herself at a fraction of that cost.
                        ,, “I wanted this particular dress for an event , so I called up the designer to form a meeting … He quoted the worth tag and that i told him my budget. I had two options some time past , I could buy that dress or I could buy a car thereupon money … i made a decision that I’d rather buy the car and make an equivalent dress myself. And I did, during a fraction of that cost.”

  Nausheen Sootwala making bespoke couture accessible

  
Enamored by her craftiness also as appreciation from friends and family, she turned that skill into a business.
                               ,, “Appreciation got me going, and designing for friends and family was a natural transition that started off my career professionally.”

Shop the look right off Instagram @nausheensootwala

Nausheen explained that albeit she has turned this ‘hobby’ into a career choice, she’s still driven by passion but doesn’t let her creative impulses get the higher of her.

“Having an inventive mind with an ingenious impulse can hurt you if you cant channel that creativity through proper means … It’s only recently that I even have started viewing it as a career, it's and still may be a channel for my creative impulse.”

Inspiration and Implementation

Where and when did this creative spark exactly come from?
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“Before coming into designing clothes, I wont to collect materials that caught my eye, try my hand at different embroideries and closely study things that fascinated me.

Her source of inspiration still remains to circle that block, but she is her own muse.
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“I have a reverence for vintage and classical things, old fashioned crafts, embroidery techniques, architectural designs, fabrics, old motifs, mughal miniatures, heritage jewellery and furniture are mostly my sources of inspiration.”

“I want my clothes to talk about the person wearing them before the wearer talks about herself.I want my pieces to last, or a minimum of might be reused during a different style, altogether … Although I do add a touch touch of present, sort of a cut or a neckline or sleeves to offer it some relevance”

A Purpose

                           Hand embroidered ‘dupatta’

Speaking of fashion with a purpose, Nausheen’s clothing-line aims to make lasting items with lasting value.
                        ,, “My aim is to undertake and make an outfit worth wearing quite few times in several seasons also as make it appealing worth a second and third glance.”

She wants to form couture accessible to everyone, instead of a distinct segment group.
                           ,, “My aim is to undertake and make an outfit worth wearing quite few times in several seasons also as make it appealing worth a second and third glance … i would like to form couture more accessible. Everyone wants to wear designer clothes but not everyone can afford them, so i would like to eliminate this awkward gap,”

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She also aimed to steer towards a more female-driven industry. Help more women shake off dependency on ‘male karigars‘ (male expert).
                           ,, “I also want to make a women empowered business … i would like to assist and use single women and empower them, hone their talents and reduce the dependency on ‘male karigars’. this may not only work to raised their lives but also create a fraternity of female labour which is sort of rare to seek out ,”

Teaching women to run the show from sourcing material, and creation to distribution is what real economic empowerment requires. this is often how we will crop on labor rights abuses and unethical practices amidst this era of ‘fast fashion‘.

“There are women who add factories under questionable conditions because they don’t have a choice. i would like to create a skill teaching also as a healthy and respectful working environment for such women.”

          Art of 'zardozi , a fancy hand embroidery with silver/gold foil and threads

Speaking of teaching, Nausheen wants to dress up old fashioned art
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"I want to high school women in ‘the art of zardozi’, and revive old fashioned embroidery techniques, like wasli, tilla, and marori. Creating a design house that caters to women and created by women.”

Business and Expansion

Right now Nausheen has finished putting out heavy formal outfits for ‘Shadi season‘. This includes winter shawls, pret-wear, and semi-formal outfits. She’ll start performing on the spring/summer pret-line and Eid collection soon.

Her business has really grown over time so what proportion more will she expand?

She said;
                                  ,, “Time and consistency convince be a solid base on which you'll uphold your career and have a gentle growth. It becomes easy when your profession is additionally something you are feeling hooked in to and Ive been fortunate during this regard….There are some plans within the pipeline. i think its knowing not mention them until they materialize.”

        Items from Nausheen’s ‘fall/winter collection’

As a one-woman army running a business, she had many difficulties along the way.
                                ,, “Nothing actually lasts forever, seasons come and seasons change. Consistency and sincere diligence always pays off.”

Knowing what a lady can face within the field, she’s supportive towards fellow fem-prenuers.

“There are many ladies entrepreneurs working during this field, their work speaks for itself and its an equivalent on behalf of me . At the top of the day, the gratification i buy from my work and my clients’ satisfaction is more important on behalf of me . Competition is sweet , it keeps one eager to do better.”

                                   Custom clothes made for you

There are ups and downs like all other profession and there are good and bad days like all other job. Yet this designer is bent making it work.