His celebrity is as almost just as big as that of some of his clientele. Tariq Amin, who has been a well-known, integral part of Pakistan's entertainment and lifestyle industry for over two-and-a-half decades now recently celebrated 25 active years of being in the industry by opening his new salon in Clifton, Karachi.

The shaved head and French beard have become synonymous to Tariq's persona, and what was interesting to note was that during the airing of a small film celebrating the life and times of Tariq Amin (if you may), a section mentioned that the image-maker's muse is — drum-roll, please — himself!

Tariq's almost narcissistic love for himself and in the many different ways he loves to be photographed was evident by the sheer number of portraits of himself, by different photographers, that were hung up on the walls right outside his new salon. Almost all of them were in black and white.

The salon also had photos of well-known fashion models (Nadya Hussain, Vinnie, Iraj, Tooba, Fouzia Amir) from his recent contribution to fashion editorials, to some photos from yesteryear of classic models from the early '90s, namely Bibi (Aliya Brammer), model-turned-fashion-designer Atiya Khan, among others. Along with posters of some productions he's worked on — including one featuring Begum Nawazish Ali aka Ali Saleem, the timeless video of Fuzon's Khamaj and the Ali Azmat video of Na Re Na — it all seemed to be a testament to his enduring legacy of the last 25 years in the industry. If one didn't know better, the veiled proclamation of Tariq's genius at every other corner of the salon almost seemed intentional.

The short film/montage which was to give us the essence of Tariq Amin over the ages was put together by film-maker Adnan Malik. It had black and white clips from shoots done in the early '90s to his more contemporary work now. It also featured the likes of Bollywood stars Urmila Matondkar, Shilpa Shetty and Arjun Rampal. The montage also showed his contribution to some major fashion shows from last year, including the hair show he did in which he paid tribute to two western female icons from the Hollywood industry Marilyn Monroe and Madonna.

Some well-known names in the fashion industry came to show their support to Tariq which included musician and talk-show host Ali Azmat, fashion designer Maheen Karim, photographer Amean J., model Nadya Hussain, musician Schaz Khan, model/film-maker Adnan Malik, designers Adnan Pardesy and Sanam Agha, talk-show host Ali Saleem, designer Feeha Jamshed, actor Sarwat Gillani, VJ Ayesha Omar, actor Moammar Rana, designer Deepak Perwani, musician Faisal Kapadia, choreographer Joshindar, model Maha, designer Yousuf Bashir Qureshi, photographer Tapu Javeri as well as actor Sajid Hasan and wife Shakila.

Tariq has been instrumental in building the Pakistani fashion industry to where it stands now, although his contribution far exceeds it. After 25 years and several grey hairs, one hopes to see more work from him in the future.

1. Tariq with Ali Azmat
2. The stylist with wife Faiza