When Yves Saint Laurent was merely 18, he came to work with the legendary Christian Dior. It was under Dior’s mentorship that the designer embarked on a career that was going to become the stuff of legends. “He taught me the basis of my art,” Yves was known to say. When his mentor died abruptly in 1957, Yves succeeded him as the art director at Dior.
Mentorship, veritably, is the predominant force that spurs any industry forward, allowing the passing on of a well-honed skill set and business know-how to younger, talented contenders. In the case of fashion, it is imperative. For fashion’s glossy bubble particularly runs the risk of inflating to ego-centric proportions and if allowed to drift off without proper guidance, it is likely to burst. Known veterans happily become accustomed to winning all the laurels for themselves while younger, lesser-connected ateliers get sidelined.
But without fresh competition, even the top echelons run the risk of stagnating. Designers need to eventually retire but their legacies need to live on in the form of younger aspirants that they have guided and trained. Sarah Burton masterfully continued her friend and mentor Alexander McQueen’s work when the designer took his own life. Coco Chanel took on board jeweller Fulco di Verdura who went on to design accessories for Chanel before embarking on his own label, and American journalist Kate Betts credits Vogue’s Anna Wintour as her mentor.
Designers eventually retire but their legacies need to live on in the form of younger aspirants that they have guided and trained
These were the examples that flitted through the mind when designer Hassan Shehryar Yasin announced his plans for an HSY Mentorship Programme (HMP). Pakistan’s nascent fashion industry can hardly be compared to its gargantuan global counterpart and yet, it’s a business that’s wielding profits, catching people’s attention and persistently growing despite impediments. Helming the industry has been a milieu of veterans, designers who understand craft, silhouette and the particular requirements of the local customer. Young designers, fresh out of fashion schools, may have a grasp over their skills but can benefit considerably from the experience of their seniors.
“I’ve been in this business for 24 years and this is something that I just want to do,” explained HSY in a special press-meet organised at his mansion in Karachi. “We want to identify a group of up-and-coming designers every year and help them understand the nuances of the business and design. These may be young graduates or a label that is yet to make a mark. We won’t be charging them and, in fact, designers in the programme who don’t have the means to support themselves will be funded for the time that they are with us. If later they want to start up their own businesses, we will also try to financially help them with that.”
The topmost floor of the HSY ‘mansion’ — his location in Karachi dedicated to taking bespoke orders for couture and also his temporary residence for when he visits the city — will be allotted to HMP.