Photos courtesy: N-Pro
There’s a reason why Nabila’s career now spans 34 years, and is still going strong. I think that it’s because she’s always changing, moving with the times and often, thinking ahead of it. In the many times that I have written about her in the past, I have often described her knack for trends as ‘ingenious’ and also her as ‘mercurial’ — never stagnating, keeping an eye on her business while working on building new ones, multitasking through a busy schedule, ricocheting between playing stylist to businesswoman, between image-maker and visionary.
On the morning that we have our breakfast meeting at Xander’s, she sips her coffee and predictably tells me, “I’ll be needing the energy, I have a long day ahead of me.” She’s in Karachi for a few days — Nabila has been busy building her make-up retail business, and this had prompted her to shift to Dubai some time ago. Now, she’s just about to extend the business further, which means that she will be moving to London. “I travel round the world but my closet is always in Karachi,” she says.
And during this short tryst at her home base, she has a lot to do. Her bag is teeming with paraphernalia that, she tells me, is going to last her through the day. As always, she’s wearing idiosyncratic sunshades and her hair is stylishly unkempt. Women around us keep turning to look at her. “Because I look funny?” she smirks at me, knowing it not to be true.
“Because you look great and you’re famous,” I point out the obvious to her, but she doesn’t have time to bask in these compliments as she begins to recount her schedule to me. “I got done with my haircutting appointments yesterday. Now, it’s Thursday, and the weekend starts in Dubai tomorrow. I have been sending out emails there since early morning so that some of my work gets done.” Later in the afternoon, she plans to select models and finalise hair trends for a small show that she’s about to have in a mall. She’s got the usual office work to look into and is then rushing back home to get things ready for her son, Zakir, who lands in Pakistan later that day.
Pakistan’s stylist par excellence, Nabila is still going strong even after 34 years on the job. Now, as she eyes expanding her influence abroad, Icon tries to understand where her constant adrenaline rush comes from
She’s also planning out one of her infamous parties for the coming weekend. “The venue isn’t ready at all. I have to work things out with the electrician, and I’ll probably sweep the place with a jhaarroo [broom] myself.” She says this gleefully. Nabila has always loved to work on the tiny details, sweeping away the dirt and the ordinariness and creating something spectacular. “This is the fun bit for me,” she agrees.
The guest list at her parties is always teeming with the city’s most famous and glamorous. The images inevitably trend all over media, and it helps build her PR. Is that why she makes such great efforts for her parties? “The PR is just a by-product. I make the effort because I love the adrenaline rush of creating something new and exciting.”
This reminds me of a metaphor that she often uses: of chicken karrahi and oysters. When Nabila delves towards safe and commercial aesthetics, she says that she’s making traditional ‘karrahi’. When she veers into the avant-garde, she’s serving out ‘oysters’. People who know her work understand that, while the former helps haul in profits, the latter keeps her excited and creatively sated. However, when she makes such statements at fashion events, it often riles those around her. Could Nabila possibly be alluding their aesthetics to pedestrian street food?
Chicken karrahi or oysters?