MYSTICAL MAHEEN

Ok, there are times when you just can't help but shoot yourself in the foot. I've just done that with the Doyenne of Pakistani Fashion Design. You see she has come draped in this lovely purple, bluish bandhini dupatta - a spectacular style statement that I would under normal circumstances, have raised my hat to. But with a blue chroma wall, standing betwixt me and the one and only Maheen Khan, I can't but help tell her it won't work.

We could try experimenting, perhaps during the break but the risk that we run is a part of Maheen's neck being invisible - the parts where the dupatta is draped. Maheen is forced to change her scarf to a white one and phew are we off. My heart that had been pounding away while Maheen went from blue to white, is pacing down to some signs of normalcy.

After all, Maheen is no ordinary guest. She is the woman who has played no small part in Oliver Stone's 100-million-pound epic creation 'Alexander The Great'. For those of you who can't quite remember - the skill of her exquisite hand was evident in the tents, banners, wall-hangings, Babylonian drapes in the . The sets included elaborately embroidered and embellished panels for Alexander's tents, his war banners, massive panels for the Babylon set, intricate bed covers, huge punkhas and even life-size embroidered pillars - all if which were created in little factories in and around Karachi.

And we have only just begun. 'Alexander' happens to be just one of her many brushes with big budget stuff. She also has to her credit other massive productions like 'Mozart', 'Peter Pan', 'The Aristocrats', 'Elizabeth', 'Napoleon' and 'The Three Musketeers' to name just a few.

Beyond costumes and period theatre sets, Maheen has showcased her designs in over 21 countries in the last two decades. It has been some journey from the time she founded 'MAHEENS' in Karachi in 1983 to the launch of her 'Diffusion' Line that caters to the broader international market.

Part of the huge charm of her clothes is that hers are 'real clothes for the real woman'. Nothing goes untouched by Maheen's skilled hands. Bridal jodas too get a make-over too through her fusion style that blends the very best of modernity with tradition.

Something that is typified through her look which spells comfort, sophistication and glamour - all in one breath. Her personal style as she defines it:
"is stark, bordering on classic, with a touch of madness and glamour." And the one thing she would never be seen in is a "museum piece of embroidery draped all over me, like tinsel town."

Winning words from a truly heart-warming designer, who rest assured will never make a Christmas Tree out of you.