Weaving her own styles into ‘made in Pakistan’
Back in December 2018, Sarah Illyas took the leap to launch her own ethnic wear brand, Janaan, wanting to create a collection that would weave in the rich culture and fabrics of Pakistan imbued with her own personal design aesthetic. Created for the modern elegant woman, the second Janaan collection launched on Saturday at The Design Collective store (TDC) was an ensemble of pieces she hopes will become collectibles that will pass down from generation to generation.
Sarah Illyas at the launch of her new collection. Pix by Nilan Maligaspe
Just an hour or two into the launch, racks and mannequins were bare with customers snapping up her designs; from tie-dye crushed kaftans that had a lovely ombre of purple and black, embellished mix and match bottoms and shawls, lace shawls, embroidered kurtas in vibrant colours and prints and even delicate pale pastel shalwars.
“Everything in Janaan is made in Pakistan. It is made, sourced, stitched and sewn in Pakistan and is inspired by my travels there for the last 10 years. The lack of me not being able to find anything here in Sri Lanka or in Malaysia, of Pakistani fashion drove me to create this brand. With my husband being from Pakistan as well, we had all the resources we needed there,” Sarah says on how she started off with Janaan.
Based in Malaysia with her husband and three children, Ayaan, Arissa and Ayden, Sarah laughs that Janaan is her fourth child. Having worked in the e-commerce fashion industry for almost eight years now, Sarah has the expertise to know how to position and market her brand. “I did do a lot of private labels at the beginning, where we made in-house labels, sold fabric and did buying trips all over Asia creating products; they went online, and they sold and I think what really gave me the confidence was the expertise I gained. I had already done it and I knew exactly what goes into it,” she says.
Surprisingly, Janaan 2.0 was a spontaneous collection, that evolved in a whirlwind of just 10 days with a lot of encouragement from her parents and husband. Sarah had no prior plans to launch it during her visit to Sri Lanka but having gone to Pakistan earlier this month and been surrounded by the materials, embroidery and embellishments, her family pushed her to get it out.
“They really made sure to inspire me to do it. I’m generally a confident person but even with that, I think it makes a difference to always have someone in your corner. I called Shahili Gomes (co-founder of TDC) out of the blue and told her we need to launch a collection but it has to be in a week,” Sarah recalls, grateful to the team at TDC and also all those who came to support the launch.
This collection was designed for all age ranges, she shares, adding that she had her mom, grandma and daughter in mind when curating it. Eventually, she hopes the pieces can be passed down from generation to generation.
“I don’t think any designer knows what’s going to happen next. At the moment, it was really what I loved in the markets, from the fashion, the colours and the fabrics and the nature of it. Compared to my last one, I think I’ve taken more risks in terms of having variety. The next collection is going to be super pretty, very feminine with a lot of lace and embellishments to give it a very dreamy feel,” Sarah says sharing that her customers can look forward to it in April in time for Eid.
Follow Janaan on Instagram @janaan_official
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