V9: The real story

Supermodel Vaneeza Ahmed and entrepreneur Shehryar Sumar have parted ways, so what
happens to the most fashionable brand of lawn Pakistan has ever seen?

Vinnie comes home

V Lawn is what she is most excited about these days. 'Lawn mogul' is Vaneeza's latest avtar and
one that she takes very seriously. It consumes her because it is largely what she does best. She's
in total control in the driving seat knowing that she has come a long way and is figuring out where
to go next. She's on phone from Gizri, finishing up some work which the kaarigars have been late
in delivering. She's asking them about the black gala and the importance of pairing the suits up
right for the exhibition.
She finally floats into her apartment on the tenth floor of a complex in Karachi, wearing jeans and
a V9 top from last season, designed by Umar Sayeed. It's a busy apartment, even a good fifteen
minutes before Vaneeza arrives. There are young maids, her friend Affie who is staying with her
with two daughters who are toddlers. Vinny's young teenaged sister Esha who's in Karachi
staying with her older sister and preparing for her O'levels, walks in and out, asking her advice
about what to wear for a girlie party that she is going to. Vinnie gives her hell about getting her
hair cut in layers.

"That's what women do, not girls your age."

"It looks nice in layers," insists Esha
"Wait till you need to straight blow dry it to make it look nice," snaps Vinny, not approving of a
fifteen year old with flicks in her hair. It's rather ironic considering that Vinny has been a part of
the fashion invasion that has hit the country riding on the back of the media revolution.
Vaneeza is the single most influential style icon in Pakistan. And it has taken far more than just

modeling that got her to the top. She has a knack of knowing which way the tide is turning and
the guts to ride the wave to the best of her ability. And this innate knowledge of how to navigate
an industry where the rules of engagement are still in the process of being set have held her in
good stead. It was something Jarrad Clark, Production Director for IMG Fashion noticed when
he met her for the first time at the media launch in Lahore. "She has that," he said, making a hand
gesture towards his head, remarkably like cocking a gun with two fingers pointed as a mock
barrel. In retrospect, it seems that he was referring to her killer instinct.
V Professional
She is the girl that everybody who matters knows and everybody else knows of and yet she is
also the girl nobody can put a finger on. Vaneeza Ahmed, model, actress, entrepreneur, TV
person, is a one-woman juggernaut who has the ability to constantly surprise, tanatalise and yes,
catch people off guard. And it is this incredible ability of hers that she has used to carve a niche
for herself in an industry which is notorious for being a place where models do not survive; they
mostly retire to become wives and mothers and/or shift gears altogether and go for another
career. To have made a career out of modeling and acting is something that few achieve and
make it last.

In a country where women are not expected to

be smart, especially if they are models, Vaneeza changed the rules of the game. Modelling had
long been a profession that was a hobby for girls. They came into it for the love of it. Sadie, Atiya
Khan, Frieha Altaf, Faiza Amin, Aliya Zaidi, Bibi, Sonya Mahnaz, Sadaf Malaterre, Iffat Rahim,
Zoella Alam, Iraj, the honor roll of the faces that gave Pakistani fashion a beautiful face goes on
and on. And yet, be it timing or coincidence, the fashion industry was taken into a whole new
direction with the arrival of girls from the Ather Shahzad studio. Despite the brickbats that are
often hurled at them for monopolizing the industry, it has to be said that Ather Shahzad took
fashion to a whole new level. They played godfathers to a whole new breed of models and Vinny,
Aaminah Haq and ZQ breezed onto the scene that has till then been dominated by the proverbial
'style mafia' in Karachi. The onslaught from Lahore that left the industry reeling. When models like
Aliya Zaidi, Bibi and Zoella retired from modeling, apart from Iraj, no one could hold a candle to
the Lahore girls. They came, they saw and they conquered at a time when the fashion scene
gathered momentum as the media grew like never before in Pakistan. Vinnie was one of these
faces and she made her mark because she was by far the most beautiful one. Add to that her

height, an innate girl next door appeal and a natural physical grace ("You can put Vinnie in a
garbage dump and she would look elegant," famously observed Tapu Javeri) and it was a mix
that hadn't been witnessed by the fashion industry before. Add to that the rock chick aura
imparted to her by the Junoon videos that she appeared in - 'Sayonee', 'Bullehya' and of course
later 'Naa Re Naa' with Ali Azmat and Vinnie acquired a mythical presence, one that remains
unrivalled in the public imagination.
Killer instinct
Vaneeza is good at pandering to urban myths. In the modern world celebrity holds tremendous
power over the public imagination. And Vinnie realises this and more importantly has the guts to
use it to devastating affect. At the last Lux Style Awards in Malaysia, she walked out to stand on
one podium while Ali Azmat stood at the other and the crowd went wild hooting and cheering.
"You're so loving this aren't you?" said Vaneeza knowingly with a smile. And the crowd went
wilder still.

Vaneeza Ahmad and Ali Azmat remain the stuff

of legend many years after they were an item. Both of them know it and often play it to give
awards nights or videos a poignancy that no other show people can. They are similar in that they
are at ease with their public personas and enjoy putting themselves out there. It's easy enough
for Ali, after all he is man, but Vinnie is the first woman to be out there the way she is and hats off
to her for that. Given her guts, it was only natural that out of all the girls it was Vaneeza who
made all the right moves and got to places where others dared not go. Professional to the core,
Vinny with her smiling demeanour and no nakhra attitude won hearts and minds. One has
witnessed the requests of models and actresses asking for things like V8 juice, salads, Japanese
food from Fujiyama when out on a shoot. Vinny is someone who will roll up her sleeves and have
Student Biryani with the unit. She is as charming with the spot boy as she is with corporate head
honcho; it comes naturally to her and she knows how to use it to her advantage. Good will is the
key to getting ahead and Vinnie has earned oodles of it from almost everybody.
Today, Vinny laments the state of the industry saying: "I explain to these girls that you don't have
to do things on the side. Just be smart about your career. There is enough money going around

to make a career of it."

And she is right. Forget
listening to her and taking advice from her. Vinny's career is the perfect blueprint about how to
make it big. Driving and looking at the V Lawn billboards all over town gives me a sense of dj
vu. Years before I remember a time when Vinnie's face looked out at you all over the city. There
she was on a Lux billboard, on Pepsi hoarding and flying around in a space age ad for a mobile
phone company. She is on billboards today too, but the product she is selling is her own. Looking
at the way Vinnie plays the game, this had to happen sooner or later.
From modeling she moved into acting, where frankly speaking she was not brilliant at histrionics
unlike an Aaminah Haq or an Iman Ali. Yet Vaneeza did it, got to know the parallel world of
television and in the process boosted her profile as a model. It is this that culminated with three of
the biggest ad campaigns around all featuring Vaneeza as there face. And today there are
adverts with her modeling her own product: V Lawn. She has a knack for taking things to the next
level, which is unfortunately more than what one can say for most people in the industry.
Fast track from V9 to V Lawn
Which dedicated follower of fashion can forget the V9 juggernaut when it happened two years
ago? With an exciting new face of lawn that was more vibrant than any that season, V9 was
fronted by Vaneeza, the most coveted face in the country and was manufactured by Mohammad
Farooq Textiles, one of the most prestigious mills in the country. That it happened when Vaneeza
and Shehryar Sumar were together made it all the more powerful. The entrepreneur and the
supermodel bounced off each other and created a brand that overshadowed every lawn (designer
or otherwise) that came out that year. They followed the launch of V9 with a trade show that had
fashionistas talking for days; for which they got designers like Sonya Battla, HSY, Deepak
Perwani, Umar Sayeed and Nomi Ansari to make collections from V9 fabric. It was the perfect
marriage of fashion and textiles and then, all of a sudden, it broke up.
"He shouldn't have used V9 once I had left," says Vaneeza who is obviously cut up about the fact
that V9 carries on without her. There is still some tension about the logo that Vaneeza says is a
VA (her initials) and which Shehryar claims is V and inverted V. Yet, she can rest easy in the fact
that now V Lawn is doing as well as V9 did when they were together and that her current
relationship with Sitara Textiles is based purely on business.
"I'm paying Sitara to print the lawn. It's my product," she tells Instep.
And when you probe her about what she got out of Mohammad Farooq Textiles, which is where
she got a solid grounding into the workings of the textile industry, she's less forthcoming. "I've
also worked with Gul Ahmed and Al-Karam," she says nonchalantly and refuses to elaborate
further.

However, one knows that the kind of access she would have gotten into the Sumar textile empire
by virtue of being one day a member of the family would have been unprecedented. I remember
at the first V9 exhibition, Vaneeza was there discussing the finer points of lawn with Farooq
Sumar himself. And this grounding is clear today when she talk about machines with the right
width for dupattas, about how she's decided to make cotton shalwars because lawn ones are
see-through and that doesn't work for the Pakistani market and about how most mills in Pakistan
don't have the machine that can print a single dupatta; they print cloth that fits the width of two
which is then slashed down the middle. It is difficult to see how working in lawn advertising
campaigns would impart this kind of technical know how to anybody.
But that is the thing with Vaneeza - once she breaks with the past, it is a very clean break and
she focuses straight onto what lies ahead. The past is the past, and if you want to move ahead
you shouldn't waste too much time going down memory lane.; far better to let it be...
The Lawn Wars
First it was Karachi and then Lahore was buzzing with the lawn wars. This time, Shehryar Sumar
launched V9 first and immediately, posters of Vaneeza V Lawn sprung up, a month before she
was supposed to exhibit. In an interview with Instep, Shehryar Sumar openly distanced himself
and V9 from Vaneeza Ahmed and wished her the best of luck, saying that the market was big
enough for both of them. She refused to speak then and has never broken her silence on their
relationship on the record. However, there were reports in newspapers of how her numerologist
believed that the number 9 was unlucky for her. It was remarkably like a story one would read in
the Indian press with the fascination across the border for lucky numbers and alphabets and the
celestial alignments within the universe.
"It's true!" she exclaims when asked about this. "I do have a hakimjee. That year, he said the
number nine was lucky for me, but this year it is not."
And so in the market this year, there was V9 and V Lawn, one with the industrial muscle of
Mohammad Farooq Textiles and the other flying on the wings of Vaneeza's beautiful face and
endorsed by her. On the surface everything was fine, but thanks to being a celebrity, Vinnie made
the rounds of various talk shows on most channels in Pakistan to plug her product. On the other
hand, Mohsin Sayeed ripped apart V9 prints on a show on a local channel. The Boulevard in
Lahore backtracked on an exhibition they had offered V9 saying that he was a textile mill and not
a designer when they are all set to show Al Karam lawn prints too. At the same time, V Lawn
launched its first line in Karachi to runaway success. Vaneeza's posters all over town ensured
that women beat the doors down.
Just a night before her exhibition when talking to Instep, Vinnie acknowledged that she had heard
about what happened at the Boulevard through designer Nomi Ansari but didn't have time to
delve into it. She doesn't have to. Her support system seems to ensure that her competition is
kept away from the close knit circle of fashion in Lahore.
Tycoon in the making?
The lawn exhibitions are on and Vaneeza's V lawn has been a sensation. The billboards of the
most recognizable face in the country have ensured that the hordes keep coming. And now,
Vaneeza's plan is to eventually open a flagship store for her lawn and then she plans to get into
prt - not as it is understood by our fashion industry in the elitist sense of the word, but clothes for
everyday Pakistanis, both separates and suits.
"I don't want to cater to the begums, I want to cater to the awam," insists Vaneeza as she unfolds
what she has planned for the future. She will carry on modeling and acting and making lawn. She
has set up a company by the name of V Design which designs her lawn amongst other things.
They work under her guidelines as she carries on expanding the biggest product that she has got,
which is Vaneeza Ahmad. And under the umbrella of her own being, Vaneeza can manage to sell

anything. She has become the most powerful arbiter of taste in Pakistan and she has managed to
do that because she has the sense to reach out to the masses, be it through her plays or through
her lawn business.
Depending on which way the wind blows so she will turn. And as always, she will have not one,
not two but many a game plan, which she will set into motion when the time is right. Vaneeza is
an instinctive creature and should remain so. After all, her instinct has never failed her, has it?
Check out V Lawn on Style Section.

V9: The real story

Supermodel Vaneeza Ahmed and entrepreneur Shehryar Sumar have parted ways, so what
happens to the most fashionable brand of lawn Pakistan has ever seen?
By Aamna Haider Isani
What would V9 lawn be without Vaneeza Ahmed? That's the million dollar question on
everyone's minds these days. It's buzzing around the fashion industry and it will be the question
women will be asking Shehryar Sumar when he launches the new summer collection without her
this weekend.
Vaneeza V9 lawn started out as a venture under the Suma Project V banner, a small project
under the much larger umbrella of Mohammad Farooq Textiles that was given to Shehryar and
Vaneeza Ahmed to manage, since they were engaged to be married. Now, almost one year after
they parted ways, Shehryar has bravely taken on the challenge of manufacturing V9 without his
partner and Vaneeza will be taking her aesthetic expertise to another textile mill, Sitara, in
Faisalabad.

"The brand association of V9 is definitely with

Vaneeza," says Shehryar when asked how, if at all, Vinny's absence will affect sales this year. He
adds, "We're not even trying to say that she's with us this year. But I'm hoping women will come
and stay for the designs. People will have faith and trust in the brand. Vaneeza was a part of the
process and she will be missed. Of course she will be missed. But I don't believe in exclusivity.
The market is a big place and she'll do well with her new partners too. Our brand will take a
couple of years to come out of this phase but women will understand the continuity because it is
basically the same design team working on the prints; I have always been the creative director.
There will be medium intensity in terms of sales this year but I think the brand is very strong and
will survive." There's an almost personal allusion to this statement and one can sympathize, as

break ups are always painful. But the interesting thing to come out of this division of partnerships,
however, is the fact that Shehryar Sumar has stepped in, all guns blazing, with a personal interest
in making the new V9 project successful. It's always good to see new people stepping into the
fashion industry and then again, this isn't just anyone trying his hand at it. This is one of the two
sons of textile giant Mohammad Farooq Sumar and he is attempting the long awaited
collaboration between textile manufacturers and fashion designers on a mass level, for the
masses. Suma Project V, as Shehryar puts it, is just a beginning of something very big.
It has taken off with the V9 lawn and the now iconic 'I love KHI' tee shirts that have been flying off
shelves. Next are plans for V9 Casuals, this year featuring upcoming designer Fahad Hussayn,
and then taking the 'I love KHI' theme to an altogether new level of tourism for the city.

"We're printing (I Love) t-shirts for Islamabad and

Lahore as well," says Shehryar. "The plan is to start a new wave of tourism in the cities: websites,
maps, flyers and even taxi cabs that boast our love for these places. As for V9, we've asked
designers to play around with the fabric; dress it up. Last time we had Vaneeza's friends: Umar
Sayeed, Nomi Ansari and HSY. I brought in the Karachi designers - Deepak Perwani, Sonya
Battla and Amin Gulgee - but this time we wanted new designers. It's V9 Casuals featuring Fahad
Hussayn. If women want my brand - V9 Casuals - they can order and buy ready to wear from us.
In April we'll have a V9 runway and will launch the casuals properly as a trade show, like the last
one. The plan is to make this project huge."
This year Shehryar has zoned in on Lahore-based designer Fahad Hussayn. When asked how
the new designer will fulfill orders and get the fitting right, because that is something even some
established designers can mess up on, Shehryar has seems to have it sorted out "Even if I get
ten to fifteen orders in Karachi, I will fly Fahad out. He can meet with the clients, take
measurements and then deliver."
If the option of buying custom-made designer lawn suits succeeds and becomes a feature of the
annual V9 exhibitions then an important new platform for new fashion talent will have been
created. Pakistan is as yet unchartered territory as far as fashion is concerned and it is
entrepreneurs like Shehryar who have the resources and the know how to change that. In the
textile industry, which does its own thing and largely stays away from associating with fashion,
Shehryar's attitude is a breath of fresh air.
"I'm even going to find a designer in Peshawar," he says. "I want V9 to be there too. Junaid
Jamshed has two shops in Peshawar; there is a market there as well. Lawn is for the people;

looking at the wearability in our weather and the low cost of the fabric, lawn is the closest thing
we have to pret. The purpose of Suma Project V is to have a good thing for the most number of
people. V9 is about art and living and design but also about social responsibility. That's the
principal with which I work."
Shehryar Sumar, true to his word, does cut an honest figure. Having spent most of his grown up
life abroad - in Paris and Buenos Aires - he returned just a couple of years ago to start this
partnership that bred V9. Despite being one heir to the MF textile mill, the business is relatively
new to him and he's equally new to the industry. In fact most people have only known him as
Vaneeza's fianc. But as a new entry to Pakistan's fashion charts, Shehryar brings a fresh and
modern perspective to the table.
"V9 has always been about a lot of things - bold colours, designs and the empowerment of
women," he says, explaining his interpretation of the fabric that was identified with Vaneeza until
now. "Lawn is the true prt in Pakistan; it's largely what women wear and V9 is at the upper crust
of that market. We're a small mill compared to our competitors. But our name is in the market for
the quality we offer. People are ready for lawn collections now the stamp of textile mills isn't
good enough anymore.
It's a trend Shamaeel and Rizwan Beyg and Sana Safinaz started in the mid-nineties and we now
are doing very well. I do both Mohammad Farooq and V9 prints but I make them different. MF
kicks back to my mother's day; has a lot of water colour and pastels. V9 is determined by stronger
colours and design."
Shehryar certainly is at ease with art and design and his single story house in Defence (Karachi) practically his entire apartment in Paris imported here - bears witness to that. It is a bachelor's
pad, but it's no dark and shady den. The west open space is breezy and cool and leads one to a
contemporary space dotted here and there with modern artifacts, classic posters, music mixing
systems, lots and lots of logos plus loads of cartons carrying V9 and 'I love KHI' merchandise.
Shehryar fits in just as well. He changed lanes from law to design, as the latter interested him
more and dedicates a lot of his time now to developing logos from the V9 inverted Vs to the
classic signage for the Mohammad Farooq home linen outlet - Angel Thread - in Paris. Which
brings one to the biggest controversy of V9: its copyright and the legal ownership of the inverted
V logo, which many people read as the initials to 'Vaneeza Ahmed'.
"Let me make this very clear: 'Vaneeza V9 lawn prints' belongs to my company," Shehryar
clarifies. "That fact is in public domain, but I won't use her name. The V alongside the inverted V
logo is mine; it's not 'VA'. I made all the logos and the precursor to this is the inverted 'F' Fendi
logo. This logo was supposed to be the pattern that comes on linings. Sure we're using it. Why
not? I'll use it when we expand to bags and chappals and shoes. The registration and copyright is
mine."
"Vaneeza undoubtedly had great mass appeal," he adds. "Here was a woman who's in her mid
thirties, she's slim, she looks good and she flies all over the place. It's the dream of every young
girl. People want magic and stardom. That's what Vaneeza did for V9. She was a great brand
ambassador. But other than that who was Vaneeza in lawn? She's a lawn model. What does she
know about lawn? She had done a couple of shoots and that's it. She got into lawn because that's
the product we make. She got into it because I told her to. She learnt everything here. She was
going to be my wife, we were engaged, and she had access to work with our team of designers
because of our relationship. A lot of things have been delayed because we split up. We were
planning to export lawn and that's what I intend to do eventually - export to Dubai and India. But
nothing is clear on exports in Pakistan. The government says they have cleared trade but it's
uncertain."
There's no doubt about the fact that Vaneeza Ahmed was the face of V9 and its going to be an
extremely difficult face to replace. What Vinny did with V9 is what Kate Moss did with the Top

Shop collection she designed; it wouldn't be wrong to call Shehryar Sumar her Sir Philip Green.
He was the industrialist investor and the machinery that kicked V9 into existence was all his, but
the face that sold a million metres of fabric belonged to Vinny. As with Top Shop's Kate Moss line,
the promise of wearing a little bit of Vaneeza was what had women queued outside exhibition
venues much before opening time. Girls who never wore the shalwar kameez were buying; they
wanted to be part of the dream she seems to live. V9 managed to break the monopoly
Mausummery lawn had on the market. Women were actually saving to hoard on V9. It was a
rollicking success. With the Mohammad Farooq textile backing, Vaneeza's supermodel-celebrity
status and all the media hype that came attached, it was the ideal formula for success.
Yet, it has to be said that when people in the industry conjecture whether V9 will succeed without
Vinny, they have it wrong. Mohammad Farooq is one of the oldest and most reputable names in
the textile business and while V9 sales may go down, it won't affect the business much. After all,
Top Shop won't collapse if Kate Moss decides to part ways with them. It will still remain one of the
most popular clothing chains in the West.
Ultimately, what is exciting about the V9 project that Shehryar Sumar and Vaneeza Ahmed
embarked on together is the synergy the project has created between fashion and big business.
Vaneeza may have exited from the V9 project, but she has taken her experience to Sitara
Textiles. Meanwhile Shehryar is gung ho about Suma Project V and is all set to take fashion,
textiles and lifestyles in exciting new directions. And the future of fashion in Pakistan seems to be
a lot brighter because they were once together, even though they're not anymore.
(Instep got in touch with Vaneeza Ahmed but she did not want to speak about V9. You can check
out Fahad Hussayn's designs for V9 Casuals on Style section)

Biography
[edit] Early life
Vaneeza Ahmad was born in Lahore, Pakistan but later moved to Germany with her
parents to study. She was pressured by her parents to get into medicine when she was in
high school. She was to return to Pakistan at the age of 18 to study further medicine but
her plans were thwarted by a lack of high school physics and she decided to rather attend
Kinnaird College in Lahore.[2]
With her interests still inclined towards medicine, she graduated from Kinnaird College
with a bachelor's degree in psychology. In her brief stay at the college, she started to
model casually.[2] Not much interested in modelling as a career option, she was showered
with offers from various fashion designers, some of which were notable in the Pakistani
fashion industry[2] including the likes of fashion designer Nilofer Shahid with whom she
did her first shoot, and photographer Khawar Riaz. She is a close friend of the makeup
duo Athar and Shahzad, as well as designer Umar Sayeed and often speaks favourably
about them in the press.

[edit] Modelling as a career

When Nilofer approached Vaneeza, she was unsure of which career to pursue and settled
for fashion modelling. Her initial walks at fashion shows led fashion critics to praise her
elegance on the cat-walk. In dealings with corporate heads of the entertainment industry,
her business acumen was similarly praised.[2][3]

[edit] Vaneeza, the brand

Recently Vaneeza conjured a brand name Vlawn[4] for her range of lawn lawn and the
branding created a hype among the fashion conscious public. The collection consisted of
nine different lawn prints created by designers that included Nomi Ansari, Umar Sayeed
and Hassan Sheheryar Yasin.[5] In March 2006, the collection sold-out in a series of
exhibitions[4] and since then has acquired great acclaim.
The new collection is not limited to lawn clothings but also features chiffon, raw silk, and
khaadi wear. With her initial exhibitions in Lahore and Islamabad already a success in
April 2008, she planned to launch fashion shows to promote her brand under the name for
which she was supported by many Pakistani designers including

[edit] Acting and acclaim

I could lie about

it and say Im in
this field for the
love of art. But I
admit that Im
doing it for
money.

Vaneeza Ahmed[6]

Over her fifteen year reign in the fashion industry her business etiquette has helped her to
survive her chosen career. In a country where women are not expected to be make smart
and calculated decisions in business matters of monetary concerns,[7] Vaneeza always
stayed with the career for the sake of money.[8] With her peer Iraj Mansoor, Vaneeza is
described as having amassed a veritable fortune via straight-shooting endorsement deals
and sensible choices within a decade and a half.[3]
Vaneeza now divides her time between Europe and Pakistan, on projects from fashion
shoots and shows to filming drama serials and television programs.[4] She is currently
making her travelogues around the world for cable TV.[9] Ahmad also recently signed on
as brand ambassador for Lux's new variant Aqua Sparkle and brand ambassador for
Mobilink's premier Indigo.[4]

Ahmad made her acting debut in Jamal Shah's controversial saga Kal and has since acted
in Marina Khan's Tum Hi Tau Ho, Janey Anjaney and Tum Say Mil Ker; Armaan; and
Talaash. Most famous role to come her way was that of the founder of Pakistan
Muhammad Ali Jinnah's daughter Dina Wadia in Jamil Dehlavi's 1998 biopic of the
leader titled Jinnah.[9]
On 16 April 2008, Vaneeza Ahmad was selected as one of the Olympic torch bearers
when the torch arrived in Islamabad. Sponsored by Samsung, she was one of the few
selected celebrities[10][11] to hold the torch in the relay out of the chosen 66.[1