April Issue 2003

At the Lux Style Awards this year, it was all about glamour. The clothes were perfect: rich, refined, elegant and energetic. Good taste and restraint ruled the evening. Models as well as film and TV glitteratti shone and sparkled on stage, lighting up the night.

For the first time an image consultant was hired by Lever to come up with a composite image for the Awards evening. Not surprisingly they picked one of the most polished exemplars of style: Nabila. Their brief was “Raise the bar.” Other considerations were mass appeal, TV censor laws and the Lux variant colour palette.

“My role was to simplify the predictable over-the-top styling and produce something sophisticated, understated and elegant, with a glimpse of glamour,” says Nabila. Individual one-on-one consultations took place with each presenter in Karachi and Lahore, deciding the wardrobe and accessories. Suitable designers were chosen and thoroughly briefed. A further edit was made as time went by. Every minute detail — fabric, colour embellishments, shoes, accessories, hair, make-up, nails etc. were attended to. There were even cosmetic specialists on the panel to turn back the clock a few years for celebrities who were willing to volunteer.

Nabila’s professional styling expertise and analytical sense meshed with the chosen designers’ own aesthetics to create an image in sync with the subject’s personality, age, and body. And the results were absolutely stunning. Says Nabila: “The biggest achievement in my opinion was to have the most difficult egos in the business under one roof and maintain a happy and cooperative atmosphere.”