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Lounge Loves
By Sahar Iqbal
Ellemint Prêt brings SNL Sofia Naveed Lari of the renowned brand SNL exhibited her electrifying apparel collection at Ellemint Prêt which she had recently showcased at a fashion week in Karachi. The designer exhibited an exclusive collection of laces, chiffons, silks and cottons, all beautifully crafted into trendy outfits. Credit goes to Afreen Shiraz of Ellemint Pret for not only spotting this great talent but for stocking SNL at her impressive boutique. Jimmy Khan releases his second single ‘Aisay Kaisay’ Musician Jimmy Khan, who made his debut with ‘Pehla Pyar’ in 2011 to popular acclaim, now, releases his second single/video for his original song, ‘Aisay Kaisay’, this April 2012. Composed and written by Jimmy himself, the song speaks about how one forms perceptions about people and relationships and his lyrics unfold how these perceptions are often shattered. The video, directed by Taimoor Salahuddin of Aflatoon Studios. The set design for ‘Aisay Kaisay’ was done by Zohra Rahman and costumes by Mehrunnisa Khan. www.facebook.com/ JimmyKhanOfficial www.youtube.com/ JimmyKhanOfficial V launched Designing lawn since 2006, Vaneeza Ahmad Ali introduces a new designer lawn collection for her pioneering brand VANEEZA VLAWN PRINTS this April. Further, Vaneeza innovates within her lawn repertoire to introduce two brand new lines: VLUXURY PRINTS Collection and the LIMITED EDITION Collection. This year Vaneeza’s Lawn is an essence of a multi ethnic celebration of colour and design. Rich patterns of Jamavar and bold representations of psychedelic truck art unique to Pakistan have been brilliantly incorporated.
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Kuki Concepts Designing inspired from history
Always go for what looks good on you, not what looks good on others. Make your style statement by being what suits your figure, height and personality 38 I April 15 - 21, 2012
K
By Saman Asif
uki, the man whose work is literally inspired by poetry and calligraphy needs no introduction. He has been in this field for a decade and has created a niche for himself. He introduced gowns in our country ten years ago has recently shifted his outlet from MM Alam road to Ghalib Road. His fashion house comprises of a team of hardworking people, who do research work and go through old books as part of homework before conceiving any creation. What is keeping you busy these days kuki? A lot is happening. I have just showed at Karachi Fashion Week. My collection in the show is inspired by the famous Sufi mystic and poet Mulana Rumi. Rumi’s poetry of 13th century was very liberal for that time. My collection varies from traditional calligraphic Rumi chuugas with Persian engravings, overcoats to modern dresses such as drapes etc. Then after that there is Fashion Pakistan Week. My theme for FPW is ‘uunss’- love, which I am dedicating to my mother, wife and daughter. For that particular collection I went from house to house in the entire country to get the original and authentic fabric that our naanis and daadis used to wear. People these days usually throw away that priceless fabric which is no longer made, so I request that please don’t give away those chaaandi-pati¬ materials. Which other personalities have been the source of inspiration for your work? Four years ago, I held a show in which my work was inspired by Shakespeare and the theme was romance. Then I did a shoot inspired by Indra Devi – the style icon. My work depicts the inspiration I get from different people, emotions and various forms of art. Who is your favourite designer in Pakistan? Barring a few, most of the people here are just doing the run-of-the-mill work. The veteran designers such as Rizwan Baig, Mahin Khan, Bunto Kazmi and Nilofer Shahid still are the best designers our country has produced. If these people just hang a piece of cloth on a hanger, even that does wonders to the cloth. Summers belong to designers coming up with lawn prints, why hasn’t your name come in that list? I don’t want to join the rat race. These days everyone is coming up with lawn prints. I don’t want to do it to get easy money. Just giving an embroidered neckline or sleeves with a three piece suit is not my idea of lawn prints. If I will design lawn, I’ll make sure it’s something different and unique. Any fashion tip for the summers? It would be a cliché if I say to go for pastel colours. But summer belongs to light colours. At the same time don’t be afraid of trying bright colours. Always go for what looks good on you not what looks good on others. Make your style statement by being what suits your figure, height and personality.
‘Our names play a very important role in creating our persona, as they radiate some negative and positive vibes which directly form an aura around us. This aura either strengthens your qualities if these energetic vibes equal your personality or cause some major issues both in your fate and health.’ April 15 - 21, 2012 I 39
Books
Researching education to transform lives How such research should be conducted in the contemporary scheme of things is receiving serious attention of scholars and researchers alike, across the globe
Education in Pakistan - Learning from Research Partnerships Editors: Ayesha Bashiruddin, Zubeda Bana, and Arbab Khan Afridi Publisher: Oxford University Press Pakistan Pages: 250; Price: Rs. 695/-
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Research Methodologies in the ‘South’ Editors: Anjum Halai & Dylan Wiliam Publisher: Oxford University Press Pakistan Pages: 280; Price: Rs. 795/-
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he two books in view deal with a common subject but with some differential association; the first seeks to discuss the partnership between the Institute of Education and Research-Peshawar University (IER-PU) and Oslo University College, Norway in the higher education subsector whereas the second aims to address the issue of appropriateness of the research methods of the ‘North’ for conducting educational research in the ‘South’. Education in Pakistan The contents of this book are a product of the afore-mentioned joint research study focused on issues like ‘teaching, learning, teacher education, educational leadership and management, assessment practices, and whole school improvement initiative’. The ruling passion underlying the collaborative venture is how to improve education, more specifically tertiary education, in Pakistan with special reference to the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where there is a general paucity of research on education. Dr. Muhammad Memon, Director Aga Khan University-Institute for Educational Development, Karachi (AKU-IED) in his prefatory remarks pronounces thus: ‘While this may not be a perfect model of a collaborative intellectual work and profession networking, this is certainly a beginning of developing a culture of collaborative engagement in research through the sharing of expertise and experiential learning.’ Dr. Ayesha Bashiruddin’s exhaustive ‘introduction’ to the book serves to elucidate the broad range of its finer implications and import. The opening chapter of the book by Dr. Sadrudin Pardhan, Consultant, AKUIED, seeks to spotlight the evolution of the Pakistan-Norway project. The themes elaborated in the other three chapters – contributed jointly by Ayesha Bashiruddin, Nadeem Khan, Haleema Younis, and Uzma Dayan; Rana Hussain, Javed Sikander Rana,
Kausar Waqar, and Nazneen Shah; Takbir Ali; Zubeda Rana, Rozina Sewani, Izaz Ali, and Iffat Ara; Dilshad Ashraf, Mohammad Nauman, and Kausar Waqar; Kulsoom Jaffer, Mohammad Asif, and Rakhshinda Meher; Nelofar Halai and Arshad Ali; Mir Afzal Tajik; Zubeda Bana – are learning from research in schools, learning from research in teacher education institutions, and learning from research in higher education. The spirit generating this appreciable work seems to owe its passion and stimulus to the words contained in a message of the Quaid-e-Azam – showing his concern for high quality education in building a nation – that he addressed to the first ‘All Pakistan Educational Conference’ held soon after the country’s birth in 1947: ‘There is no doubt that the future of our state will and must greatly depend on the type of education we give to our children and the way in which we bring them up as future citizens of Pakistan….We must not forget that we have to compete with the world, which is moving very fast in this direction.’ Research Methodologies in the ‘South’ The importance of research in education cannot be gainsaid. The question how such research should be conducted in the contemporary scheme of things is, however, receiving serious attention of scholars and researchers alike, across the globe, more so in view of the growing necessity of a close research collaboration between its ‘North’ (the developed) and ‘South’ (the less developed) hemispheres notwithstanding some of the obvious linguistic, epistemological, and ontological differences disturbing this equation. The present book comprises a miscellany of essays addressing, and also resolving, this issue. Editors and contributors involved in the exercise are men and women of recognized academic-cum-research credentials in the field of education. In the opening chapter, Anjum Halai, co-editor of the book and an associate professor at AKU-IED, Tanzania, has thus summed
up its purport or purview: ‘It consists primarily of a collection of descriptions and critical analyses of education research settings in different parts of the world, and draws on recent emerging insights and understandings about the purpose, process, significance of, and approaches to, research undertaken in settings as described above. The first six chapters mainly discuss issues about theoretical positions and ethical aspects of research methodologies in the context of the South. The next six chapters draw on illustrative examples of research projects situated in the context of South and discuss methodological, political, and practical issues and questions that arose in the context of undertaking these research projects. The final two chapters provide a synthesis of issues arising from the range of perspectives and practice of research in the South.’ Dylan Wiliam, the other co-editor of the book and Emeritus Professor at the Institute of Education, University of London, while discussing the purpose of education research, has relied on the Singerian (cf. American philosopher E. A. Singer Jr. - 18731954) inquiry system which stipulates a coalescence of the meanings of a piece of research and its consequences and that research in the South would address the same question as research in the North. Accordingly he concludes that educational research in either of the two hemispheres ‘should be driven by both a quest for fundamental understanding and by considerations of use to bring the transformative capacity of education to improve lives’. In his ‘Afterword’, Michael Nettles, Senior Vice President at the Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey (USA) has summarized the views of all of the essayists in the book for the benefit of the reader, and impressed upon the would-be education researcher investigating a different educational system, ‘ to have a basic understanding of the culture, the systems of power, who is respected and why, and the problems that students and teachers confront’ which would facilitate and streamline his task.
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