Pakistani designer Parishae Adnan displayed a masterclass in dignity and restraint on Thursday, when host Nadia Khan ridiculous questions to her on Rise and Shine.
Adnan had been invited on the show co-hosted by Zohaib Hassan in recognition of a remarkable achievement: she closed Flying Solo’s show during New York Fashion Week (NYFW) this month with her collection, Second Skin.
For those unaware, Flying Solo is one of the largest independent designer platforms held during NYFW, and her eponymous label Parishae was chosen to close it. It’s a major achievement, especially for a young Pakistani woman. There was so much the audience could have learned from Parishae’s experience.
But instead, Khan steered the conversation towards videos Parishae makes at the gym and the clothes she wears in those videos, creating a rather uncomfortable situation. With a straight face, Khan asked this accomplished woman how her parents ‘allowed’ her to dress that way — as though a woman who is the CEO of a major designer brand is supposed to require parental permission to wear activewear.
“Tell me, being in this society, the videos you make in the gym and the clothes you are wearing there, there must be a great deal of criticism. Didn’t your parents get upset at what you were doing?” Khan asked.
Despite the glaring absurdity of the question, Parishae answered calmly: “I think safety is a concern. But other than that, I’ll tell you the reason that wakes me up and takes me to the gym, the reason why I wake up in the morning and go to the gym, is that when I get messages in my inbox from all those girls, women, even men, who see something and get inspired and start their strength and self-training journey, for me, that’s a big thing.”
Here’s the thing: Parishae isn’t just a designer with a famous surname (she is the daughter of Amir Adnan and Huma Adnan, arguably some of the biggest names in Pakistan’s fashion industry). She doesn’t just run an established luxury designer brand, she has helped reinvent it. She has built her own reputation on sustainability, crafting Second Skin entirely from scratch.
