ZILLE-E-HUMA MAQBOOL PRESENTS PAKISTANI EMBELLISHMENTS ON AMERICANA SILHOUETTES

Zille-e-Huma Maqbool grew up in a small village in Pakistan, before moving to the bustling New York metropolis to enroll in the MFA Fashion Design & Society course at Parsons. She presented her graduate collection – a juxtaposition of these two worlds – as part of the Parsons MFA’s eighth-generation in 2019. The collection was a celebration of Americana and Pakistani craft, featuring tiny gingham hot pants, thigh-high boots, white biker jackets splashed with diamanté dogtooth and cross-stitched vines on sequin moss, trailing off in minuscule French knots across the shoulders. Having celebrated connection and convergence in her designs, the current situation feels jarring. “This has been a strange pause,” she says. “My whole world is paralysed because my family is in Pakistan and I am in New York and we are just connected through the Internet.”