Behind the shoot: Adnan Pardesy

[unedited version]

“We went out shopping for plants”, is the first thing Adnan Pardesy, the designer tells me the moment I entered Light and Shade, Rizwan Ul Haq’s (the photographer) studio. In fact it turns out that not only were the designer and photographer out shopping for plants the day before but had also ventured out in search of the perfect plant right before the scheduled time for the shoot as well. The plant as it turns out, was to be used as an accessory in the model, Rubab’s hair for the shoot.

“The whole inspiration of this whole collection was basically coming somehow or the other from plants”, Adnan quickly explained, “A few of the outfits have been inspired from the paintings of Gorgia O’Keeffe”. In fact, one quick look at his sketch book will tell reveal that a lot of Adnan’s inspiration for fashion design comes from paintings overall.
“We had a lot of trouble finding the plant”, elaborates Rizwan, “we tried finding a plant that could be wrapped around the head without ruining its dimensions”. As a photographer one of things Rizwan is very particular is the attention to the minutest details where the appearance of the model is concerned. Keeping that in mind, it is perfectly understandable if the ‘perfect’ plant was hard to find.

As a photographer, Rizwan has reputation for taking his time with a shoot. He prefers to work every single detail from the set, to the outfits, to the model’s overall look to the poses she/he will be doing in the shoot, beforehand. Once he’s decided he wants to start, he tends to gaze intently at the set where the model is supposed to model often moving from one side to the next asking his assistants to alter the lights this way or that, testing to see what would give the perfect effect… all the while not moving his gaze away from the set.

Once the model is in the studio is when Rizwan seemingly comes to life. He will begin by throwing keywords to the model, which nowadays includes “different” and “unusual” – he wants to photograph a pose that hasn’t been photographed before. If the model isn’t following his cue, he will literally stand and shift positions showing how the model to pose from hunching her back or keeping it straight to lifting her shoulders to small minimal alterations in regular poses that make them look ‘different’. And he won’t rest his animated direction till the model gets it right.
“When I approached Rizwan, what I requested him was that if he gets time, he should just come and visit my workshop and just look at the kind of work that I’ve done and if it inspires him, if he thinks it’s good enough, then if he could help me shoot it”, said Adnan about how he ended up working with Rizwan, “He looked at my work and agreed to do a shoot for me”. “I had the clothes with me for a week while I brainstormed how to shoot them”, said Rizwan in response, “we had to do a good, but simple shoot on a white backdrop. We opted for black and white because we wanted to give it a more mature look”.

Rubab is perhaps one of the more established models in the industry. She literally rescued the shoot when the model who was initially supposed to model for it backed out at the last moment citing previous commitments she had made. “She’s been around in the industry for a very long time. It wasn’t a difficult task to direct her that this is the pose we wanted”, says Adnan about the model. “I had to direct her a little in the kind of body language we wanted”, said Rizwan thoughtfully, “but she understood and ended up doing pretty well”.

The hair and makeup was done by Nighat Misbah from Depilex and they, keeping in mind Adnan’s minimalistic style in design, they kept the look very simple. “I was trying to look for a very classic look”, said Adnan about what he was looking for in makeup, “something which is very my style, very simple, not over-the-top, just focusing on my clothes, not really accessorizing to a great deal. And give that very vintage look to my whole shoot”, elaborating further he says “if you look at my garments, they’re all very basic silhouettes. I’ve played with texture of the fabric rather than using embroideries… this is how I’ve always felt towards my work; because too many flashy objects, too much Bollywood is not my style. And I think a majority of the designers actually focus on embroidery than design which is not what I try to do”.

[edited version]

“They were out shopping for plants, looking for that perfect one they needed for the shoot. The search continued minutes before the action began on the studio floor. The plant was to be an accessory in model Rubab’s hair.

“The inspiration for this collection came partly from plants”, Adnan explained. “A few of the outfits have been inspired from the paintings of Gorgia O’Keeffe.”

A quick look at his sketch book revealed paintings as the designer’s inspiration.

“We tried finding a plant that could be wrapped around the head without ruining it,” explained Rizwan. No wonder the ‘perfect’ plant was hard to find.
Rizwan takes his time with a shoot, working on every detail from the set to the outfits, to the model’s look and the poses. That decided, his gaze is fixed on the set before altering lights and clicking the camera. Then, he begins by throwing keywords at the model: “different”, “unusual”, looking to capture a pose not photographed before. He takes the floor himself, shifting positions and showing the model how to pose. The animation goes on till the model gets it right.

“Rizwan looked at my work and agreed to do a shoot for me”, says Adnan.

“After a week of brainstorming we decided it would be a good but simple shoot against a white backdrop. We opted for black and white because we wanted to give it a more mature look”, Rizwan explains.

Rubab rescued the shoot when the model initially engaged backed out at the last moment.

“It wasn’t difficult directing her”, says Adnan.

“I had to direct a little in the kind of body language we wanted; she understood and ended up doing pretty well,” Rizwan concludes.

The hair and makeup by Nighat Misbah met Adnan’s requirements.

“I was looking for a very classic look, very simple, focusing on my clothes, vintage, to go with my basic silhouettes, no flashy objects; Bollywood is just not my style,” Adnan asserted, and got what he wanted.

– photo by Rizwan Ul Haq

First Published:
Images
November 11, 2007