I tell my team that if I’m not number one, I am not playing.”

Nabila says this matter-of-factly — it’s something that anyone who knows her, knows already. For four odd decades, she’s introduced trends, set new benchmarks and defined style for Pakistan. She’s been the force behind the styling of Pakistani fashion and entertainment’s most prestigious events, received awards, expanded globally, diversified from brick and mortar to product lines and made eye-opening, unabashed observations in countless interviews.

Quite a few of those interviews have been with me — I have been around for some of those decades, witnessing Nabila’s extraordinary rise — and so I know that when she’s in the playing field, she’s playing to win.

But it takes a lot to be number one.

Nabila elaborates: “I don’t have a Midas touch, it’s not like everything I will touch will turn to gold. It’s because I have the dedication. I will put in the extreme hard work, planning and, then, execute with army precision to ensure that I am successful.

She has introduced trends, set new benchmarks and defined style for Pakistan. She’s been the force behind the styling of Pakistani fashion for four decades and has been a part of entertainment’s most prestigious events, locally and internationally. She has won numerous awards. What more does she want?

“Everyday is a battle and I may lose a lot of battles. A design may not get perfected within time, we might miss a deadline, there may be logistical delays. We are human, these things happen. But I don’t mind losing the battles as long as I win the war. I am looking at the bigger picture and I am going to try so hard that I will ensure that I am victorious.”

Was she always so focused on winning? “No, I am getting worse with age. I think this germ was in me when I was younger but now it’s blooming. Terrible!” She laughs. She’d much rather be terrible than be lacklustre or mediocre.

I am meeting Nabila in her not-terrible-at-all home. It’s late evening and the sun is setting over the expansive lawn and pool that we can see from the full-length windows of her spacious sitting room. For the longest time, I remember Nabila leading a life that was constantly on the move. She would be ricocheting from her penthouse in Karachi to a sky-high apartment in Dubai to London and New York. Many of our interviews would partially take place face-to-face and get wrapped up via successive online calls while Nabila travelled the world.

Travel is still an intrinsic part of her routine but, four decades down the line, she’s also now all about enjoying a quiet evening at this home that she shares with her family, happily being at the beck and call of her granddaughter, setting a Sunday aside for a family breakfast of halwa puri.

‘I am only as good as my last haircut’

When it comes to work, however, it doesn’t mean that she’s mellowed down. Of course not. She muses, “Someone other than me would have thought, I have put so many years into this career, I am earning money, I should enjoy it, bask in the glory. But I am never happy.

I am always thinking about my next project, about growth, about reinvesting the money that I have made into the business and expanding — to a new salon, new products. I will never sit on my laurels. I am only as good as my last haircut. And it’s never the end of the journey for me.”

“I am always thinking about my next project, about growth, about reinvesting the money that I have made into the business and expanding — to a new salon, new products. I will never sit on my laurels. I am only as good as my last haircut. And it’s never the end of the journey for me.”

There’s a manic energy to Nabila’s ambitions.

She continues: “For me, money is not the end product — it’s the means to achieve my goals, and my goal is to be head and shoulders above others. It is to be the best that I can be, to set new trends, raise the bar and to stand apart from all the Me-Toos who keep surfacing, all those vultures who are constantly trying to steal my ideas, steal my people, steal my carpenters and try to replicate what I have built with their Me-Too brands.

“They would be better off paving their own path. What I have is my own, it’s intrinsic — my vision, my passion, my instincts. There is this engine within me, that’s God-given, that brings in newness and freshness.”

‘If I see something wrong, I am going to point it out!’

Nabila’s detractors would say that she is arrogant — they do say so — but at the same time, can they deny that her declarations are validated by the career that she has established over the years?

She may not always mince her words but I do know that she stands firm by whatever she says, even when it leads to social media controversy. She responds to this observation. “I think I now have enough experience and following to point out if someone is selling a service by lying. Yes, if I see something wrong, I will comment on it.”

For those who may not know, Nabila and I are talking with reference to a few incidents on social media where she blatantly pronounced something as ‘ugly’. There have been times when she has instigated diatribes about people and junior make-up artists and stylists have declared, via social media, that she is unsupportive of new talent.

“If I didn’t want to give support to younger make-up artists, why would I have backed out of the competition at the 11th Lux Style Awards [LSAs]? she asks. “It’s because I wanted to give others the chance to win. And if you look at Pakistan now, almost all the top make-up artists and hairstylists have worked with me at some point or the other.

“But if someone is openly lying and trying to make money off it, I will say it. I recently saw a picture of a Russian pedicure on Instagram where the cuticles were bloodied. I had to comment with an ‘Ouch!’. If people think that makes me arrogant, I don’t care!”

As a side note, she adds, “You know, for the longest time, I thought that the comments that I was making on Instagram were anonymous. I only later realised that everyone knew that it was me who was writing the comments! It doesn’t matter, though!” She laughs.

I am curious: are there other women around her who are at a similar age and just as passionate about their career? “I wouldn’t know. I am just marching on my own path, like a soldier. My initials are N.M. — Nabila Maqsood — and my friends say that they stand for ‘Nanha Mujahid’ [little warrior]! I am so blinkered, so focused, that I don’t have the time to see what others are doing.”

‘My next decade is going to be about bottling

my experience’

And here, our conversation smoothly gets steered to all that she has been doing lately. She says, “My haircare line, for instance, is my latest and dearest project. Hair is my matière [material]. I sold my wedding diamonds so that I could go to London and learn how to cut hair at Vidal Sassoon.

“The success of my ZERO Make-up line made me realise that I was on to something. The brown skin diaspora was often under-represented and I was catering to its unique requirements. Now, I’ve done the same for hair.”

Nabila continues, “The diversification of my brand from physical services to product lines has been a natural progression. I think that the next decade of my career is going to be about bottling my experience. I want to sell products that are empowering my clients and giving them solutions that reduce their dependence on salon visits.

“I am not cutting off my nose to spite my face,” she explains. “I just want to sell what I would want to buy. I am a busy woman who wants to present herself nicely. I don’t have the time to get my nails done, get my roots done. I want to come up with solutions that make grooming easier for both men and women.

“The make-up palette allows me to get done with my make-up within 30 seconds and be in my car. And then, my daughter-in-law Sara, who is also a make-up artist, suggested that I also come up with a thicker formula, which offered more coverage for brides, which led to the creation of the foundation.

“Somebody said that we hadn’t come up with make-up that men could use easily, so we came up with the blurring pen. The sunscreen was devised because I felt that people wearing sunscreen would all look like pomfret fish! The lipsticks and lip glosses were a result of what we would observe and experience backstage at fashion weeks. The mascara-liner was an easy, quick make-up tool and so on…”

‘The IIFAs are a different kind of hectic’

Her burgeoning product line is obviously a passion for her. At the same time, I observe that she has also been busy with other aspects of business. She was in the process of shifting her longstanding group of salons on Karachi’s E-Street to a new location nearby at the time of our interview — the new salon is now operational.

She had also just returned from the International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFAs) in Abu Dhabi — Nabila has been the official grooming partner for the awards for four years now, with her brand, ZERO Make-up, categorised as the official brand partner.

Styling the IIFAs — one of Bollywood’s most prestigious awards ceremonies — must be quite challenging. Doesn’t it end up distracting her from her local business?

“I’ll always think globally and act locally,” she responds, presenting me with a quotable quote. “Whether my team is busy with the IIFAs or with the Bridal Couture Week [BCW] in Lahore, or even at a movie set in some city, I ensure that my salon services never get compromised. My stronghold is local and I will never forget that.

“There will always be someone answering calls at the salon and catering to our clients. I have always said that the day that I die, my biggest earning will be that my salon will not be closed. It’s written in my will: ‘the salon will not be closed!’ So how can it be closed if I am at the IIFAs when it won’t even close when I am dead?”

Are the IIFAs more hectic than the many local ceremonies that she has been part of? “It’s a different kind of hectic because we are not on our home-ground,” says Nabila. “It is to this extent the same when we are in Lahore — our flagship space is in Karachi — but at least we have a salon there. Outside the country, the work becomes more multi-dimensional.

“We have to set up makeshift salons for three to four days. We have to organise room service for the MIPs [Most Important People] who don’t want to come down to the common salon. Then we have to do backstage styling for the many performers and dancers.

“Our team is split three ways and, this time, the guests were spread out over four hotels, so we needed seven teams! This doesn’t just include the hair and make-up team — it also includes people handling social media, photographing, content creators, reception staff, administrative staff, drivers! I fly out some of my team from Karachi and, then, because we have operations in the Middle East, I outsource from there too. “Also, there’s always the pressure that I am representing my country. I can’t make any mistakes at all.”

She continues: “This time the IIFAs took place at a particularly difficult time. They decided upon the date last minute and we were very busy with shifting salons. Still, I told them that I couldn’t say no to them and my team would be on board, no matter what. For one, it is a very prestigious platform. Also, they have always given me so much love and appreciation.”

I am curious: does being part of a platform like the IIFA s pay well? “If you’re asking if they pay me money, then no, they don’t. But neither does any local project. I look upon these efforts as part of my brand’s PR, where I may have to invest some money myself. Over the years, I have never given any money to be part of a project, even for advertising. Instead, I’ve given services, offered my platform and struck barters.”

‘No one is going to come on horseback and offer you work’

Now, about that: her critics say that she has spoiled the market by offering her salon’s services in barter agreements rather than charge for them. What is her opinion on this?

“So usually, part of the cost is covered by the event organisers while the rest is bartered, in return for mileage,” she says, “and when you balance it out, you’re not really at a loss. There is a lot of hard work and investment that has to be put in. I have bought vanities, make-up, set up stations and hired more resources in order to ensure that work in my salon doesn’t get affected. The time has gone when you will be sitting in your home and someone will come to you on horseback and offer you money and a project. You have to generate work — and mileage — for yourself. That’s all I do.”

It’s obvious that she is very focused on the smooth running of her salons but, in the long run, there have been times when some of her most popular stylists have left her turf and branched out on their own. Has the business ever suffered because of this?

“It may hurt me personally when they leave but it doesn’t hurt the business, because we have created a very strong platform over the years. People come to us because of the name that they see on the gate, and then it is our responsibility to ensure that they are satisfied with our services.

“Tomorrow, my schedule includes shifting, shooting, promoting my hair-care brand but what am I doing from 10am till 1pm? I am training my new staff. The ones that have left? Good luck to them, I don’t have time for them. The world is changing, make-up and hair trends change, technology changes, tools change, materials change. I keep up with it all and it is my duty to pass on this knowledge to whoever is working under my umbrella.”

‘Happily married to myself!’

Her career is such an intrinsic part of her that I wouldn’t be able to separate Nabila, the woman, from it. Was she just as passionate about her work in the earlier years, when she was mother to two very young sons?

“Work was often my priority even then,” she admits. “I sent the kids off to boarding house in Singapore when they were still in their teenage years and, suddenly, at the age of 35, I became an empty-nester. There were things that haunted me — how it would be 8pm and I would just want them to go to sleep so that I could go and they would ask me to read them a bedtime story and I would refuse.

“I then decided to make my kids my priority. I took therapy and it took me some time to overcome the working mom’s guilt. I built my relationship with my children in their youth — when they were still teens — and my youth. I bonded with them, apologised to them for not being a mother the way I should have been when they were growing up.”

She adds: “There were some mistakes that I made, some choices that I made. They enabled me to provide them with a certain platform today. Maybe if I had been around at home more then, they wouldn’t have gotten this platform today, but they would have gotten home-cooked aaloo gosht!

“Life is complex and it’s important to forgive yourself and move on. But yes, if I got the chance to do it all over again, I would have given my kids more time when they were growing up.”

I broach another personal question: she never remarried after her divorce from her second husband, ex-Fuzon keyboardist Emu. Why?

“No, I did not. The reason why I shied away from marriage was that I had evolved into a person who didn’t need the company of another person, and whose growth was going to be alone. When I realised this, I shared it with Emu and told him that I think that I needed to be alone now. He asked me if something was wrong and I said that there wasn’t. I just needed to be alone to pursue the goals that I had set for myself, and the path that I had chosen.”

She grins. “And so I am married to myself, my career, my legacy, my product and I don’t have time for anything else. I am happily married to myself, ever after!”

More quotable quotes. I can tell that she means them all.

Published in Dawn, ICON, December 1st, 2024