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Arshad Believes That Being Humble Is the Key To success In Designing
Arshad was always inclined towards designing as his father had a boutique. But his family put him into an engineering college as they did not want Arshad to be a fashion designer. So, Arshad has learned fashion designing all on his own. He believes that being a fashion designer you get inspiration from the smallest things possible, you need to be very observant for that matter. Most of Arshad’s inspiration comes from his daily life experience.
My family is still not supportive of me being a designer. I dropped out in my final year of engineering which made them a little sad. They still do not appreciate my career choice. My dad had this perception that everyone who is into this industry is gay, and he was not even aware that I was gay.
But that was such a wrong perception, this industry is very wide and it has straight people as well. I believe that once I will get financial stability they will start being supportive, till that time they will remain dicey always.
Arshad does not entirely blame his parents for not being supportive because he understands their concern. He feels that their concern is somehow valid as this industry is very competitive and to get proper stability takes a lot of hard work. His father would not accept him as gay because of his religious beliefs. In the Muslim religion being gay is a kind of sin.
Fashion according to Arshad is something that should have your own creativity and individuality. The clothes in which a person feels confident and powerful is the best fashion for them. Fashion should not be gendered at all, everyone should be allowed to explore clothes.
The skill that is necessary to be a successful fashion designer according to me is to be humble. If you are humble you will have immense growth in this industry. You need to be able to take criticism from everyone starting from the Dressman to a tailor.
Every designer should be up for constructive criticism or else you can never improve. I always take motivation from all those criticism to be better next time.
He gets a lot of ideas and also makes himself up-to-date about current fashion trends by watching the show RuPaul’s Drag Race. A lot of fashion designers worldwide take inspiration from drag queens.
The work ethics that Arshad likes to follow is to believe that nobody working with you is less than you. Even if it is your assistant who is suggesting you some kind of improvement in the design then you should never turn a blind eye to it rather go and check what is wrong and take the suggestion if required.
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As of now, he worked for an ad film with Sonu Sood and Aisha Ahmed. Which is his biggest achievement as of now. He is also doing an editorial shoot with two amazing models from Brazil and Russia but Arshad could not reveal the name for now because of the contract.
Being a strong-opinionated person has been my weakness as well as strength. I do not like to fit in a box as I work with certain companies or agencies that restrict our work, which I don’t like at all. My biggest strengths are my creativity and humbleness.
I describe my personal style as androgynous. I get to experiment a lot with my creativity because of androgynous fashion. The biggest asset of all the designers is their creativity because that is something very unique to everyone and nobody can take that from us.
In the next 5 to 10 years he wants to see himself doing New York’s fashion week and having one of the biggest labels worldwide. He is a professional football player as well. Arshad is an active member of the LGBTQIA+ community where he does a lot of webinars, live sessions, etc, to educate people.
He always has a to-do list for all his work so that he does not fall behind. Arshad likes to be organized which helps him in not messing things up and makes him less stressed and pressured. He believes that time management is the best way to handle work pressure and stress.
Social media helps aspiring designers a lot. I personally have learned a lot through social media. I follow big actors and designers to learn from their dressing and gain ideas from them. So, social media have been a great tool for me to improve.
People start noticing your work once you put it on social media, agencies start seeing your work which is a bonus point by which they will also hire you. Now it is not always necessary to have a portfolio to get work, you can just directly send your Instagram profile and if it is well maintained then you will get work.
In the future, if he gets a chance he would like to work with Shraddha Kapoor as she is one of his favorite celebrity actors. And from designers, he would love to work with Gourav Gupta. He always wants to work with or LGBTQIA+ community. He wants to fight for the rights of his community and give them basic freedom. Currently, he is working for same-sex marriage in India.
Fashion design always had a positive impact on me. I always feel very good about it when I see myself in this profession. It makes me explore my creativity and gives me a space to be what I want to be. It has given me some of the best Experiences for life.
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