The image of six women dressed in white, a colour symbolising purity, holding the Pakistani flag is meant to be part of fashion designer Maria B’s long cause to serve the country. Maria B, the B referring to the surname that belonged to her ex husband who helped launch her brand first found a role when she entered the fashion industry.
Bolstered by her ex husband’s wealth (who happens to be designer Ammar Belal and founder of Justice Project Pakistan Sara Belal’s father), she was catapulted into the limelight in Lahore’s society that back then thrived on glitz, glamour with statuses cemented in appearance of local glossies.
But fame does not necessarily give a sense of satisfaction that comes with say, saving lives. Enter Zaid Hamid and Maria finally got a calling to Do The Right Thing.
It is safe to assume Maria could have been a victim of youthful ignorance as she willingly decided to follow a self proclaimed messiah or a ‘fakir’ as she declared him to be on Nadia Jamil’s show. But there is no doubting that she had never bothered to conduct her research – possibly because her team was in the midst of ensuring they would never, ever commit the cardinal sin of designing sleeveless clothes and would only ever focus on draping women in more layers of fabric to erase any lingering sliver of autonomy they could have over their own bodies.
Freedom was to be limited because freedom was what brought on ‘azaab’ that was destroying Pakistani society. But she, of course, was free from all limits in her quest to save everyone. But there was something else driving her as well.
While she never made it as a pioneer of fashion, or established herself as a stalwart of the industry and will most likely never be remembered as being a major contributor to the development of the fashion world, she had had a taste of the excitement of a purpose filled life fuelled by the thrill of popularity.
Finally she held some relevance that could never really rival the likes of the original fashion giants (all women whose work and impact remains unmatched – Sehyr Saigol, Maheen Khan, Sughra Kazmi, Bunto Kazmi, Nur Jehan Bilgrami, Faiza Samee) but it made her relevant in a way that she had never experienced before.
The problem was that this little knowledge had become an object of desire rather than a pursuit of intellectual development that could have led to some substantial ground work in the name of progress.
Rallying against the trans movement and advocating for shariah compliant living under a chandelier seems like the quintessential desi Cinderella story which seduces the minds of young men and women alike who remain purposeless. Perhaps if they too repeated the formula of Maria B could they too find themselves basking under her chandelier’s light? Clearly sunlight isn’t warming their hearts anytime soon to what is natural.
And now she’s struck gold with the mothers movement aptly titled ‘Mothers For Pakistan’. Mothers are the ultimate symbol of piety and morality in Pakistan. Forever kept on a pedestal in the name of honour and izzat, except for when it comes to human rights where they realise the pedestal is oh so easily toppled, Maria B has finally found a means of channeling her desire and sharing it with the masses.
While sleeveless was considered to be a sin, the loss of awareness on Maria B's part of the commodification of a beaten up identity as a greater sin is staggering. But it is not surprising.
Fashion, especially fast fashion the kind of which Maria B’s clothing can be categorised, is a capitalist entity with one focus – profit. It is a model designed to find out what works to maximise sales. Pakistan is no exception to the rule that a face, an identity is what sells. Except the identity has now changed. From models we now have activists and that blurs the line between politics and fashion under the garb of morality.
This elevation of Maria B by herself, is not just about being a role model. It is about her identity being projected on a nationwide basis as an object of desire (‘I want to be like Maria B’) fuelled by the impression of being knowledgable (‘Gender is binary, says Maria’) leading to wanting to dress like her (the purchase of a Maria B outfit). So far this entire The M in Maria Is For Moral Motherhood project seems to be working.
And just like how Cinderella even as Princess under the palace chandelier most likely remained surrounded by the animals that were her friends because she was such a Good Person, Maria B too in this image of ‘Mothers For Pakistan’ has her own version of them. Though some would argue that this more likely to turn out like Dr Moreau's island.
Mothering in Pakistan is no joke and I say this as someone whose entire stand up routine is based on being a mother. This movement is not based on any awareness of motherhood. It is a means of furthering commodifying Maria B as an identity.
What this lot has failed in the most spectacular fashion is to understand that they cannot save anyone because the problem is not theirs to fix but they are in fact the problem itself. The kind of ‘activism’ and religious based thought process they peddle does not seek to address or counter anything but in fact focuses on exploiting differences in a broken society which can only lead to further regression and precarity. This most certainly is not what a mother would do. Or a father. Or anyone parenting.
With such a staggering absence of awareness of what mothering consists of, dizzying heights of the lack of ignorance of the dangers of exploitation a fragmented nation, zero substance in how society is to be saved whilst endangering marginalised groups, this is a movement with one and only one focus – generating a profit. This is commodification with a ‘woke’ angle and it is really not impressive.
To take one person’s name, commodify it and turn it into a religious movement is not serving the country as it causing incredible amounts of damage, none of which will ever be fixed or rectified. The only tangible result is the death of intellect and any criticial thought process which could actually open up space for creative generation to question in a constructive manner.
Mothers For Pakistan is not going to churn out any moral mothers nor is it going to stem the flow of marginalised communities as they continue to fight to live with dignity and it most likely will never be remembered for anything much. But this kind of activism, even as a movement, will do irreparable damage, the price for which we will all pay.
In the end, Maria B may just get the validation she longed for as a fashion designer. Too bad she'll still never be in the same standing as the greats. But she will have the animals.