Pakistani designer who dressed Princess Diana on his ‘fashion revolution’ and what Kate Middleton wore on her royal tour
- Fashion designer Rizwan Beyg has designed clothes for some of the world’s wealthiest celebrities and royalty, including the late Diana, Princess of Wales
- He also started a project to revive needle and threadwork in Pakistan, ‘integrating with the fabric of society’
In his 30-year career, he has sought out opulent embroidery and textile techniques specific to Pakistan for his designs, rather than making fast fashion.
“The world has moved away from looking at humans as a resource, instead we look at factories and industry,” Beyg told This Week in Asia.
Beyg, who trained as an architect, took up fashion design at the behest of a friend and soon became a favourite of Pakistan’s fashion elite.
The country “was ripe for a fashion revolution” when he started designing clothes in November 1989, he said.
His luxury pieces have been worn by some of the world’s wealthiest celebrities and royalty, including Pakistani entertainment stars Mahira Khan and Hareem Farooq.
Jemima Khan, then-wife of Pakistan’s current Prime Minister Imran Khan, gave him a call in 1996 asking if he could design a custom look for an anonymous VIP.
“I had an idea it was Diana,” said Beyg, who expected she might be visiting Pakistan to attend a fundraiser at the Shaukat Khanum hospital. Khan gave him Diana’s measurements and Beyg did his homework, studying her fashion choices to craft a unique look.
He made her a sherwani, a garment often worn by men. It was in a feminine ivory colour and embroidered with pearls. He chose a western embroidery motif to pair with the traditional silhouette. The embroidery on the outfit, done in five shades of white, took three and a half weeks.
Beyg was surprised to have the chance to deliver the outfit to Diana himself, just after her arrival in the country. But when he asked if they could take a photograph together to commemorate the meeting, he realised he had forgotten to bring his camera along.
Diana suggested he go back home to get it. When he returned, she was trying on the outfit.
“You can’t take this picture without me wearing your outfit,” he recalled her saying. “It was such a human thing, for her to empathise with me like that.”
Just a few months later, Diana wore his creation again in the UK. “She wore it to an event that night on the day she signed the divorce papers with Charles, and that’s when it really hit the mainstream,” said Beyg.
“I think it was a political choice to wear it on that day,” he said. “She was quite rebellious, and there were all those rumours about her personal life and her relationships with people in Pakistan.”
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Visiting dignitaries tend to play it safe when it comes to adopting Pakistani styles of dress, said Beyg.
“You have to be respectful – not conservative, but respectful. But it shouldn’t come off as costume.”
When asked how the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, had done on her recent visit to Pakistan, Beyg said her sartorial choices won her a lot of fans in the country, but he found them to be “a bit of a mishmash – culturally appropriate, but maybe not aesthetically”.
Though embroidery is having a resurgence in Europe, glorified in spring 2020 collections by the likes of Maria Grazia Chiuri at Christian Dior, it has been a trademark of the Beyg label for decades. His creations, mostly formal evening wear and bridal wear, are designed to be heirloom pieces, retailing from US$100 to upwards of US$5,000.
In 2014 Beyg established the Bunyaad project, which means support or foundation in Urdu, to revive needle and threadwork craft communities in Pakistan. He has since partnered with the US aid agency USAID as well as the United Nations Development Programme.
When he started the project, he expected women employed by the programme might use the new source of income to buy televisions or washing machines for their homes. Instead, they saved the money to pay for their daughters to go to school, Beyg said.
By sixth grade, 59 per cent of girls in Pakistan no longer attend school, according to advocacy organisation Human Rights Watch.
“This is change at the basic, fundamental level,” said Beyg.
Since 2018, Beyg has taken part in the Artisan Skills Exchange Programme with the Irthi Contemporary Crafts Council founded by the ruling family of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. The programme brings embroiderers from rural Pakistan to share their skills with women in the UAE in an “advanced embroidery masterclass”.
“It’s a drop in the ocean, but I would like to think it’s not just another boardroom conversation about what the world needs,” said Beyg. “We are actually out here integrating with the fabric of society.”
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While in Hong Kong he attended the annual gala of American educational non-profit organisation Developments in Literacy, which operates more than 120 school campuses in Pakistan.
He has visited Hong Kong many times before, and said the city had not changed as dramatically as he might have expected in light of the ongoing anti-government protests.
“I also come from Pakistan, which has its own problems,” said Beyg. “At the end of the day, I think life goes on for everybody.”
