MUZAFFAR ALI

'Clothes can transform a human figure, add an ethereal dimension to realism they are visionary and timeless. They are a spiritual relationship with an ambiance. They are the essence of nostalgia, the fragrance of the present, and the dream of the future.
When I sketch clothes I design a trance made of moments of the past and present, and project them as valuables that people would cherish,' says Muzaffar Ali.

It isnt very often that one comes across a designer, a person who truly understands fashion and style, art and expression in its entirety.
Who is able to connect and interpret fashion the way it deserves to be interpretted.
What enables the man to truly understand fashion is his love for music, spirituality.
Deeply inspired by sufism, muzaffar has launched his own music under the label of Kotwara Studios with Jaam e Ishq, the soundtrack of a music ballet based on the poem of the thirteenth century Sufi poet, Saint Rumi.
He truly believes that humility and oneness with the creator is possible only through the divine truth of the arts.
Music happened to him through recognising the pain, anguish and helplessness of the soul that found expression through urdu poetry and sufi music which to him is food for the soul and music of love and submission. And that is how jahan-e-khusrau' came into being. A yearly show that brings together artistes of different cultures and arts from different parts of asia and drawing folk talent from the villages.

Starting with Gaman and moving on to the legendary Umrao Jaan, Anjuman, Aagaman, Zooni and now Rumi, Muzaffar Ali has taken cinema beyond its typical parameters.
Umraao Jaan taught indian cinema the meaning of set designing, costumes, period films, dialogue writing and penning lyrics.
Each frame brought alive true aesthetics, an insight into an era long forgotten that could be easily lived. Music that touched the soul.
Having worked with him on his forthcoming script, I can safely vouch for his undying passionand commitment to detail, to his love- his art, his craft, his creations.
The painstaking efforts in the way he goes about putting together each aspect of his work, even the way he has decorated his office, his home, his study, it clearly speaks of a man deeply connected with the divine.
His fashion shows have always recreated the mughal era, the music being specially written and composed for the show with a touvh of sufism and his clothes distinctly different, spelling out his ideas, his interpretations with elagance and ageless beauty.
We could do with more of such people who can teach us all a thing or two about living life.
One who can tell us that fashion is not about strutting and flaunting a near nude body witha rip-off creation.
Music that allows us to live it and a film that can tell a story sans inane, crude gimmicks and sexual innuendos.
Please Shaad, do us all proud.

Muzaffar designs to provide a vocation to his village, Kotwara, to upgrade the craft of Chikan and Zardozi in the city, Lucknow and its environs.

As he puts it, 'clothes change lives, heal the body, enrich the soul. They are created with a sense of exploration and discovery through the eyes and the hands, textures meeting the supple skin and becoming part of it.'