Shehryar Sumar has lived in Buenos Aires for ten years. The owner of a sleek fashion brand in Karachi, the former fiancé of Pakistan’s foremost model and actress, and the nation’s very own Bansky, there is little he hasn’t done. Google him and you’ll come up with soap opera tails of fashion, betrayal and glamour. But a face-to-face conversation reveals the true trials and tribulations of an expat entrepreneur in Buenos Aires. Halfway across the world from Pakistan, Shehryar tells The Argentina Independent about life in the city and his work back home.
On the terrace (Photo: Andy Donohoe)
In 2005 you started the explosively popular V9 fashion brand with your then girlfriend, Vaneeza Ahmad. How did this come about?
I was living in France with Vaneeza and I was working with the European branch of my family’s textile business. I was working and Vaneeza was flying off to Dubai, or India, or wherever it was for different modeling and acting jobs. We were young, and we were thinking wouldn’t it be nice to do something together? So we went back to Pakistan and developed the idea of a clothing line. And basically we used her name to market the products. Like Kate Moss for Topshop. But in Pakistan these things hadn’t been done. That’s what we did, but Pakistani style. And it was massive!
And it was the ‘I LOVE Karachi’ T-shirt that really took off, right?
The ‘I LOVE Karachi’ was a popular product that really appealed to the mass market. Its not a brilliantly original idea but it worked really well! It’s subversive, right? To say that about Karachi: Nobody thinks that! Nobody says that! Nobody wants to go there. It’s not a tourist place, so the t-shirt completely inverted that idea. I don’t love Pakistan, I never did. I don’t love Karachi either, but I like the shirt, not because it’s original but because it’s subversive. It makes you think about something. The idea that urban centres around the world have issues in common, and these metropolis’ can help each other because of this.
How did you get the idea?
I’ve always been into graffiti and street art. The class of graffiti in Sao Paolo is the best in the world. Its better than New York, its better than Paris. It’s art level you know? These two twin brother graffiti artists from Brazil, they got invited to Scotland to paint a castle. Can you imagine that? To paint a f****** castle!
There’s no graffiti on the walls in Pakistan. There never has been. Only at election time they do those slogans on the walls. They do that here too, you see it a lot. So one day I took my cook and my gatekeeper and we spray painted a few neighbourhoods, and then a few more, and suddenly it was in all the papers and schools were doing projects on graffiti. I mean it was just stencils, but it had never been seen before. And I thought, Ok, I can sell this! So we put it on the front of a t-shirt. That took off with all the occidental types, people who already knew about Banksy, but then the wannabes start buying it, and then it got popular with fakes in the markets. So then it’s all over the place! All the English speaking people know it’s me, but the other people don’t which is really interesting. I mean, who cares about the designer you know? It’s there. It’s good for the country, good for the place.
So the fashion brand was going strong in Pakistan; where does Buenos Aires fit in?
I had lived in Buenos Aires long before I went back to Pakistan to work on the V9 brand. Fashion was a phase, but it isn’t my life. I first moved here in 1999. But then there was the crises right? Five presidents in three weeks! I have a hard time believing that people find it logical to invest here. I’ve never done business here for that reason. The economy is always in flux. So I moved to France for four years, and then Vaneeza and I went home to develop our product. I came back after we broke up.
Shehyar with one of his friends paintings (Photo: Andy Donohoe)
So why B.A?
Really, I just made it up. I talked about it constantly for a year. That I’m going to go to Argentina. I was in law school and I said, ok I’m gonna get out of New York. In New York everyone thinks, “if you’re not living in Manhattan, you must be kidding” That wasn’t me, And I didn’t want to be in England either. I’d been called a ‘sloanie’ all my youth because my family had a flat off of Kings Rd. and all that. I’ve been to several places in Asia, Europe, and many places in Africa. The States and Canada of course, but South America? I’d never been. My family had never been. It’s totally new. My parents had no connections here so I thought, well that’s great!
I wanted an urban place. It’s easier for me as a foreigner. I can’t end up in a small town. You can, because they have more info about you. But me? I’m totally strange to them! A policeman here looks at my passport and says, what the f***? He goes to ask his senior, and he says, what the f***? Any official and they’ll go to the next level. And there I am hanging around, looking shady.
So a big city: How many big cities are there in Latin America? I also wanted to get as far away from my family as possible. If Buenos Aires were Ushuaia, I’d be there! If it were the Antarctic, I’d be there! I’d like to go to the Antarctic; you know, photograph a little. I’m not exactly a nature man. I’ve never been to the gym in my life! So I chose Buenos Aires for that. Far, far away and urban.
What was life like in BA?
I came here and I was a serious clubber. I started all that here. I was already 26 so I only had a few years. I was a nerdy guy. I didn’t drink, I didn’t smoke or anything like that – you know what Pakistani’s are like! Physics, computers, Maths. So I did all that new stuff when I was here, and then I changed my life when I was 29. I got sick of doing nothing. I met Vaneeza and we moved to France. I was very surprised to fall in love with a Pakistani girl. The only Pakistani girl I’d ever dated was when I was 15! And I didn’t have a clue who Vaneeza was – It’s like falling in love with the Pakistani Valeria Mazza! It was a different life for me. That’s the good part. The stuff you read about online, that’s the ugly stuff. I moved back here when the relationship ended. I was heartbroken.
And what are you currently doing in Buenos Aires?
Well I don’t do my business here because people just don’t have the money. I still work in textiles but my clients are in Brazil. Life in Buenos Aires is slow for me now. But I’m not going back to Pakistan. I don’t need a house with servants and all that. It’s all about what car your neighbours drive. You might have a Rolls, but what the f*** are you gonna do with it in Karachi? I’m 37, so my classmates, they’re like the vice-presidents of Goldman Sachs etc. These guys I was hitting in the balls when we were 18, right! They drive ferraris and earn a salary, like $6 million a year! But I don’t want that. This isn’t London!
Textile shop in Rawalpindi (Photo: Alexandros Papdopoulos)
So the police don’t recognize your passport here. What other challenges have you come across?
Right now my business is just starting to grow and its in Sao Paolo and I’m here. And the main problem? I’m still a Pakistani citizen! I have permanent residency here, but it would cost me US$5000 to get an Argentine passport. So I still don’t have the same rights. I can only go to Brazil for 30 days at a time. And there’s all this bureaucratic rigormorole with my passport.
The easiest way is just to marry someone abroad. Even the Federal Police tell me that! ‘Hey why don’t you just marry someone here…’ I call the Pakistani embassy: ‘hey, why don’t you just marry someone there…’ And I’m thinking, ‘what the hell has my visa got to do with marriage!’
I’ve heard stuff like, is it really ok to have four wives in Pakistan? It’s boring really. I mean classics like Edward Said’s Orientalism. It’s from the 60s! It’s school reading in most places but people still don’t know. A terrorist joke is never very far off, people can’t resist an Osama Bin Laden joke when they see my face – turko.
How has this affected your life here?
If I say, ‘hey baby, I’m from France,’ it probably makes a difference right! ‘I’m from Pakistan.’ There’s just a different sound to it. The only thing that really serves me is my textiles background. People believe that. If I say, hey man I can do this video or that album cover they won’t believe me. I won’t get that job. Even with my CV. But if I say, hey you want fabric from Pakistan? I can do that. Everyone will believe me. That’s why I do textiles here.
And I’ll tell you something interesting: My first clients in Brazil were Arabs; There are a lot of Arabs in Brazil, and Argentina too. It was very strange, but they asked me and that’s why they did business with me: because I’m a Muslim. It was very hard for me actually. You know what I mean! My mother is an atheist! And I thought, what kind of question is that? So that’s what my start in Latin America was like, ironically.
At the beginning, it was very difficult. It’s about ideas, money and business. It has nothing to do with religion! I was trying to get away from Pakistan and I couldn’t do it. It’s something that’s going to keep coming back, no matter how far away you get. There I was sitting in the middle of Sao Paolo…
So what’s keeping you here?
Well my business is just starting up in Brazil. I don’t want a flat in Park Lane and all that. I’m in a different world and it suits me fine. Family and marriage and stuff is not my cup of tea. So if that’s not your cup of tea you’ve got one hell of a big question in front of you! What are you gonna do with your life? Well you’re looking at it! I eat well, I live well. It’s basically this! I spend my money on music and books and I’ve got a good flat. It’s not fancy but it’s everything I want.
Once you’ve got food and rent covered there’s time for the next idea. So that’s Brazil. But Brazil is not just Brazil. I’ve got lots of friends there now and I don’t think they’re friends of mine just because I’m from Pakistan. Once I can stay there, at least I can set up a company! If I don’t even live there, how am I gonna do that? Is my dad gonna call up and say, hey can you set up an appointment for my son? No. That is what I’m doing. And that’s why I’m here. Buenos Aires is lovely, but it doesn’t speak an international business language. São Paulo is very open, very worldly. It’s logical to try and make some money in Brazil while the going is good.
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