'Is my shirt not long enough?': Shehzil Malik fights stereotyping through her fashion line

(Web Desk) – Defying odds and fighting stereotypes in Pakistan, a 30-year-old digital artist has come forward with empowering images that are a reflection of women living in a male dominated society.

Shehzil Malik, a young Pakistani digital artist, believes that not only in Pakistan but globally women are subjected to various controversies when it comes to their dressing. “The power of what is appropriate to wear seems to lie with patriarchal society and not with women themselves,” she says in an interview with DW.

Recalling an event Malik says that in 2016 when Burkini was banned in France it struck her as "a painful confirmation of the global surveillance of women’s bodies".

In her own way, Malik wants to give women “ownership over what they wear". And so she launched Pakistan’s first feminist fashion collection in October 2017. The characters in her designs reflect the characters of what it really means to be a Pakistani woman.

Sometimes the clothing in Malik’s illustrations points to the ambiguities in the situation of its wearer. Photo: Shehzil Malik

The digital artist began her illustrated work in 2015 with vibrant and dazzling GIF format – focusing on women’s experiences in public spaces. One of her illustrations which went viral showed a woman walking while on her dress are inscribed monologues such as ‘is my shirt not long enough?’

After Malik posted the image on her blog "Notes to Self," it struck a chord with women who shared her inner monologues across the globe.

The digital artist’s goal is to empower Pakistani women through her art and to make them feel comfortable in their own skin especially in public spaces.

A famous Pakistani fashion company “Generation” which is behind selling Shehzil’s artwork is most likely to be worn by women who are already enjoying a certain level of class protection when they enter public spaces. Malik is well aware about the fashion-driven social change, which she acknowledges as a difficult subject.

Shehzil Malik’s designs often show the bustle of urban life. Photo: Natasha Zubair

In order to break the barriers and not to limit the outreach of her artwork, Malik decided to bring them to the streets as part of a graffiti project in Lahore. Under a bridge in a busy part of Lahore, she found a space where people from all occupations commute to different parts of the cities.

With help from her sister, friend and domestic staff, she pasted an 11-foot woman on the intersection. "Soon we had gathered a small crowd of onlookers curious about what we were doing. With a lot of adhesive, a tall ladder and suggestions from the crowd, we managed to paste a giant woman looming over a bike onto the bridge."

The next morning, Shehzil’s fearless biker had disappeared.

Malik in her interview to DW expresses the hope that her new collection will make women “recognise their own inner strength.”
"The intention behind the clothes was to spread a message of hope and strength – that the younger generation could see themselves in the ambitions expressed in the artwork of the collection," says Malik.