Tasmit's fashion has defiance and a difference

Tasmit Afiyat had just completed the university admission exams and was waiting for her results. Then one day her mother took her to the auditions of a reality show called 'Style Guru' on NTV. Tasmit was rather nervous seeing the other participants in line - they were older than her, teachers and students in fashion design at various universities. She begged her mother to take her back home. Her mother said, “If you lose, I’ll take you home. But you have to face the competition first.”

Had Tasmit’s mother had taken her back home on that fateful day of 2011, this story might never have emerged!

The judges asked her, “What is fashion?” Without thinking, Tasmit replied spontaneously, “Fashion is what you see in me!” It was as if the judges had been waiting this particular answer. They stood and applauded.

In the competition, the participants were given just two hours to design and create outfits, dress the models and take them to the ramp. Despite being the youngest contestant, Tasmit was repeatedly selected as the best over the several days of the competition.

When Tasmit got admitted to the graphic design department at Charukala (Dhaka University's Faculty of Fine Arts), her father was displeased. He stopped speaking to her because he had wanted her to study more medicine or engineering. But Tasmit was determined and even stopped taking money from her father.

In 2012, she gradually worked towards creating her own fashion brand, Stride. She also had a corporate job and was freelancing too. And alongside it all, she continued her studies.

How was it possible? Tasmit replied, "I was always so busy running here and there, sometimes would need intravenous saline. You can ask my classmates, teachers, or anyone who knew me. Some might say I was rude, but that's because I never sat around chatting for even ten minutes. I had no friends. Work was my only friend. I’d wake up and go straight to class. After class, I’d head to the office. From the office, I’d go home. I’d grab a quick meal and sleep. I worked so hard that my boss at Asiatic, Iresh Zaker, used to jokingly ask, 'What are you going to do with all this money?'"

Tasmit added, “There really is no alternative to  practical experience alongside studies. That’s when your learning has meaning. That’s how it was form me. By the third year, before we were even taught animation in class, I was already doing animation work at office!”

Tasmit also worked as a costume designer for the film 'Under Construction' directed by Rubaiyat Hossain. She served as art director for over fifty TV commercials. She even participated in the popular American reality show 'The Amazing Race'. She began designing outfits for the ‘national costume’ segment in international competitions like Miss Universe, Miss World and Mister World. Through meticulous concept-driven work, Tasmit gradually became something of an expert  in presenting Bangladeshi culture on global platforms.

Her collection 'Social Silencing' at this year’s Arka Fashion Week drew significant attention. Recently, she designed the away jersey for Bangladesh’s national men’s football team. She’s already submitted the design for their home jersey as well. The team has played in Singapore wearing Tasmit’s away kit. On 10 June they’ll play Singapore again, this time at home. The home jersey is rumored to feature jamdani motifs. Yes, jamdani on a football jersey!

Breaking traditions and going against the current is never easy for a woman trying to build her professional identity. Tasmit knows that all too well. She's faced a lot of backlash for wearing clothes of her own choosing. But she went ahead and turned that backlash into art—designing a jacket with rickshaw-print in the style of old Bangla movie posters. And it’s selling like hot cakes!

Tasmit’s personal life story is quite interesting too. One night in Gulshan, a young American diplomat happened to see her. It was love at first sight for him. At her friends’ insistence, she agreed to meet him. They talked. She liked him. Romance bloomed and eventually, with the full blessing of both families, she married the young man, Sabin Hinton. Their wedding even made headlines.

Tasmit has always loved to draw. She dreamed of studying in architecture at BUET (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology). Not being able to fulfill that dream left her with a deep sense of regret. But now she says, “Thankfully, I didn’t get into BUET. Everything happens for a reason, and often for the better. If I had gotten into BUET, I might’ve become an average architect, working some regular job just to get by. You wouldn’t be interviewing me today as a designer!”

* Sheikh Saifur Rahman, is consultant at Prothom Alo's fashion and lifestyle portal ‘Haal Fashion’