Extravagance rarely develops in isolation. With Maqsad, Ali Xeeshan turned his attention towards the education, relationships and institutions that made his distinctive creative identity possible, examining what lies behind a career associated with theatricality and avant-garde expression.

Presented at LAAM Fashion Week, the collection traced his journey from Government College Lahore and the Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design (PIFD) to his place within Pakistan’s fashion industry. These formative institutions were more than biographical references. They represented the foundations of a design practice shaped by discipline, cultural inheritance and the freedom to experiment.

Xeeshan’s larger-than-life aesthetic has long been central to his creative identity, but Maqsad shifted the narrative towards those whose contributions are less immediately visible. By acknowledging the people working behind the scenes and the institutions that encouraged creative exploration, he presented fashion as the outcome of a wider network of influence rather than an entirely individual accomplishment.

The collection also considered purpose as something continually developed rather than ultimately achieved. Gratitude became its organising idea, connecting personal ambition with the opportunities, guidance and collective effort that helped sustain it.

What made Maqsad particularly revealing was this reconsideration of creative authorship. In looking back at his own trajectory, Xeeshan gave equal significance to the circumstances that enabled his work, suggesting that even the most individualistic design identity carries the imprint of many others.