The Telegraph's Hilary Alexander chatted with several supermodels backstage at Pakistan Fashion Week who revealed what it's like to walk the runway in the Islamic republic.
Mehreen Syed explained, "I chose this profession and I love this profession. And, of course, our culture is different because people think that in Pakistan there's no fashion shows and there's no fashion designers. And that there's no models. But I am glad that our fashion industry is popular and is helping us."
However her decision wasn't accepted by most of her family members. "My uncles, they beat me, and they said, 'You are not doing this profession'...but only my mother said, 'You should do this, whatever you want'....My whole family, they wear burqas, they cover their faces."
Aaminah Haq said it was difficult for her father, who was the governor and chief minister of Punjab, to deal with her showing off her body and rising to a higher level of fame than perhaps he had achieved. She added, "I started modeling in 1995 at that time things were very different, we hadn't had terrorism, things were very open."
Ayyan Ali told the cameras, "You should know the difference between vulgar and decent. You can carry a short skirt in a nice way. It depends on you."
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