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This season’s hottest article of clothing, the farshi shalwar, is for everyone and designer HSY let everyone in on the trade secrets to make sure it looks good on everyone.

The designer, whose name is Hassan Sheharyar Yasin, appeared on Nida Yasir’s Shaan-e-Suhoor show earlier this week along with Areeba Habib where he was asked by the host who shouldn’t even dream of wearing a farshi shalwar. His very kind answer — everyone should wear it.

He reasoned that the farshi shalwar was a fashion trend that everyone could hop on because of how inclusive it is. “Our women may come from different backgrounds, but they all have the same religion,” he said, adding that people often want to look good while still being modest. To him, the farshi shalwar is perfect for this because it doesn’t allow the curves of your legs to show through.

“So people who couldn’t engage in that fashion before are now able to,” he said.

When the host argued that most farshi shalwars are paired with short shirts, and that short shirts don’t suit everyone, he replied, “wear it with a long shirt — it looks beautiful.”

HSY said that in his newest collection, he’s created a couple of farshi shalwar sets with shirts 10 to 12 inches below the knee. The silhouette is very elegant, he said.

He did, however, caution that the chaak (slit in the shirt) shouldn’t be too long — just a bit above the knee. However, if a person is on the heavier side, they can have the chaak higher.

it depends on the body shape, he said. “Some people have wide hips, in fact most people have wide hips because the Pakistani body shape is such,” he said.

Keep a long chaak but make the shirt in a material that falls well — like georgette, chiffon or thin silk, he said, warning against using heavily embroidered material.

For the shalwar, he said for everyday wear, he would choose pure cotton because it’s heavier and falls well, which is what you need for the shalwar. HSY suggested adding a drawstring sewn into the painchay or hem of the pants, so that the added weight helps it fall straight.

He explained that in Chanel’s jackets they add a chain in the seam and the weight makes it fall straight. “We also do that. It helps the fall,” he disclosed, because, as he said, these tricks are for the clients, so why keep them secret.

“There are people in cities who can’t access our clothes, so in that case, get it made yourself and wear beautiful clothes,” he said to Yasir’s laughs of disbelief that he was telling people how to make the very clothes he sells.

“Fashion and looking beautiful is everyone’s right,” he said. “There are [220] million people in the country and I can’t make clothes for all of them,” he said, adding that if he didn’t tell them how to make great clothes for themselves, it would be wrong of him.

When making formal farshi shalwars, most people want to use 80g pure raw silk, but that’s an expensive material. HSY provided some cheaper alternatives, such as pre-dyed double georgette — he did, however, warn against dyeing it because it wouldn’t turn out well.

If you don’t want to add the drawstring in the hem of the shalwar, he suggested adding anchor embroidery the same colour as the shalwar to the hem to weigh it down.

For HSY, the farshi shalwar trend is all about style and silhouette — it’s supposed to be straight and not body hugging. “It’s supposed to be loose. Everyone needs breathing room,” he said. The only disclaimer he added is that while it should be loose fitting, it should fit perfectly from the shoulders.

“We are broad shouldered in general, so it should always fit well there otherwise it looks slacky,” he said, adding that men or women, shoulder fitting is very important.

If you, like Yasir, have had a tailor stitch the shoulders on an outfit incorrectly, then HSY has a solution for that as well. He said that tailors often take the exact shoulder measurement, but cut off an extra half inch when cutting the sleeve. Your armhole shouldn’t be too tight either — it needs to drop and then everything else will fall properly, he explained.

Think of a human like a hanger, he said. “If you hang your clothes on the hanger properly they’ll look good. Your shoulders are your hangers, focus on them.”

He then spoke about people making clothes that might not suit their body types. “Keep your body in mind when making clothes,” he said. “Magazines might make them look good but they might not look the same on you.”

One of the reasons for this, he said, is “fashion is a great solution and a big trap. Don’t fall into the trap. Take inspiration and make it keeping in mind your body shape and environment.”