Different in conceiving and executing their ideas, they both have one trait in common: creativity. While one loves to experiment with concepts, the other likes to do the same with the ingredients going into her designs.
With a distinct sense of fashion and style individually, they both however, share the aptitude to capture instant attention and send their audiences into awe with their designs.
This is exactly what Saadia Khabab and Mahnoor Ansari, the two fashion and design seniors from Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCUQ) did at the recently held ‘Reach’, the 17th Annual Fashion Show of VCUQ.
Presenting their individual collections, the two student designers between them won six awards on offer at the end of the three-day show, adjudged by the likes of Milan-based fashion designer Kristina Spirk, and witnessed by HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums, Doha Film Institute and Reach out to Asia.  
Khabab received the W Doha Award, providing her an opportunity to use the W Doha platform to showcase her collection throughout the year; and the VCUQatar’s Golden Needle Award that goes to the Best Senior collection.
Ansari grabbed the Salam Fashion Award, aimed at supporting a graduate’s transition from student designer to a career in design; and the GLAM Award for her outstanding creativity in her collection, “Tanuvo”. Both of them won awards to showcase their collections at VCU Richmond campus.
“Honestly, I did not expect to win these awards. I remember sitting in the car and telling my parents I don’t think I am going to win. I am proud of what I have done and I just want you guys to be happy,” says a smiling Ansari.
Community sat down the two Pakistani expatriate VCUQ students for a chat about their winning designs and all that makes them stand out.
Recalling her big moment, Ansari remembers her mother telling her, “When they called your name the first time, I was holding back tears, the second time I started crying and the third time I had no control over myself.”
Her collection Tanuvo, which translates into English as ?multidimensional’, is her own reflection and showcases diversity of a woman’s personality.
“For me, more than just creating clothes for people that they can wear, it is about telling a story and sending a message across. I wanted to create transformation pieces and show that women are so diverse,” she explains.  
And if you want to know how successful has she been in translating her ideas on to the fabric, ask Khabab.
“The print she used and the way she used it is very impressive,” Khabab tells us. And then she turns to Ansari. “Oh my God, this is the first time I am going to tell you this,” they both laugh.
“Her collection is classy with a touch of elegance in it and her construction (of the design) was really good,” Khabab goes on.
She, too, was pleasantly surprised to hear her name among the award winners. But Ansari says Khabab’s design construction is something that everyone in their class has always been impressed with.
“She always works with fabrics that are difficult. Sadia’s collection is about details. She looks at each piece individually and what is going to stand out about it. You can see in her work when it is going down the run way, the effort put into it,” Ansari indirectly tells her friend, perhaps, for the first time.
Ansari always wanted to be a designer. For her, this was the best outlet. She says she knew from a young age that science and art did not interest her. “Fashion and design is my way of connecting with the world,” she says.
And she admires designers like late British designer Alexander McQueen who believe in telling a story with their designs and sending a message to the people.
Aside from fashion, she says, her mother is a huge role model for her. “She is so strong and she is not the society’s example of a Pakistani woman,” says the young student. She believes designing starts with having a passion for it, but it really is about creativity.
“Fashion is always about the next big thing. You want to create something no-one else ever thought of,” says the student designer. Khabab agrees.
“It is a very fast industry. You just think of an idea and next day you would see it on runway or in street style. And it takes a lot to stand out in this industry and be different,” she opines.
She likes drapery and she likes to experiment before she starts making designs.
“I am so much into fabric manipulation technique and I did this here at the show as well. I use very different kind of materials. For instance, I use leather which they use for bags and shoes. I try to make it wearable because normally people do not wear this kind of material,” says Khabab.
In order to grow into a good designer, Khabab says one needs to listen to the mentors and their university professors. “Besides, it is always good to take in other opinions because sometimes what you are thinking is not always right. And you can take this opinion from outside the fashion industry because they see fashion in a way different to us,” she elaborates.
The two know what it takes to be successful in their field.
“You have to be open-minded, consider everyone else around you and be open to criticism. And it can be very harsh in this industry, and if you can’t handle it then better get out of this industry,” adds Ansari.
And they are not keen on venturing into industry with their own outlets straightaway after their graduation.
Most students as soon as they finish studies, Ansari says, make the mistake of starting up their own brand while there is so much still to be learned and you do not have the correct sense of the market. For that, she believes, you have to work at different companies and not just one type of company.
“I want to open my brand but not now, may be in a few years. What I am also thinking is to work with different designers and once I am well versed in the trade, I would go for my own,” says Khabab.
In Qatar, they say, there are not too many such opportunities at present as it is still developing. Ansari who has been brought up in UK and Qatar, and has never lived in her native Pakistan, says going there with her brand is a possibility for her. She loves the fabric from South Asia.
Khabab, born and brought up here, wants to start her work from Qatar but she wants to go to New York which she says is the hub of fashion. “Every fashion designer has a dream to go there and work. I want to learn in that environment and then I would want to come back here or might head to Pakistan, too,” she adds.