COLOR CODED CRIME
THREADS OF ABUNDANCE
The Winter 25 collection from Color Coded Crime revives the legacy of Ustad Mansur, a forgotten master of the Mughal court and one of history’s first naturalists. Celebrated in his time as the Wonder of the Age, Mansur was renowned for his extraordinary precision in documenting the world’s rarest flora and fauna.
USTAD Mansur
Commissioned at the height of the Mughal Empire, Ustad’s paintings captured not only the natural world but the spirit of an era defined by artistic and scientific exploration—an age that has since been overshadowed by colonialism.
The places where Ustad once worked—India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh—are now divided by borders, yet his art reminds us of a time when culture and ideas moved freely. His brushstrokes, like the textiles and traditions of the region, form a shared heritage beyond geography and time. Each piece in the collection reinterprets one of Mansur’s paintings, with his intricate studies of nature embroidered by hand onto the garments using traditional techniques. These methods, passed down through generations, link the artisans of today to those who once embroidered for the Mughal courts. Every stitch carries centuries of craftsmanship, memory, and identity.
Weaving the Wonder of the Age
By bringing Ustad’s forgotten artistry into a contemporary context, this collection ensures that his legacy endures—not as a relic of the past, but as a thread running through time, connecting us to what came before and what lies ahead.
Filters
LAHORE, PAKISTAN
COLOR CODED CRIME
For Color Coded Crime, garment-making is more than craft—it is ritual, heritage, and resistance. Rooted in the deep textile traditions of South Asia, their studio in Lahore breathes new life into centuries-old techniques, preserving the skill, patience, and soul that mass production threatens to erase. Working with a community of artisans, they honor the sacred knowledge passed down through generations. Each stitch carries the weight of history, each thread a story of human hands and lived experience.
Founder & Creative Director
MAHRANG ANWER
As Founder and Creative Director of Color Coded Crime, Mahrang Anwer moves beyond the conventions of fashion, treating clothing as both a canvas and a cultural artifact. Her work exists at the intersection of art and design, where garments do more than clothe—they speak, archive, and disrupt.
Rooted in sustainability, lived experience, and South Asian traditions, she revives Mughal-era craftsmanship while constantly pushing material boundaries. Her artistic practice reflects the same ethos—whether crafting garments from Afghan sand to highlight the plight of refugees or transforming discarded fabric into functional tiles, she challenges how we define waste, value, and permanence.
Through Color Coded Crime, she builds more than clothing—she cultivates an ecosystem, a network of artisans who are not just makers but stewards of legacy. In her world, fashion does not follow trends; it carries stories, resists erasure, and reimagines what sustainability can be.
FASHION DESIGNER
Qasim Anwar
Qasim Anwar is a fashion designer and artist weaving history into the future. His work treats fashion as a living archive, where each thread connects stories, ideas, and eras. Obsessed with historical references, Qasim draws inspiration from archaeology, mythology, and the visual symbols and languages of ancient societies. His designs redefine clothing as more than just form and function—turning it into a vessel for storytelling and symbolism.
Merging futurist design philosophies and ancient symbols, he weaves together disparate moments in time, creating a continuous thread that binds the past, present, and future into something entirely new.