TRENDS: DIOR NEXT DOOR
You may have come across an outfit at your favourite designer’s and gaped at it and then at the price, and then decided to walk away from the ornate creation with zardozi, kamdani, tilla or dabka embroidery on chiffon or silk or a melange of colours, fusion, tie-and-dye or blocked together and then worked upon in gold or silver or with stones and tassels. You could pay a hefty sum and it would be yours or else you could run through yards of fabric, and go through the pages of design catalogues to finally get the outfit of your dreams. Other than retail outlets in malls, cloth markets in any locality offer daily basic wear such as a variety of prints, handiwork and much more. But there are some markets, for instance Jamia Cloth Market in Karachi, CTC Mall or Kehkashan in Clifton, where you can make your dream outfit materialise.
In these markets sit craftsmen in small aisles, with big embroidery boards called ‘adda’ to embellish clothes. These boards bear samples to show the clients. The delicate handwork, such as gota-work, mukaish, marorri, kora dabka, may take months for these craftsmen to make in order to get a happy and satisfied customer.
These days, people prefer to visit malls where they shop at high-end branded shops. Who would ever want to go through the hassle of buying a fabric, getting a design embroidered and then getting it stitched by the tailor. Even if one buys from the ready- embroidered stuff, one would still need to get it stitched. At the branded shops one can buy prêt off the racks. The only difference between buying from the retail outlet and at the market is that although the quality is the same or even better, the price would be more affordable at the market. Of course, you spend more time working the whole plan out with the local craftsmen.
Amidst crammed galis, sit hard-working designers, looking for clientele but, sadly, few now show up
“We normally don’t get many orders on a daily basis. The order for outfits varies from season to season,” says Nasir, a designer. “Only in the wedding season do we get five to six orders. In other seasons we get a client or two, and we do sampling for big labels. Besides this, we also teach fashion designing students for our survival. Most of the people you see in the market are here to look around; they don’t realise our hard work and compare it to designers such as Nomi Ansari or Elan.”
“We try our best to be innovative but people want us to copy designs from what they see in malls or well-known shops,” he laments. “Our work and effort is put aside and until we copy designs that some celebrity was wearing. No one considers us talented.”
“It’s not our fault that trends are rapidly changing because of social media as it exposes people to new ideas, designs and patterns,” says Nasir. “These markets are good for gota-work and antique [specific bronze work that is precise and delicate] work. But if you are looking for something modern and trendy, you will have to invest a lot of time explaining the minute details of new trends, colours and cuts. Not only is it time consuming, but the results are not guaranteed, i.e. you may or may not get what you asked for. The designers in these markets, who are aware about changing trends, demand a huge price for their up-to-date work.”