Hello all! Well as some of you may know I spent almost two months in Lahore…so of course I went shopping 
This was my first time going after 3 years so I thought it may help others as well…
Well my “first” experience happened before I landed in Pak. I had an outfit made by a family friend…the service was terrible, she never communicated with me and the final product was hideous. Needless to say, I was extremely angry. Even though I’d had good experiences online, I was put out at the idea of getting an outfit made from scratch ever again. It was one of typical online/nightmare experiences where the vendor thinks the customer is made of money and can rip you off.
This was the outfit that I had wanted–
http://www.paklinks.com/gsmedia/files/65470/new1.jpg
and this is the one she gave me. I asked for the collar to be like that and not a floor lenght kameez ut the color and everything else was her own.
BUT towards the end of my trip, I got the outfit back…we had returned it to her askign for our money back but she said she couldn’t sell it…so she did it all over again, and the fitting was better and the kaam was better…but it still wasn’t worth her asking price.
I also ordered two suits from prototype, 1 lawn and 1 formal, which she was great enough to have ready for me before Eid…since the 1st outfit was so awful, I was grateful to have them available so quickly. Everyone has raved about my Eid jora, even my mother loved it.
So for readymades, I went shopping exclusively in Fortress where the outfits started at 950. On average a cotton/khadar outfit would cost about 1000 and chiffon/georgette are upwards of 2000. long A-line shirts and frocks are very in..it was very difficult ot find a normal length kameez. Trousers are loose while some had huge culottes. Readymade clothes have always had a problem fo sizing for me…as I shopped in Fortress, I discovered that every shop has a different definition of what’s “large.”
Although I wasn’t searching for them, I saw some very nice formals that were about 7 to 8000.
In terms of whats in, long A-line shirts, and frocks are very in…at fortress it was almost impossible to find a kameez of normal knee-length. Most of the trousers are loose, while a few had huge culottes.
For unstitched semiforaml outfits, i shopped at Auriga.
Unstitched chiffon banarsi suits ran about 2000 or so. I was quoted 5000 for one suit and got it down to 2000.
I bought embroidered suits ranging from 2000 to 3000, when the starting price was 4000 and up.
Almost all suits are sold as 2 pieces, with a shirt and duputta. The embroidered ones also have a seperate piece for the back of the shirt
Shalwar and lining are purchased separately. Auriga has many shops that do matching and dying.
I purchased some raw silk trousers, which cost about 900-1000. I went to several shops both in Auriga and Liberty and none of them bargained on the price of a raw silk trouser.
These are some of the fabrics available there…
Auriga also has a few boutiques upstairs that do stitching and kaam…I got most of my clothing stitched from them. I had an outfit copied, and after explaining to them, that too with only a cell phone picture and a sketch. they replicated it perfectly. the kaam was superb and the stitching was how I had pictured it. (post pictures of the pink) They gave me 3 dates to pick up (since I kept buying and giving to them), the first two times they were on time and the third time they were late b/c of some reasons.
This was hte outfit I bought:
The kaam alone cost 5000 Rs and fabric/stitching were extra.
I bought several more semiformals however I wasn’t thrilled with their fitting…I was hoping for more designs and creativity but it was absolutley plain. If given the choice I would go to them for kaam but not stitching again.
These were some of hte other designs available at the shops… They ranged from 1500 to 6000 for the kaam alone.
For stitching, the tailors at Auriga charged 800 and upwards… Liberty charged 1500, and I had a “family” darzi but he was so freakin lazy. It took him 5 weeks to sew one suit…he actually closed up his shop and disappeared, and his excuse? A bunch of uncles from Mirpur kidnapped him and his karigars and assistants and forced him to stitch clothes for the women of the family at their house. 
I also had my clothes stitched from ladies who work out their homes and surprisingly, they were the best. I would trust them with regular outfits…
I also did some shopping in Liberty…I bought these two outfits, about 3-4K each, and I gave them to prototype for stitching…As expected, the fitting was superb…the blue one had some extra fabric and that was returned..which is pretty nice. and I have gotten soooooo many compliments on the purple one.
I browsed through the duputta galli and OMG its TO DIE FOR. Gorgeous kaam, gorgeous styles, for 8-13K. Since I didn’t need any formals I didn’t buy from them but from what I saw, the price and quality were pretty decent… and I snuck in a few pics
Ok so, along with buying new outfits, I had a few of my older outfits changed/converted since they were too pretty and didn’t want them to go to waste.
I had this suit from my jahez, teh duputta is way too heavy for me..so I had it changed into a kurta, and bought a new trouser and duputta..so with stitching, this new outfit cost me 2000 rs! Again..thanks to prototype
I was getting bored with the lace on this oen, also the beads were coming off..so my cousin and I brainstormed for an idea and bought these laces and attached htem… I think it came out pretty nice 
a very long post I know…but I hope this helps give anyone ideas on price ranges and where to shop and what’s available out there!
lovely outfits Sara :k:
…you did a great job 
