Re: pakistani clothes for sale? help!
whew, i just got home. looong shopping day.
so this is what happened:
**amber from the facebook group someone posted earlier- **her work is incredible! its beautifully done. very, very tasteful and super well priced. nothing over $300. the kaam is very neatly done, very fine, and super good quality. i was extremely impressed overall and loved a few of her pieces, and will definitely be hitting her up again the next time i have an event. i highly recommend her. plus, she's a lovely person to boot. the only thing here was that i am a bit curvy up top so i was sort of between sizes. boo! but she also has a seamstress though who can do alterations in a hurry if you need them done. for me, the pieces i really loved were only size smalls, and i'm definitely not that haha
saba apparel: kind of meh. its very typical stuff that you find all over karachi, and quite heavy. so if you're looking to attend a shaadi, go see her. she has quite a few lehengas too - more suitable for engagements it seemed, and a couple for weddings. but to be honest, it wasn't really my cuppa- too much bling and big coloured stones, etc.
sadiaz collection: not really that impressive. they were getting their eid shipments in soon so i guess i got to see the leftovers and they were just ok, very plain stuff. i'd say it was ok for everyday, but not for an occasion. from their facebook group, it seems like they do a lot of custom orders and those are beautiful. their eid collection is coming in soon so it might be worth a visit. amina is the name of the contact and she herself is lovely.
eastern collections: she has a LOT of stuff. most of it wasn't really to my taste. her stuff was pretty heavy on the bling and bridal definitely. she has a nice mehendi jora collection.
basically, you kind of have to look through her pieces to find something for your taste as she has a lot of variety. her sari's are beautiful. she has tons of lehengas and ghararas, anarkalis, and shalwar kameezes.
in the end, i was browsing through her racks myself and i found the perfect outfit! it was $275. and its gorgeous IMHO :) its sort of the same color as my wedding dress, a tan, like a biscuit colour but slightly darker. its a high collar, coat style, front open kameez and the lining inside is burnt orange silk. the actual kameez is tone on tone patterned silk in the biscuit colour. the entire front open portion from collar all the way down is embroidered with small white pearls and small burnt orange beads and other sparkly bits. it has two strips about 3" each at the bottom of the outfit running along the width of the shirt (the daaman). the strips are in chocolate brown jamavar and burnt orange jamavar. the dupatta is chiffon- also patterned tone on tone and in dull gold and fades from being 3/4 biscuit to chocolate brown to burnt orange and it has a dark brown patti border on it. the pants are plain biscuit coloured silk. the sleeves are full length and have kaam on the edges. in short, j'adore!
as an aside: saira sheikh is a lovely lady, kind of hyper, and wow, is her house impressive! lol she had left the pants and dupatta at her seamstress' place so she went out of her way to make sure they were delivered to me on time tonight and i picked it up from her at 11:30 at night! she was very helpful, enthusiastic (lots of "yaar's" in her convo haha), so i definitely appreciated the customer service. she also has a seamstress who can do alterations as necessary.
i'd say next time you need an outfit, check out eastern collections for really heavy stuff and beautiful saris, and for eid and other social occasions, check out amber. they're both very different in style, but good in their own way. and both of them are getting their eid shipments in very soon.
i think for my bro's wedding though, if i can't make it to pakistan, i'm going to place a bunch of orders with amber as she's well worth it.