Re: Plz rate this replica
I paid only the first installment and I think I have the option of saying no. I am just feeling bad for myself and the designer and the 7 weeks we spent on this outfit 
Re: Plz rate this replica
That's exactly my point. People aren't prepared to pay that much for a guest outfit (rightly so), so a lot of vendors quote a price they know will be attractive to the customer and then try to work within that and the shortcomings are nearly always in the kaam. Some customers are satisfied because they know they got a lot of work done in a reduced budget. Others won't be because their aim was never just to have a heavy suit in a lower price.
As a general rule... if it's really heavy and intricate, it's going to cost. If I was quoted even 50,000 for this, I would know not to expect amazing kaam. Bridals are always bridals... even if they are adjusted into formals... the cost is gonna be there. 2" border all around a duputta is basically more or less a bridal duputta because it's the overall length of kaam is a lot, even if it's not as wide as the original and the cost of that alone is significant.
Btw, I'm not blaming you. I'm just making some general comments.
Re: Plz rate this replica
That's exactly my point. People aren't prepared to pay that much for a guest outfit (rightly so), so a lot of vendors quote a price they know will be attractive to the customer and then try to work within that and the shortcomings are nearly always in the kaam. Some customers are satisfied because they know they got a lot of work done in a reduced budget. Others won't be because their aim was never just to have a heavy suit in a lower price.
As a general rule... if it's really heavy and intricate, it's going to cost. If I was quoted even 50,000 for this, I would know not to expect amazing kaam. Bridals are always bridals... even if they are adjusted into formals... the cost is gonna be there. 2" border all around a duputta is basically more or less a bridal duputta because it's the overall length of kaam is a lot, even if it's not as wide as the original and the cost of that alone is significant.
Btw, I'm not blaming you. I'm just making some general comments.
I understand :) I posted this whole thing here because I wanted to see different perspectives. :)
Re: Plz rate this replica
Take a picture of bunto original to a Kaam wallah to replicate, even if the Kaam wallah says he will get the outfit close to that at 1/3rd the price, the chances are highly unlikely. Karma's work is much easier to replicate than bunto or mina Hasan or umar sayeed's.
Re: Plz rate this replica
always get a small sample border made prior to proceeding with the complete dress,esp for heavy formals..it saves lots of hassle for both the designer and the customer
Re: Plz rate this replica
Quite an unjust replica, rather agreeing with all others its all a new kind of thing as a final cut not looking replica at all. More deeper the work is more harder to replicate. vendors usually dont clarify either about this or they are too confident on their or their kaam wala skills. I never had any replica. As I was a lahorite whenever I wanted an outfit for wedding used to go to a specific shop in Anarkali that we are going since marriage of my chacha and get my suits done. Seriously they are very super to work. But living abroad and no one to look after outfits back home make you to come to these vendors and obviously you need some sample to tell them what you want. Really feeling bad for you. I can understand the sadness of not getting your planned outfit on the wedding because being ladies we are always excited about our each suit. Cant it has some ammendments specially on bodice. Damamn kaam is not bad if seen separately from original and colour i like seriously. See if anything you and vendor can agree upon?
Re: Plz rate this replica
we often try to have a replica made that looks exactly like the original but don't want to pay original prices...this causes grief because how is the kaarigar going to put 16 motifs around the ghair without reducing the density/quality of the kaam for half the money?
when we want a replica made for a lot less than the original, we need to keep in mind that we should reduce the amount of work, as in reduce the number and size of motifs and not reduce the density or quality of the work.
if our budget doesn't allow then we should consider having something
made that is "inspired" by the designer piece rather than getting a true "replica" made. I would rather compromise on the design than the quality.
just my two cents.
Re: Plz rate this replica
This was the replica I made:
AND I still know it has areas to work on to be more close to the original but this was to be done in a certain price since this was not made as a bridal. I am making a sample border for a bridal dress now and the customer demanded herself that she is okay with a good increase in the price accordingly but needs the kaam to be even denser. So, what stoppit&muzna said makes sense. The designer should inform the customer pre-hand about the costs to make EXACT replica and then discuss the cut-outs she will be making to bring the dress in a given budget.
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Re: Plz rate this replica
its beautiful prototype^
how much is it?
Re: Plz rate this replica
Is the 2nd pic is of dupatta border?
Re: Plz rate this replica
guilty as charged on some accounts like delay ... for rest of the things, I'll need to go back and read everyone's feedback.
Proto you made a nice dress, can you share the price you charged for this one?
Plz rate this replica
I totally agree about the finding pics and asking another designer to replicate. The true coats usually lie in in quality and quantity of kaam, and quality of fabric. It's best that both designer and customer agree on that is virtually impossible to replicate the original EXACTLY on lower budget.
It is easier to replicate the exact color. From the pic the fabric quality doesn't appear to be the best.
I think a better way to judge is by replicas the designer has already copied like protos copy. You really are taking a huge risk when you get an outfit replicated and ask for additional changes. It definitely can be done and I have had a fair number of semi-formals that look quite good. Formals and bridals are riskier. I would suggest that people first get a few semi-formals made first with a designer. For heavier outfits stick with a design the designer has replicated with success to reduce headaches and heartaches.
That being said there are alot of very decent formals available on the market.
Re: Plz rate this replica
yes,2nd picture is of dupatta pallu border. It was for 65000rs+shipping with front and back kaam on the dress,spray on dupatta and heavy border on dupatta pallu
Re: Plz rate this replica
Thank you guys! I think I have come to a settlement with Eastern Dresses. I hope there are no hurdles on the way anymore. Fingers crossed.
I don't think I am ever gonna place an order with anyone unless I see a small sample...and more so when the outfit is for 1000s of rupees.
Re: Plz rate this replica
Rightly so, it was my client's idea to not post either of our identities to avoid any kind of bias in the feedback. However, I was expecting a lot more details which were missed out. I am sure that wasn't intentional though, since she was just posting on her behalf and not mine.
Let me disclose the price first up. My initial quote for the dress including the changes client requested was 55k plus any fee associated with shipping or the financial transaction. Client mentioned her budget to be 45k all inclusive which brings the cost of the outfit to around 40k (Around 5k shipping and lets ignore the 2k paypal fee) And payment terms suggests three installments out of which one is to be paid a month after the dress will be dispatched.
It might not be the best replica ever however calling a PKR 40k outfit, cheap and bad quality is totally unjust. If anyone thinks fabric or kaam is cheap - consider that a fabric that can hold a few kgs of material cannot be cheap. It would just tear off. And kora, dabka, thread and stones work isn't cheap. Sorry Catwalk I don't agree to your comment.
One thing not mentioned about the sample is that bodice is still on the frame (Adda), which means it would be stretched to its limits where as the ghair of the dress is of the frame thats why it appears as it does. Type of work is quite similar on both otherwise.
Some details about the dress On the hemline after a small border and scroll, there are 20 motifs out of which 10 are smaller size and 10 are bigger arranged on the panels one after the other. There is a small motif spray (5in x 2in) all over the ghair.
Dupatta - initially it was agreed that the border will be 2 inches but during order process, she requested some changes in the pattern so the border came out to be 2.5inches and small motif (5in x 2in) spray all over dupatta
Cuts of the dress are going to be quite different as a front open, gown style, floor length dress with a lehnga/under skirt, was converted to a pishwas with a choridar. Colors are obviously different as picked by the client.
I am very accomodating in terms of feedback and don't mind revisions. I had spent around 45k on the dress already in terms of material, karigar fee, fabric etc, and still have to pay for shipping and tailor charges. I had asked if she wanted to cancel before even this thread was initiated but she wanted other's feedback and decide based on that. Decision from her side now is that i'll stick to the initial deal of sending her the outfit after stitching where one installment will be left to be paid in about a month's time.
Re: Plz rate this replica
Annie,
Did you ever discuss with me about the number of motifs you are putting? You have been accomodative of the change in dupatta embroidery but again did you tell me you were overshooting your budget? I gave you a picture, you gave me a budget, I negotiated and you agreed. And during this whole course, not once was it ever mentioned either on phone or on email that the type of work might be different because of the budget. This was the only reason as to why I had a particular picture etched in my mind.
And secondly, the fabric color was not what I had asked for. I asked for the original colour as seen in the picture. I only wanted the kaam colors to be changed to gold to match my jewelry. The fabric was dyed in a wrong color and I asked you to go ahead and use it since we were running out of time.
And regarding the installments, I am just sticking to what we agreed. I told you I overshot my budget on clothes and we agreed on the installment pattern. Also, please remember that I had buy another off the shelf outfit in between because your outfit did not reach me on time. I too have incurred a lot of unplanned expenses in all this hungama.
As I mentioned before, we were short of communication at quite a few places...and that is a lesson learned for both of us. Lets close this on the good note we agreed upon on email. Thanks!
Re: Plz rate this replica
Well, if my tone sounded offensive, I appologize but that's not what I meant. Just stated some of the missing facts. I am in services industry for a long time to know that crossing the budget or keeping it within the budget is service provider's responsibility not the client's and if I agreed to the quote earlier on, I'd stick to that even if I am spending more. I marely stated that as a fact and I am not blaming you for that in any way. Its just a bit disappointing if the client isn't happy with the product that you spend so much time, money and efforts on.
As for the feedback that its not close to the original, you are right. Pattern is pretty much the same as original dress however, some of the embroidery done has different type of effects (different stitches used). That still doesn't mean that the quality of the material used or karigar skills were in any way compromised as suggested by some of the fellows here. (Lower price equals lower quality isn't the formula I support) Its just that some of the embroidery was incorrectly interpretted in terms of stitches used that you'll probably notice in any outfit that has to be replicated from pictures.
Again point isn't to start a blame game here. I, however, needed to clarify for everyone's reference that its probably not what you had imagined it to be but its not a cheap outfit. Its totally worth the money you spend on it and probably more.
Re: Plz rate this replica
I think ED was just addressing some of the comments about lack of quality in her previous post.
Personally, I never mentioned quality as I did not know the budget she was working in. I don't think anyone could say that she charged for one thing and delivered another. That's not what has happened at all imo.
ED, quality of kaam material doesn't have to be lower but when the stitches and way it is done is more complicated and using smaller sized kaam materials then the labour hours increase a lot and therefore the kaam is more expensive. So let's say we are talking about intricacy instead of quality.
Some of you know that people have asked for quotes or placed orders with my clothes guy through me. When they ask for quote and I can see that to get the same look the kaam is going to be complicated if it is to be as the original, I always come back with two quotes. I explain that one is to try and replicate the original kaam as closely as possible and the other is still good quality in terms of kaam materials used and finishing but won't have that same level of detail so as to make the cost more affordable.
I think proto's copy of this is a good example of what I am talking about. It looks good from far and also close-up, is neatly executed with a level of detail so the overall look is there. But considering the kaam only, it's still lots of dabka. I don't see the different shades of work, the thread work and many different types of filling... obviously coz that budget doesn't allow for it. Quality has not been compromised but kaam has been delivered as per the budget given.
Plz rate this replica
Ed, my biggest critique about this rep. is the colour of the dress. I don't think the kaam looks cheap at all and even though it isn't replicated exactly like the pics, its still executed nicely with an exception to the colour of the outfit. In my opinion that's my biggest problem with it. The colour of the outfit should of been exact or a tone close too but yours is a light dull punk compared to a vibrant peach. I usually choose outfits according to colours and when that's off I feel, in this case is really throwing the replica off. In my opinion, other than that even though the kaam isn't golden like it was asked to be I'm sure could of been an outfit that could of been worked with but with the colour not right, I can understand the disappointment. However I disagree I don't think it looks cheap, it's just another outfit inspired by the original, not a copy.