ok ladies, i just got back from karachi and here is my shopping breakdown!
-
you SO don’t need to shop designer to get beautiful clothes. i was so pleased with everything that was in the markets. having said that, there’s also a lot of crap to be found, so use your judgement and good taste and you’ll get a beautiful outfit for under 1 lakh.
-
jabeens and rim jhim are two of the best stores in the city! they’re owned by the same people and they are amazing. jabeens is on tariq road, across from tariq center, and rim jhim is in clifton. i ordered my clothes for my bro’s mehendi and wedding from jabeen’s, two outfits from my sil’s bari and my sil’s valima outfit from jabeen’s. they are well-made clothes, bargain on the price, and best of all, you get QUALITY for your money. it was so easy shopping there. they’ve promised everything will be ready by April iA but generally i found anywhere you went, a bridal jora required 2-3 months minimum.
jabeen’s and rim jhim are priced upwards of 15000 rupees. their bridals are anywhere from 75000 and up, depending on what you want.
-
we ordered the groom’s and guy’s sherwanis from Royal Silk Palace on Zamzama. Again, super professional people and all they do is sherwanis so they’re very well-versed and know exactly what to make and how to make it. sherwanis can range from 9000 rupees and up, so you can go as affordable or as expensive as you want. i used this form to take measurements for my brother and hubby for the sherwanis- click the Download Order Form button- Naushemian - A perfect choice for your wedding day - Designer Sherwani, Bridal and Kurta.
-
groom’s khussa’s were from Junaid Jamshed and were very reasonably priced at 4000 rs. they make them according to US sizes which makes life much easier for those of us shopping from abroad- they’re handmade and lined in velvet. very nice!
-
chooriyan and imitation jewellery- the best place is tariq center which is full of varying prices and qualities, and also gulf.
there is a silver store in gulf where i bought these chandelier-style, kundan and pearl earrings for 6500 rupees that are just gorgeous. they’re made in silver with gold pani on them and the kundan and pearls are genuine. they have a large variety- its one of the better known stores there- i can’t recall the name now but will let you guys know later.
-
if you are in the defense area, you don’t even need to go to tariq road for fabrics- gulf has everything you could possibly want, including stores that sell mehendi supplies and boxes for wrapping jaheyz and bari. we bought this gorgeous velvet covered box for chooriyan and my sil’s valima outfit from gulf.
-
kehkashan is full of the good, the bad, and the ugly lol. you really have to be there in person to see the kind of kaam people are offering and to bargain with them re: pricing. some stores are super pricey, down the lane, you’ll find other stores doing the same work for half the price. i was kind of iffy on it- i think Kehkashan is for people who live in karachi and have the time to run around the karigars and make sure their work is done and/or have someone in karachi willing to do the running around for them once they leave. having said that, they copy anything and everything you can show them and have tons of samples of kaam you can choose from. the main key is to bargain, bargain, bargain. get your material from Gulf as it is better in quality and price than what is available in Kehkashan.
the store Designers in Kehkashan was terrible- the service was bad and the quality of kaam they had to show was super paindu. i was not impressed at all.
-
we went to see Uroosiyat as well. you need an appointment with them before you go. i was very, very disappointed. their stuff was just not impressive in design and they are super over-priced for what they were offering. i’d give it a miss!
-
we got my sil’s set from Marjaan on tariq road. they have gorgeous stuff, all of it is very contemporary, and it is beautiful. we also went to Nauratan on tariq road and they had traditional and beautiful stuff, but my God, gold is SO expensive! its currently at 36,000 rupees per tola faint
a traditional kind of set with rubies/emeralds/sapphires is around 2.5 lakh plus. the contemporary stuff is less and can be had for under 2 lakhs.
notes:
the light goes off three times during the day and with the hangama situation in karachi, you really need to be on the ball and factor in another 2 weeks to any orders you place anywhere in the city.
bridal orders will take a minimum of 2-3 months anywhere.
definitely check out rim jhim and jabeen’s for bridals and formals as they have a wide variety and know their stuff.
bargain like mad with every store keeper.
for formals, shop around gulf. there are ten thousand stores there and you will definitely find something beautiful for your bari and/or jaheyz.
for saris, we went to banaras silk center on tariq road in dolmen mall for beautiful banarasi saris.
lots of stores are now having sales! this is a new phenomenon for me as it wasn’t really there when i went to karachi last time.
for semi-formals, there is a whole line of boutiques in the last street in Zamzama, in line with Royal Silk Palace that have beautiful ready-to-wear outfits for around 3000-5000 rupees, which is very well-priced for karachi.
tailors are really expensive so make sure you find a good one before you give them any of your work. a gharara is around 5000-6000 rupees just for the stitching, not including the materials and any kaam you might want; farshi’s cost more. suits can be made for around 300-400 rupees per outfit but thats for something very plain- no beyl or piping at all. once you add in beyl and piping, you are looking at around 600 rupees, and for churidaars with gota or piping, for instance, it can even be around 1500 rupees per outfit.
what’s in fashion right now: loooong shirts, wide legged pants (called “ajaars”), dhaka pajamas (basically, these are ghararas with no gote), and hemlines that are a-symmetrical so they’re higher in the front and then bias cut so they’re longer in the back. it looks extremely classy and very nice with long, straight pants, and super regal if you pair it with a lehenga, gharara, or dhaka pajama. the idea is that if you wear this style of kameez with pants, from the back, it drapes all the way down so you can’t see the pants at all.
front open coat-style kameezes are still very popular, as is anything from Needlework Impressions or Threads & Motifs. those two stores have a particular kind of thread embroidery that is really beautiful and very different from what is normally available.
oh also, just a quick note- we got huge discounts from shopping with my aunt, who is a professional shopper in karachi. she has clients who fly in for a week or two weeks and she takes them around to the best places for their bari or jaheyz requirements (jewellery, clothing, whatever), negotiates on their behalf and gets them the best deals. she’s done this for so long that half the store keepers in karachi know her and want to do business with her.
once all the orders are placed and her clients have flown out of the country, she then follows up with all the karigars, boutiques, tailors, stores, etc. and then picks up the orders and parcels them to wherever her clients request. its a super invaluable service, honestly, and we would have been overwhelmed and completely lost without her guiding us through karachi wedding shopping. so if anyone is heading there or is interested in finding out more, drop me a PM and i’ll send you her info.
thats it! 
if anyone has any other questions, feel free to ask away and i’ll do my best to help out!