From what I hear, there has been quite a bit of inflation over the past year or two. My cousins recently told me that even reputable zari houses in Lahore and Karachi won’t do bridal orders for less than Rs 100,000, let alone “designers.”
Frankly I’m a little skeptical of both sides in this story. If Ms. Maya was expecting “SHY” (seriously, who name drops designers like that without even being able to spell the names correctly?) quality for Rs. 65,000 then she’s bound to be disappointed. There’s a reason why HSY bridals start at around Rs 200,000 - to expect the same level of quality from a dress that cost less than a third of that is absurd.
On the other hand, if Mr. Abbasi remotely valued his reputation as a designer, he never would have agreed to do a bridal outfit on such a tight budget. Even from his own description, it sounds like the embroidery on the outfit was of low quality…sequins and kundan work belong on cheap Indian outfits, not on designer Pakistani bridal wear. A real designer would have turned her away with that budget rather than putting out shoddy work just to get another order.