Maria B launches ready-to-wear lawn

The brand has chosen model Amna Ilyas as its cover girl, whose styling has been done by Asmaa Mumtaz.


Saadia Qamar March 02, 2011

KARACHI: Maria Butt, aka Maria B, launched her lawn collection in Karachi on March 2. What makes the designer’s collection different is her experimentation with stitched lawn with prices ranging from Rs3,900 and Rs4,300, alongside regular unstitched items ranging from Rs2,700 to Rs3,250.

Sharing details of her collection, Butt said: “It’s ready-to-go lawn, which offers 10 designs with three colour variations. Hence, 30 new prints in a stitched and unstitched lawn collection.”

This year the designer has introduced four different kinds of lawn, “Every year we see the lawn business growing. I have brought four different varieties of prints. The first one is traditional, which is very regional. The second line is a fusion line which is ethnic and funky. The third is what one can call a western collection, it has the English rose print and for the younger lot, I have brought in a funky collection.” Butt believes that most of her clients are young girls.

When asked why the move to stitched lawn she said: “We are the pioneers in bringing stitched lawn in the market. It is for the people who are sick and tired of going to tailors, who never stitch on time. Secondly, it is most definitely a collection for working women too.”

For Butt: “Balancing colours is the key to my designs. I use two to three different colour patterns in one fabric. I don’t play with earthy tones and pastel colours in one fabric. It changes the colour pattern. What I do is bring one colour in three different shades to balance the colour combination.”

The brand has chosen model Amna Ilyas as its cover girl, whose styling has been done by Asmaa Mumtaz. Talking to The Express Tribune, Mumtaz said: “It’s been almost three years that I have been working with Maria B. I have worked on her [accessory] collection called M Girl. This time, for her stitched lawn, we chose Amna Ilyas for the shoot. It’s always good to work with Maria. She gives me creative freedom. As far as Ilyas is concerned, the shoot turned out great; it is great to work with Karachi-based models. We need new faces; we have such a limited selection. She is young, she is vigorous. It was all in all a good experience.”

Maria B has been in the designing business for the past 12 years. For the last five years, she has been involved in lawn designing and offering better quality products is her mantra: “This is the fifth year that we are designing lawn. We believe in providing better quality of fabric. Every year, the lawn quality improves. This is one thing we have never compromised on.”

About the ongoing lawn warfare, Maria B states: “It is a mushroom growth and a bubble burst will occur, just like the one we saw in Dubai’s economic recession. In this [lawn] war, there are designers and textile giants that are involved. This is just a profitable marketing gimmick, that’s how I see it.”

Then who will survive the competition? “Only the premium product that is priced well. People are not fools,they can’t be fooled with marketing tactics, not for long,” said Butt.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3rd, 2011.

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