Clothing exhibition: All that’s prêt in summery colours

Naranji hits the scene with affordable pieces designed for the working women.

ISLAMABAD: As women stock up on summer closet, an affordable yet trendy option has made the job simpler. Xainab Sarwar’s prêt line “Naranji” is easy on the pocket with an assortment of readily wearable items. The collection will particularly benefit working women shopping on a budget, said Sarwar while exhibiting her brand at Olive Garden on Saturday.

Some 54 pieces were put on display including ready-to-wear formal, semi formal and casual wear pieces.

The Lahore-based designer not only prepares readymade pieces but also takes custom orders. “I can work within a customer’s budget, if they tell me the budget and preferences and I’ll design according to that,” she said.

Her casual ready-to-wear line consists of shirt pieces with long loose cuts and generally large sleeves, as in kurta. However, for single pieces with no work on them, the price was on the pricey end (Rs2,000). The formal wedding wear line on the other hand was better priced as the highest three piece suit complete with embroidery work was for Rs30,000 while the rest went up to Rs20,000.

The formal wear line concentrated on quality of the cloth and stitching. Sarwar stressed that pure materials were used in making all the pieces, “There will never be any complaints regarding cloth as we work solely with pure materials, the stitching and cut is also carefully done to assure quality.”

A lack of a formal outlet may be a hindrance for the enthusiastic designer but she seems certain working with her own designs is the way to go. All the cloth, embroidery and stitching is done in Islamabad.

The semi-formal pieces consist of shirts and dupattas and the range is between Rs2,000 to Rs5,000 as the pieces comprise colourful embroidery on the front and the daman. The pieces are brightly coloured keeping in mind the hot summer season with light material such as cotton and lawn.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2012.