Clothing exhibition: Get your style on with traditional dresses

Zehra V’s collection offers elegant designs at affordable prices.

ISLAMABAD:

With Eidul Azha around the corner, ladies are desperately scrambling over boutique racks, running to tailors and haggling with cloth dyers.

For those who want to dress well but don’t have the time to go through the hassle, Zehra Valliani, an Islamabad-based designer, launched her formal and semi-formal clothing exhibition on Thursday.

Her clothing line, known as Zehra V, is a combination of pure silks, jamawars, chiffons, and cottons.

With over 180 stitched and unstitched pieces in various colours, women at the launch were seen trying on dresses ranging from long kurtas to heavily-embroidered A-line shirts.

“I only work with pure materials; I have my own embroiders and tailors and my pieces are one of a kind,” said the designer.

The embroidery is an interesting mix and match of thread work, stones sequins and even zardozi.

However, what sets her clothes apart are perhaps the affordable prices.

With fully-stitched long kurtas ranging from Rs1,000 to heavily embroidered three-piece suits for Rs17,000, Zehra caters to all sorts of customers.

“I came here to buy something for Eid. Considering the time left I needed something off the rack and was dreading that my wallet would be emptied, but amazingly I bought two three-piece suits for the amount I had imagined I would spend on one dress,” said Nadya, who was holding two shopping bags.

While many designers are following the trend of western lines and cuts, Zehra sticks firmly to traditional motifs.

“I don’t understand why designers are impressed by the West, what we need to understand is that we have to cater to our own market, not jump on the western bandwagon,” she said. “What suits you is simply what is in fashion.”

The studio in F-10/2 also houses imported clutch bags, handbags and perfumes of various brands.

“We don’t get such stuff here. Every time I went abroad people would ask me to get stuff for them, so I thought why not bring them here so they can buy themselves,” she said.

However, as traditional as her work may be, one hopes she adds brighter and more vibrant colours to her collection.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2012.