Pakistani Wedding Fashion

Wedding attire in Pakistan has undergone a drastic revitalisation while still holding on to traditional roots.

The Pakistan fashion industry has seen the emergence of enthralling fashion stars over the last decade.

Some of the gems that this industry is proud to have include: Asim Jofa, Deepak Parwani, Hassan Shehryar Yasin (HSY), Maria B, Reet, Nomi Ansari, Zara Ahmad and Adnan Pardesi.

For the last five years or so, the trend to wear long shirts and dresses has created a fixed buzz in Pakistan.

Before this, wedding attire usually revolved around short shirts with traditional lehengas and ghararas.

But both the casual and formal wear industry has now headed towards a revamped style that people simply adore.

Various fashion designers now feature their own bridal couture line that includes wedding Lehenga, Sharara, Gharara, long length frocks and other formal wears.

Renowned fashion designers in Pakistan are featuring perfectly wearable elegant long shirts with embellishments on the neckline, front and hemline with beautiful add-ons like ornamental motifs giving outfits an entirely elegant look.

Pakistan is one of those Asian countries where weddings are huge celebratory occasions for all involved. For the bride in particular, the most important part of the day is the wedding outfit with makeover and accessories being the next in the list.

As the wedding day is one of the top most memorable events in a girl’s lifetime, preliminary preparations are a must.

Wedding attire, makeover and accessories cannot be anything less than perfect. For this purpose, designer wear outlets often offer custom made wedding dresses to meet the exact specifications of bride-to-be.

When it comes to weddings, bridal jewellery is of paramount importance. Pakistan is a country where parents start to plan the amount of gold jewellery that they will be giving to their daughter as soon as she starts maturing.

But recently this trend is also moving towards an era of artificial jewellery sets that are so amazingly beautiful that people don’t mind switching to them.

This industry too is flourishing in Pakistan; many new jewellery designers have sprung up since the last decade or so offering stunning and intricately created pieces that look better than traditional gold.

Elegant bangles, hair brooches, beautiful necklaces, chandelier ear rings and sparkling rings are things without which a bride looks underdressed in Pakistan.

Furthermore wedding tiaras, hair accessories, handbags, watches, beautiful hairdos are equally important. Artificial jewellery that is custom made to exactly match the dress colour includes kundan, metal, sparkling crystal stones, semi-precious stones etc.

The Mehndi ceremony is a preliminary wedding function in Pakistan and India. In Pakistan this event is almost as important as the wedding day. The bride to-be mostly wears bright and fun colours like yellow and green.

Designers feature elegant mehndi dresses that are marked by kaamdani dupatta, shirts with beautiful beads, gota, dabki, mirror work, patch work, crystal stones, zari, kundan and unique patchwork. Putting mehndi designs on one’s hands is simply a tradition in Pakistan without which a bride looks incomplete.

In Pakistan many talented designers are producing top-notch fashion pieces. This industry regularly undergoes huge competition with the advent of so many new and talented designers.

Sometimes weddings and bridal outfits can be a bit of a colour game. The selection of colours for a bridal dress matters a lot. Various bright, vivid bridal dresses in Pakistan have been revamped considerably when it comes to colours but of course red remains the favourite of the majority of both designers and brides.

Popular Pakistani wedding designer, Maria B says: “Just like there have been so many changes across the world, fashion has also undergone a lot of changes. That is not to say that [traditional colours] are no longer used. Red is still worn a lot now, even today red is usually worn on the Ruksati day. So a lot of our outfits are made in red.”

“Now white is also very popular. Nowadays no one sits like the shy and coy bride anymore. Girls plan out everything. Like How will it look in a movie? and How will the photography be in this lighting?”

That being said, wedding dresses are no longer confined to red at all. Today, there is a concept of an awesome mix and match of wonderful colour palettes. Some of the most popular colours for formals in Pakistan are copper, gold, red, silver, indigo, green, turquoise, plum, black and white.

These colours are split according to the particular ceremony. For the Baraat ceremony in Pakistan, dark traditional colour schemes are usually chosen. Succeeding the Baraat is the Walima ceremony, where usually light, simple and sophisticated colours are chosen.

With ravishing and extravagant detailing of work and luxurious designs there is a stimulation to wear something traditional yet chic.

This is the reason that no matter how much modernisation takes place in the fashion industry, the traditional roots are always the centre of attention.

For weddings, long elegant gowns with lehenga or gharara are a buzz in Pakistan, this particular wave of fashion has its own beauty. The best thing of this fashion wave is that it is not adopted by a few privileged sections of society but is taken up by all.

This was fashion remains accessible to all sections of society, especially with so many outlets of wedding dresses that offer everything from a low price range to a sky high one. And it’s not just restricted to Pakistan either.

Pakistani Wedding fashion has rapidly become a global trendsetter. It is responsible for influencing so many South Asian brides across the world. And many brides will go to a lot of length to seek out certain Pakistani fashion designers for their perfect outfit.

In the end, Pakistani weddings are about celebrations between families and friends. But it is also a rare chance for any woman and bride to look and feel like a princess for a day.