Over the last few years, the technological and economic advancements in Pakistan has also given rise to people giving more attention to how they look. Personal grooming is considered one of the most important aspects of life that people in Pakistan are now paying attention to.
From the far-off villages to the modern society of major cities like Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, dressing sense has been elevated to a certain degree. The cultural values and the modern trends in clothing are also becoming aligned on same platforms.
Dressing, being one of the things that people notice about a person, holds much weight to it. Apart from commercial brands, there are people who are well-trained to meet the modern day requirement of the public.
Some of the best brands have set up their workshops in villages where rural women are getting chance to unleash their potential. Handmade clothing has a certain degree of personalization to it, every stitch depicts the resilience of these women who have stepped out of their homes to earn a sustainable livelihood and marketing their products in the today market.
Instead of the robotic stitches, the stitch a woman puts in a dress with her very own hands, every button that she puts in, states the art and potential of Pakistan and people of Pakistan in an unspeakable manner. And it is because of this fact that there is a huge demand for handmade dresses in the market and online handcrafted dresses over the websites and social media sites.
Pakistani handmade dresses are sold at quite a price overseas reason being the soul and the effort that our people, our women, put into the art of fashion designing and fine stitching.
They have this ability to give a very dope touch to one’s personality by polishing the aspect that the person is not only a true patriot but is also loyal to the people of their community who put a lot of effort in making dresses that stand-out. Also, these dresses make a bold statement of what our culture is and what our traditions are.
Pakistani culture is enriched with a heritage that is filled with true colors of spirit, bravery, empathy and moral values, Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi, Pathan, Kashmiri, every part of Pakistan and its people represent the culture through their arts and crafts and especially their clothes. Each one of these, with some variations and changes, offer their own style that overall represents our culture in the modern world.
I, recently, came across a foundation in Pakistan which is working for women empowerment in Pakistan especially in the rural areas by providing those skills for training in fashion designing and stitching of these handmade clothes and training. I had a chance to visit the vocational training centers as well, where the females are taught basic to advanced skills to meet today market.
I was surprised to hear the stories of these women who by breaking all the stereotypes in their society are willing to go out of their homes and work in order to get a sustainable livelihood and to represent their cultures through the art of fashion designing.
Even sitting in the remote villages, they have access to modern day requirements so they know what’s and how’s of the generation’s fashion wear and style, and their work is up to the mark.
Nevertheless, we are people with rich tradition and we should be supporting the work of these resilient women, whether being portrayed in some major brand shop or go to the grass-root level for a meet and greet and if possible even buy their art which they have all laid out in form of handmade clothes.
Contributed by: Shahroze Khan
