Karachi Shopping: Mayoun

Hope everyone had a fantabulous long weekend! 🙂 It’s time to give you guys more details on my shopping experiences…

Have I mentioned I love Tariq Road? Well I do, because its truly a one-stop “shop” for brides.

I knew I was going to buy my main wedding clothes from Tariq Road, but I wasn’t sure if I could find an inexpensive Mayoun outfit. Going in, all I knew was that I wanted to spend around $50-75 on this outfit – it’s yellow and I’d be wearing it once. Maybe twice. If I was to buy my mayoun outfit from a “designer,” I knew I’d be paying atleast $100.

So where can you find a nice mayoun outfit for a fraction of the designer prices?
Rabi Center at Tariq Road!

In the past, we seldom ventured from the ground floor of Rabi Center – it’s hot, congested and full of weirdos. Who’d want to put themselves through that?! Prior to this visit, I didn’t even know Rabi Center had 7 floors – yeah, 7!!

Anyway, my mom told me that she had seen a shop with mayoun stuff last time she visited Karachi. I knew we’d have to go up to that store.

I wish I could give you guys the name of the store but I don’t think the shops have names – there weren’t any visible signs anyway. All I can say is this: if you’re looking for inexpensive mayoun clothes, please go to the 3rd floor (I think it’s the 3rd!) of Rabi Center. You will find a BIG selection of clothes for an amazingly good price. You really can’t go wrong!

I did make a mistake when I ordered my outfits: instead of buying the ready-made clothes, I asked the store to make a few changes – i.e. changing the colours. The person who took my order was not a regular sales guy and we had a really hard time communicating. Trying to make him understand even the simplest of things was extremely tough – at one point, we were both so fed up of each other that I ended up holding my head and turning away from him. He looked equally annoyed at me. Yup, not the bestest of days.

Once we had placed the order, I thought everything was fine. Nope. Not only were the outfits 2 days late – keep in mind that these were unstitched; once I would receive them from this store, I had to get them stitched by our tailor – but when they arrived, they were all wrong! None of the changes I had asked for were made – I’m pretty sure they got fed up of us calling and gave us whatever was in store.

We were pretty annoyed.

The manager/owner managed to calm us down and we ended up buying 2 of the 4 outfits because they had turned out fine. The other 2 we got from 2 other stores.

Anywho, I would absolutely recommend buying your (and your family’s) mayoun outfits from Rabi Center. Sure, there was a slight hiccup but it’s still worth it since my outfit cost under $50! My only advice: buy things as you see them – since these aren’t designers/boutiques, it’s a gamble if you custom-make things.

No, that's not my mayoun outfit. It was the only yellow looking outfit I have soo in the spirit of mayoun, I posted this picture!

Happy Shopping!

Shopping in Karachi: Bridal Outfits

Prior to heading to Pakistan, I had some concerns and lots of questions. Mainly, I was wondering:

• Will anyone understand my vision?
• Am I going to get my outfits before I leave?
• Is it worth it to shop in Karachi?

Before I answer those questions (in detail), I will say this: I did ALL my shopping for Tariq Road and Bahadurabad. This includes my 3 main bridal outfits (Mehendi, Shaadi and Valima), jahaiz clothes, and all the outfits for my family. I know there are lots of new shopping malls but we didn’t have time to look around. I knew I wanted to order my wedding outfits within 2 days of being there sooo we stuck with what we knew: Tariq Road!

And now… your questions answered:

My Vision
My vision for my outfits, with the exception of the Valima, is very traditional. I want to be able to look back 25 years later and think: I look good… and not wish I could change everything. Traditional should be simple to understand, right? Apparently not. I’ve heard horror stories about outfits being ruined and turning out completely different from what the bride envisioned. Scary thought!

It was a challenge to find people who understood me – often times, mumma and I would have headaches by the end of the night! However, all it takes is that one person to get you.

My Advice: Have a clear picture of what you want your outfits to look like, but be open to new suggestions.

 

Time
I really wanted to come back with my outfits – I didn’t want to go through the hassle of having to chase my outfits from Toronto. I had also seen that wedding clothes sometimes didn’t arrive until the month of the wedding – which is just way too risky for my liking. What if I didn’t like my outfit?!

Hence, one of the main reasons for buying my outfit from the store that I did, was that they were going to give me my outfits before I left. Alhamdulilah, my outfits were ready before I came back!

My Advice: Buy “ready-made” outfits – it’ll save you ALOT of time (tailors are such a pain!). Another option is to buy sample outfits – these are outfits that the designer/store has samples of… you can tweak the designs/colour to your liking.

 

Shopping in Karachi – Worth It?
Absolutely! With so many options available in Toronto now, I was worried that 1) I was just going to end up spending more money by going to Pakistan. What is up with the insanely high airfare prices?! and 2) There is so much variety here that I won’t find anything new… soooo what’s the point of going?!

1. The price difference is huge. Whereas decent bridal outfits start from around $1,500 (1,700 if I’m being totally honest) in Toronto, Tariq Road had sharara’s starting at approximately $600 (50,000ish PKR).
2. I thought Toronto had ALOT of variety… that is, until I arrived at Tariq Road. The variety over here does not even come close to everything available in Pakistan!

My Advice: If you can, you should definitely go to Pakistan to do your shopping. It is totally worth your ticket – you will save ALOT (especially if you have sisters) and the variety is unparalleled. Go during off-season (I went right after Eid and before Muharram) to avoid delays in getting your clothes.

 

I wasn't allowed to take my camera anywhere.