The Pakistani bride is looking for the perfect dress when she is getting married. Each woman desires the best, the most glamorous and latest design for their wedding. The fashion industry of Pakistan has international acclaim because it is dedicated to preserving dying traditional threadwork, craftsmanship and techniques that make the bridal wear so impressive globally. A brand like Sana Safinaz, Ali Xeeshan, HSY, Zara Shahjahan have captured the attention of clients internationally wanting to wear Pakistani bridal dresses to charity balls and Hollywood events.
Latest Pakistani Bridal Designer Dresses
With decades of experience making traditional custom made bridal designs for appointment only clients, many fashion brands have developed into flagship bridal retail stores in Pakistan. Designers like Tena Durrani, Sania Maskatiya, Asim Jofa, Nida Azwer and
Faraz Manan have developed a variety of designs that cater to various price points and styles. Designers now create bridal wear that can be customised to bring the price down and turned into evening wear ensemble.
Wedding Dresses
Dedicated bridal wear designed like Fahad Hussayn,
Zainab Chottani and Banto Kazmi do not invest in making any retail casual clothing lines. Their design methodology is to make solely bridal wear as that is their speciality. They frequently showcase their bridal designs on prominent fashion runway shows of Pakistan. These dresses are so expensive and hard to afford, which is why there are many reliable copies of designer bridal dresses available online. These sellers take inspiration from these high-end designers and create beautiful versions of bridal dresses for a quarter of the price.
Bridal Dresses for Barat
These gowns are traditionally red and have antique handcrafted gold threadwork all over the shirt and lengha or gharara. The long flowing embroiled dupatta can be anywhere between 4 to 6 meters depending on the design. These dupattas have a heavy border in the front where it is placed on the head of the bride like a crown. The rest of the borders are usually kept simple to manage easily by the bride. The groom also matched his turban with the bride's outfit this day completing the royal picture nostalgic of old Mughal era aesthetics.
Valima or Walima Bridal Dresses
These are usually kept light and pastel in colour to create a different look from the Barat bridal dress and has less threadwork and embroidery as well to give the bride a break and rest from carrying a heavy Jora the night before. The valima bridal dresses are easy to carry and comfortable making the bride feel free to socialise with her relatives and friends.
Mehndi Bridal Dresses
These are the fun and colour of all the major bridal dresses, with Chitta Patti, gota kinara and Mukesh embellishments that are vintage and timeless craftsmanship of South Asia. The bride wears a light chiffon dupatta and no heavy jewellery to make it easy for her to dance and have a great time without worrying about the bridal dress.
Nikkah Bridal Dresses
The elegant and minimal outfit of the Nikkah is kept simple neutral as these ceremonies happen in the day time. The classic white bridal dresses are used for the singing of the Nikkah as this also marks the beginning of the celebrations for the wedding.
Bridal Fashion Week
Hum TV started a Pantene sponsored Bridal Couture Fashion Week in 2010. The rise of designer collections dedicated to bridal wear has become more and more available with new and upcoming designer showcasing their collections on the platform. The legend of bridal wear is the fashion house called HSY founded by Hassan Sheheryar Yasin, who has been designing bridal for decades in Pakistan. His work symbolises the decadent and traditional Mughal empress aesthetic that has become synonymous with what is considered to be Pakistani bridal wear.
