Lahore : Luxury clothing is worth what you’re willing to pay and people pay for a brand that has an aesthetic that doesn’t differ from collection to collection, sometimes even generation to generation. These are the rare few brands that can truly justify the cost of their wares making products of distinction that are of top notch quality.
While Zara Shahjahan is a relatively newer brand, it’s one that can be considered luxury and niche as it falls in the higher end of the spectrum for its bridals, unstitched and it’s ready to wear lines. Social media has recently been ablaze with people questioning her for her steep prices and complaining about quality and consistency issues.
Instep spoke to the designer to find out what she has to say about it.
“As any other company, we have a 5 per cent complaint margin in our collections. We deliver up to 10,000 outfits in two days and our complaints for this collection were 2 per cent; it was just highlighted so much because they were on social media. The clothes can be returned where they are bought. I don’t understand the need to go on social media.”
As for the prices, she says: “I don’t get machine work done, I get it all hand stitched and it’s dyed by hand so it’s not possible to reduce the prices. We also have a team for fabric development who develop our fabrics in Pakistan and we’re always working on introducing new fabric into the market.”
She shares that ‘Indian Chanderi’ was something that they developed locally along with a different kind of jacquard.
“For our winter collection, we’ve developed another fabric that hasn’t been made in Pakistan before. A separate fabric development section isn’t cheap to hire.”
Zara Shahjahan definitely has a signature style that she’s stuck to since she started her career. Feminine florals were always her domain, which have matured with her brand and her aesthetic which now includes lucid, traditional silhouettes in subtle colors occasionally worked with smatterings of gota, kamdani, zari and zardozi. This aesthetic is supported by campaigns and brand messaging that have established Zara Shahjahan as a truly identifiable aesthetic.
There was a time when this simplicity in design and gravitation towards the traditional was almost unique to her brand. Now, as the world and tastes are evolving, many other brands are picking up the same style.
She feels there’s no protection for fashion designers or of intellectual property. “We work so hard and I feel like I’m a sample maker for the fashion industry. I don’t want to talk about plagiarism but I do want to talk about integrity in all parts of business whether it’s the people who work with you or the different aspects of business. None of it is regulated. When the textile boom came, laws came into being and now the fashion industry is such a big platform and is promoting Pakistan internationally, there are no values being instilled in our fashion graduates.”
It’s true that regulation in the industry is a dire need of the hour, in every aspect. Whether it’s hiring models for a shoot, how they’re treated on set or intellectual property laws.
Shahjahan showed a memorable collection at the PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week earlier this year but will be sitting out bridal week in September in lieu of a solo show after.
