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Khaadi Khaas takes ready-to-wear to a whole
new level
Shamoon Sultan's new high fashion label is an off shoot of,
yet radically different from the uber popular Khaadi
By Saba
Sartaj K |
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The
day is yet to come when snazzy pret will litter our high streets.
But purse-friendly prices, no-nonsense designs and trendy ensembles
are certainly taking Pakistan closer to pret. A rush of new `pret'
lines that have come out recently have increased the scope and size
of the ready-to-wear market. From D Philosophy to Kamiar Rokni's ready
to weatr line and of course not to forget Maheen's Gulabo, for the
first time, there seems to be an easy availability of off-the-rack-garments,
which are in tune with international design trends, and score high
on the twin meters of wearability and affordability.
Designers who have concentrated only on couture till now, are coming
out with pret labels. And, on the other hand, small, stand-alone stores
which stock only pret,such as Cynosure, are starting up. Last fortnight,
Shamoon Sultan launched Khaadi Khaas, with a charming and tastefully
interior outlet in Karachi's swanky and up market Zamzama area. The
clothes, a delightful array of heavily-sequined Khaadi cotton and
silks, in the very au courant Indo-Western styles (short/long kurtas
-trouser combos in bright cobalt, Orange, pink and greens) for women
were reasonably priced and very pleasing to the eyes. With a wide
range of styles, designs and sizes, anyone looking for elegant evening
wear could walk out of the store with a self assured smile.
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Shamoon
has put together an assortment of well-cut and beautifully-detailed
garments (party shirts, kurtas, three piece suits and mix-and-match
ensembles), starting at 4000 rupees and going up to 15,000 rupees
for the more heavily embellished pieces. The clothes are worked with
natural fabrics, mostly khaadi cottons and silks, which make his clothes
extremely wearable. His creations reflect the fact that he is in sync
with the latest in design and trends, which has designers create trendy
and comparatively lower-priced ready-to-wear collections. Both easy
on the eye, and the wallet Khaadi Khaas has some extremely stylish
clothes in a very reasonable range with brilliant detailing and finish.
There is now an incredible upsurge in fashion with the pret revolution
taking place.
More and more people are finding themselves squeezed for the time
it takes to get clothes tailored, finding that the fabric-buying,
the 20 trips to the tailor, and all the other attendant problems are
simply not worth the bother. The same people are also intimidated
by designer studios. They are far more comfortable doing trials in
smaller stores like Cynosure, Generation and Khaadi Khaas, and that's
where they end up buying the most.
Amongst the few, Khaadi Khaas stands apart for the sheer fabrics,
the tones and textures, detailing and the cuts that make its garments
perfect. The collection, a mix of formal and party wear, in a wide
colour palate is relaxed and contemporary in hues of yellow, orang,
blue, creame and pink with coloured sequins and beads .The clothes
are colourful and funky and reflect loads of attitude. Be it detailed
with piping, embroidered tone or embellished with stones or beads,
the clothes are beautiful and literally Khaadi's signature statement.
Khaadi Khaas, an off-shoot of Khaadi can be seen as an upcoming popular
fashion retail brand. Moving from the casual forte, Shamoon has very
successfully entered the realm of the party-wear line.
The creativity is evident in the designs and Shamoon sure does know
the sure shot recipe to success. Bold and striking, anyone one donning
a Khaadi Khaas outfit will demand attention. Khaadi Khaas has taken
the art of hand woven cloth one step forward and placed it as a source
of fabric for high-end couture. Shamoon's innovative fusion of textiles
and fashion transforms into very wearable clothing that would be a
welcome addition to any fashionista's wardrobe. Classical and the
contemporary, the garments at Khaadi Khaas are a visual mix of trendy
colours with fusion embroidery drawn from a legacy of rich craftsmanship
and global inspirations. Reinventing Eastern wear, they are perfect
for Pakistan's cosmopolitan woman.
Khaadi Khaas is the first shop in the Zamzama lane
that is also home to Sonya Battla's flagship store, hot spot Espresso
and swanky restaurant Okra.
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The
daughter of the Raja of Amber (now Jaipur) was the first of his Rajput
wives and probably the mother of his heir Salim (later emperor Jehangir).
In recognition of her special status, Akbar gave her the title of
Mariam-uz-Zamani (Holy Mother of the Universe), but there is no record
of her real name or that of any of the other queens.
Mukhia has an explanation for this. While Akbar was a remarkably unbigoted
man in many ways and never asked his Hindu wives to convert, he never
allowed their names to be spoken publicly or recorded. He felt public
knowledge of a woman's name would somehow stain her purity, so he
decreed that his many queens should only be known by conferred titles,
says Mukhia.
But although their names are lost to history, Akbar's Rajput queens
had real power--a fact recorded by court historian Badayuni. They
arranged the marriages of Akbar's son to Rajput princesses and when
the minister of religious affairs executed a Brahmin against Akbar's
orders, they taunted Akbar about his inability to enforce his will.
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The
Rajput Sabha, however, has its own version of Mughal history. It takes
strong objection to Jodhaa Akbar being projected as a love story,
as well as to the very title of the film. "Jodhabai was the name
of one of Salim's wives, the daughter-in-law of Akbar. It's a serious
distortion of history to say he fell in love with her," says
Narendra Singh Rajawat, the president of the Rajput Sabha. But what
really irks the Sabha is reflected in the complaint of another member
who wishes to remain anonymous: "The Rajput princesses were making
supreme sacrifices for the welfare of their people by accepting such
marriages," she says, "Love had absolutely nothing to do
with it.
"A claim that many Rajasthanis would scoff at--for example, during
the Gujjar-Meena agitation last year, the Meenas circulated a pamphlet
that taunted the Rajputs for simply giving away their daughters to
the Mughals to curry favour, instead of defending their homeland.
The practice of vassal states giving daughters to conquering rulers
has a long tradition in Indian history. As far back as the 4th century
BC, Chandra-gupta Maurya married the daughter of the Macedonian king
he had defeated. Six hundred years later, Samudragupta made it a practice
for his vassal kings to send their daughters to him in marriage. The
Rajputs seem to have done much better under the Mughals, with Akbar
himself joining the baraat when his son married the Amber princess.
In fact, as Amin points out, generations of Mughal rulers were the
sons of Rajput mothers.
Yet another aspect of Jodhaa Akbar that may have provoked the ire
of those who oppose the film is that this is the first major Bollywood
film about a Hindu woman in love with a Muslim man. Observes film
critic and author Mukul Kesavan, in most Hindu-Muslim love stories
on cinema, the woman has always been Muslim. "I can't think of
a single major film that shows the woman being a Hindu," he says.
Four well-known films, Veer-Zaara, Gadar, Bombay and Henna, all had
a Muslim in the woman's role. Even Mughal-e-Azam and Gulzar's film
Lekin, which showed Hindu wives of Muslim men, only had them in supporting
roles. So is Rajput Sabha's petition about historical veracity just
a red herring to distract people from their real source of anger?
In his defence, Gowariker says he chose to use the name Jodhaa Akbar
on the basis of books such as Medieval India by K.N. Khurana, Akbar
by Munilal and Harishankar Sharma's Madhyakaleen Bharat. Gowariker
also consulted Habib. Habib confirms this, but adds dismissively,
"We disagreed on almost everything."
However, to Gowariker's immense relief, the courts have now ruled
that the film only has to add a disclaimer saying it isn't historically
accurate. Gowariker is more than willing to concede. "I have
only 30 per cent of the facts, that a young Mughal emperor married
a Rajput princess. What happened afterwards is what my movie is about
and that is the 70 per cent that I have imagined."
Historians may have issues with accuracy, but to them it is only a
film, a love story, "and nothing to get worked up about,"
as Amin says. Even if it takes a giant leap of imagination to see
toyboy Hrithik Roshan as the emperor Akbar.
Courtesy Outlook India
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