Shopping

After work last Friday, I went shopping with the girls, which was much needed girl time and retail therapy after my first week adjustment to Pakistan living. My colleague was looking for fabric for a tunic to wear to our other colleague's wedding reception.  She wanted fabric that would match a purple shawl, a family heirloom that her mother had embroidered by hand.  

Choosing from many colorful fabric choices

After the fabric store, we went to one of their favorite clothing stores, Khaadi, where I bought a royal blue tunic topic and nearly a dozen scarves.  The word, khadi, is the term for hand-woven cloth mostly spun from cotton.  

The shalwar kameez is the traditional women's dress style consisting of baggy pajama-like trousers with a long tunic.  This is accessorized with a dupatta, a long scarf that is worn over the shoulder or draped over the shoulders like a cape.  I've noticed that professional women in Pakistan generally don't cover their heads but most have some type of shawl accessory.  Most professional women dress like this Khaadi model.

Khaadi model in a shalwar kameez with a dupatta.

In casual settings, women often wear leggings and sometimes jeans as bottoms with a tunic-style top.  My colleague explained that fashion trends for shorter above-the-knee tunics and longer ankle-length tunics rotate.  Now, she explained, the shorter tunics are the trendy item.

Traditional dress for men is a kurta, a long tunic shirt.  The taqiyah is the cap that some men wear like the man in the picture below.  Muslim men wear this cap to emulate the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) who wore one.  But in professional settings, men are more likely to wear western-style clothing. 

Khaadi male model in a kurta and taqiyah.

Successful shopping outing.

Paisley print Khaadi shopping bags