Peshawar Mor is not a place where one would go looking for haute couture, least of all ball gowns. But if you do make your way through the butcher shops, where skinned chickens hang on hooks and goat heads are arranged on counters, you might spot blonde-haired mannequins in sequined satin and lace dresses standing in brightly lit store windows.

For over 20 years, these shops at Peshawar Mor have been home to dressmakers from Afghanistan. Their specialty: evening gowns.

These migrants may have left their homes behind, but they have brought with them the ways of old Afghanistan; daylong gala weddings with floral centre pieces, candles, cakes, bouquets and decked out cars. Even after three decades of living in Pakistan, those who grew up in Zahir Shah’s Afghanistan still wear Western-style evening gowns, suits and tuxedos to weddings and other occasions.

Raza Sakhi, owner of Hashmat Sakhi Tailoring, opened shop in 1996 after moving here from Kabul. The walls of the store are lined with formal gowns in all kinds of cuts, colours and silhouettes. There are short cocktail dresses and long evening gowns. Dresses with halter necks and spaghetti straps, sheath dresses, wrap dresses, peplum skirts and maxi dresses in chiffon, lace, silk, organza and satin. The bodices and corsets are sequined with intricate bead work, gemstones and brooches stitched on.

Tiaras made of imitation stones fill a glass case on one of the walls. Behind the counter is a row of pristine white wedding gowns, packed in plastic bags.

“Afghan weddings are different from typical Pakistani ones,” Raza Sakhi says proudly as he takes a net bridal dress out of its bag with a flourish.

The frilly piece has a voluminous skirt made in what is known as the princess cut – tight at the bodice and flared at the hem. When he hangs it up, the dress’ ten-metre long train spreads and reveals itself.

“Modern Afghan weddings combine the nikkah, when the marriage contract is signed; the Shaw-yi-Khinah, which is the actual marriage ceremony; and the rukhsati, the bride’s departure from her father’s home, into one event. Brides traditionally wear a green dress for their nikkah and later change into a white gown, complete with a veil, train and often a tiara too,” he says.

“There are two other things that most Afghan weddings have in common, the song Ahista Boro and the Attan. Ahista Boro means walk slowly in Dari, and the newlyweds enter the wedding to that song. The Attan is a traditional Pashtun dance that is also performed in Pakistan,” he explains.

According to Sakhi, a dress can cost anywhere from Rs2,000 all the way up to Rs19000, depending on how extravagant it is. The most expensive gowns are custom-made and are stitched by trained tailors under Sakhi’s watchful eye, who is himself an expert dressmaker.

Some dresses at his shop have been imported from abroad and bear tags of brands such as Betsy Johnson and Dorothy Perkins. The most affordable bridal gowns, Sakhi says, come from China.

Raza Sakhi measures a dress at his shop.

“For bridal dresses, we also do rentals as they are very expensive to buy and brides just wear them once,” he adds.

Down the road from Sakhi’s emporium is Bahar Kabul shop, owned and run by Mureed. Inside the dingy looking workspace with a time-worn white curtain instead of a door, one finds Mureed flipping through the latest issue of an American bridal catalogue.

“We don’t just make dresses for weddings, there are also party dresses and show dresses. People buy western dresses for theatre plays too,” he says. “But we always have the latest styles. Look, this catalogue here is dated Winter 2014/2015 and I can get any design copied,” he boasts. He tells us that he got into the business because almost no one was catering to the demands of Afghan brides interested in wearing evening gowns at their weddings, instead of lehngas and shalwaars.

In the 80s, he used to teach Persian literature in Kabul, but had to flee to Islamabad when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. The only work he could find in the city at the time was selling ice. Some years and many odd jobs later, he discovered his own interest in fashion and opened this shop.

But the business of selling evening gowns and cocktail dresses in generally conservative countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan is vulnerable to changing political and cultural values.

“Before the Soviet invasion and the ensuing civil war, Afghanistan’s rulers were inclined towards modern values and people in urban areas were more likely to wear western clothes than their neighbours in Pakistan. Today, few people hold on to these same values. Afghans started moving back in large numbers since 2006. Those that are still here have started wearing shalwar kameez and lehngas at weddings because the values in Pakistan are different,” Sakhi says.

“But a number of Christian brides still want weddings with white ball gowns, like the ones they see in Western movies, so who knows, we might stay in business,” Mureed adds with a wry smile.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2015

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