If you think about it, women in Pakistan are always doing something that is related to clothes. When we are not looking for the right lace, we are trying to get in touch with the tailor for the hundredth time who will tell us the same story which has something to do with no electricity and workers on sick leave. And when it is not that, it is dealing with the guess-the-length-of-the-kameez-for-next-season syndrome. We often complain about having to cope with the excuses of tailors and kaamwalas but we secretly love the madness of it all.

The entire credit, however, for putting together an outfit does not just go to us. Rarely do we stop to thank our lucky stars for the immense talent and creativity available to us in the form of our local craftsmen and tailors. Yes, they irritate us with their awful time management skills because of which we have to check up on the status of an outfit, at least three times a week. But they eventually deliver a stunning outfit, even if the designer label is missing.

There used to be a time when you had to use your own intelligence to make sure you got what you wanted and the variety (be it fabric, lace or embroidery) from which you could pick, was limited. A lot of alteration had to be made to the existing design from a yellow-paged catalogue for it to look half decent.

Now, it is a different story altogether.

It is as if the craftsmen, tailors and the lace-selling vendors finally have it all worked out. They will tell you what the aunties want and what the unmarried lot wants, what colours are popular this season and whether fitted kameez are out of fashion. Just like the rest of the country, these men will offer free advice to you. My suggestion is to take it. They will help you out with your kameez lengths if you are clueless and tell you not to be reluctant about the 49-plus length you think is a bit too much but still want anyway. Let these unsung designers help you out. They have thumbed through more fashion catalogues and seen more fashionable aunties visiting the bazaar than you might have!

One of the more popular such markets is the Gizri market, which is literally a one-stop-bazaar for all your wedding and/or formal wear clothes. Each shop in the bazaar has ready-made samples of the various types of work that is available be it embroidery, work done in sequins/pearl/stone and other embellishments, fancy buttons and so on. The designs range from traditional to contemporary so you are spoilt for choice.

Here, at the Gizri market, there is something for everyone. Maybe you’re the very long off-white chiffon dress that reminds you of a summer evening. Maybe you’re the hot pink with lots of kaam from top to bottom. Or maybe you’re the sleeveless black with the high-neck.

Despite the lack of a formal education in art or design, the craftsmen have developed their own sensibility of aesthetics when designing clothes. While they do not think much of copying somebody else’s design and are sometimes even proud of the exactness of their reproduction, a lot of the work that they do is purely their own. Some of them have been in the business for years and have been making clothes for a good fifteen-twenty years.

It is the designers who set a particular trend by designing for the ramp but it is our tailors and craftsmen (designers without a qualification) who are the keepers of fashion.

Ayesha T. Akif is studying communication design in Karachi. Outside the studio, she spends her time reading, writing and people-watching.

The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.