Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Getting pawned.....umm i meant "lawned"

I wrote a status update a few days ago, about how there were more lawn designers than lawn wearers. And say you are at a party NOT wearing one of these lawns you might as well be mowing the lawn outside. A few years ago there was a charm right, having 2 or 3 and the rest is the usual stuff you get from the pathans everywhere and pair it with white. Then there were one or two embroidered suits that were singled out as evening or party wear. And now, lo and behold, it be a battlefield yo. I have witnessed aunties lashing at each other for the last piece left and fighting over stupid magazines that tell you how you are NOT supposed to wear lawn (read strapless, towel style).

The thing is, the Pakistani woman is a busy woman. I have no freaking idea when she got labelled as the woman who wears extremely elaborated stuff in the middle of very awful summers. Summers so awful that the monsoon times mean you can't breathe properly and you feel like ripping off any fabric that is the slightest bit uncomfortable. So yeah, smart move selling stuff off with 3 million extras and extensions in March because we being a naive nation forget too easy. We forget what any past government did to us, we forget how bitter these winters were thanks to no Sui gas and thus we have forgotten our hot sticky summers. Last weekend I went to this lawn exhibition of a very well known designer and I was apalled. You touch the fabric and think, wow jute might be nicer. One machine wash and the fabric will crimp up and all the little stars will go to Halifax. And the price quote was the highest of all, nearing 6000! For lawn. The fabric that we wear happily for one season, less than happily another season, as something just for the home or maybe as nightclothes and towards the end give it away to our maasi. Oh yes, I have spotted many a maasi wearing designer lawn. It fills my little heart with joy and pride, I mean if this is not "taraqqi" what is?

To top it all, we are looking at one hell of a tough Ramzan. Seriously, end of July, tongues hanging out, hypoglycaemic headaches and faces devoid of any beauty whatsoever. Fine fine, maybe aftaar parties give us a chance to show off a bit but even they have fallen in number. Another thing that is a laugh is that all designer suits come with their little picture that teaches you how to sew the thing so no more brain work yo. So there we have it, a conveyor belt that produces identical dolls. The same stitching, the same prints, borders, chiffon sleeves, embrodered motifs. AAAAAHHHHH!!!!

The thing is, quality matters. I was actually exploring the border of a fabric and the guy goes, yes madam this is original, designer name and all. And i'm all, no, who printed this? As in which garment mill/factory prints this stuff. The design is just a picture. The fabric is the real thing. So yes ladies, know your mills I guess. I stick to the old fashioned ones and no matter how much I open my heart I cannot stand looking like a dulhan in the middle of a market or the office. Also, I don't appreciate how many of these lawn owners employ the Indienne women. I shall quote the mother "Apni larkiyon ko rakhein na, woh bhooki mar rahi hain". And yes, the prices mean it is virtually inaccessible to most.

No, I take that back. It can get accessible. HEar me out, this guy at a very well known clothes shop in F-10 declared that they were getting 'copies" of designer prints and no they are no cheating, they were all, "Baji, select kar lein, next week photocopy ajayegee woh hhi coloured. Kaisa?". And i'm like, sheesh. This is an extreme seriously. It goes on to say that since people will get a "do number" copy just to be part of the brigade. Qayamat is near I swear. Maybe we do deserve Zardari. Look at our frigging preferences and priorities now.

I might have said it before, that we are a bi-polar nation. Either we'll snatch it all or be totally hungry. When a girl at a uni sees her peers dressed to the nines in designer lawn she will go eat her mom's brains out and demand for a 4000 rupee suit. When she gets it, it'll never be enough because the girls can have one for every day of the week. We are that unfortunate nation who loses the "special" in every ornament. So now, when we go out we actually recognise prints, we shall judge a person by the amount of money they spent on clothes. We have made something like lawn, comfy, easy, a way of life, open to designing at will into something so complicated yet commonplace. And like an epidemic we are all part of this; you, me, your mothers/sisters/cousins. Everyone. This is us venting frustrations. No better way to do so than vanity right?

Summerly yours,
Sara Q.

​P.S : So, umm any new exhibitions coming up? Just asking :P

12 comments:

  1. Not really my area of expertise, though I know someone who knows quite a bit about lawn :P But yeah, it seems everyone and their uncle are starting their line of lawn or whatever. Its a new epidemic, first it was rock bands, then concerts, then plays and now lawn. And it shows our inability to prioritize. In a country where people don't have food to eat and clothes to wear, we're selling disposable cloth (as per my understanding of your post :P) at outrageous prices.

    Also, good post :D

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  2. But they're so bright and purty!!!!!!!!!!!  <3

    "
    We forget what any past government did to us, we forget how bitter these winters were thanks to no Sui gas and thus we have forgotten our hot sticky summers.  " My status!!!

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  3. I'm so glad my friend showed me your blog. This article was awesome :D

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  4. Thanks! I'm happy you liked it. Share as you please :)

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  5. We,as a nation,go all crazy over something,over do it to the extent of  finally getting sick of it and then throw it aside like it never existed.I don't know if it's just me,but i didn't see that many people on the exhibitions this time,did not witness any cat fight and no excessive exchanges of five grand bundles with bright and purty clothes and equally bright and purty shopping bags to match.
    So yeah maybe,maybe,the thang of being lawned is fading and being replaced by...well,something equally vent-able,but that's a debate for another day.
    Having said that,everyone of us still wants some of those 'designer lawns' in our closets and will prefer the best adornments for them,but well,not in the typical desi style where we go gaga over each and every one of them,and that's a pleasant change.
    Oh,and one last thing,that was a very good read. (Since we share the same surname and a lot of our sweaters,I'm not sure if i get to say that without the world suspecting that i was paid,but for the record,i wasn't.)

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  6. Haha, oh yes they are. Like I said, we're all part of it, some more than others while others less than others.
    And yes, I saw the status update :)

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  7. Thanks love. Yes I know who you're talking about when you say you know a "lawn knower". Get it, lawn knower and lawn mower? :P

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  8. Oh yes she wasn't paid to comment people. But, not bad an idea :D 

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  9. ;) O yes, I too know about that Lawn knower ;). And yes, when a nation becomes selfish, senseless and devoid of others pain, this happens that disposable products are sold for outrageous prices.

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  10. Well! Its not that we as a nation go crazy, how I see it, we have become brand slaves, and what do I call it,status conscious and show offs. We prefer selling 10k over a simple cloth piece just to wear it once and then throw it away, rather than giving it to someone whose children will be able to eat their meals for more than a week with that money.

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  11. Nicely put our current dilemma into words. What we pay attention these days is just the brand name, the thing that is in fashion and which designer brand are people wearing and talking about these days, rather than going for the quality of the cloth or product, or looking at our budgets. What is more worse is the thing you have pointed out in your article, a student will definitely bug his/her parents when he/she sees every other class-fellow wearing a particular brand or using a particular product and discussing about it. What we have forgot is that these things are necessities for living a good life, not something to show off. Yes, you should be wearing reasonable clothes, but over-spending on them is not justified. We have all the luxuries in this world and yet we are thankless, and always complaining, what we fail to do is to look on those people who are barely making both ends meet. I guess, its enough for today, I am going too far ;)
    Again, nice work, keep it up ;)

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  12. Thanks! A word of appreciation is always appreciated :)
    I second what you say up there. We do have a habit of making an bee line for the current big thing without using our heads and then taking it to sickening extremes.
    And no you're not taking it far. The divide between the privileged and the underprivileged continues to widen with every passing day.

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