Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Textile City

One of the things about Karachi that I find most striking is the range of textiles available. From what everyone's wearing on their cotton Shalwar Kameez, to what's hanging in the malls and bazaar, the variety of cloth here is astounding.

When you go to buy cloth, they're usually stored in sets of three complementing designs. One's for the shalwar, the ballooning, clown pant like part of the traditional Pakistani's outfit. The legs are wide at the top, and narrow at the bottom. Most often, these are a solid color.
One's for the Kameez, the long tunic top worn over the shalwar. These are usually in some sort of pattern, a burst of colors.
The last part is the dupatta, a long piece of fabric work around the neck and/or over the head. This usually matches the shalwar and kameez by bringing together both patterns.

My camera and I have fallen in love with the swaying, swishing colors of cloth in the bazaars.



I found these dupattas hanging in a bazaar. I found their detail gorgeous.



Almost all of the people passing by this stall stopped to look at them. The little tassel things hanging on the ends aren't something found often.



On most days, I see so many colors, I can't figure out where I should focus.

1 comment:

jenna leigh said...

OH MY GOSH
i
am
in
love.