Pakistani families celebrate weddings hosting events and family gatherings leading up to the ceremony. Aside from the main functions that include the Mehindi, Barat and Valima, there are numerous other preliminary happenings followed by post-wedding dinners. As a parting gift the family of the bride a dowry for the bride to take with her when she settles into her new home. The bride's family creates a collection of formal suits in eastern traditional designs for her to wear to these post-wedding festivities.


Dowry is a South Asian traditional which can include other home furniture, appliances, kitchen wear and jewellery. Pakistani fashion brands release designs to cater to this specific demand, these are catalogued under formal and bridal wear collections. The following are the top designers for dowry dresses in Pakistan: 


Maria B

The internationally successful designer Maria B started her fashion house by designing only bridal wear for Barat and Valima ceremonies. Her brand has grown over the decades and she offers designs in mid-range formal wear for her clients. These can be bought in unstitched and ready-made varieties including traditional classics such as sarri, pishwas and lightly embellished 3-piece suits. Maria B is the most expensive fashion brand in this list as her craftmanship and embellishment have real Swarovski crystals. 


Agha Noor  

Agha Noor traditional textiles are pure and luxurious because of their high-quality weaving. To enjoy the natural beauty of the fabric it is important to keep the design simple and elegant with purposely embroidery. The fashion brand Agha Noor understands that keeping the base colour solid of the dress ensures the craftsmanship of the threadwork will be highlighted. They have over 100 dresses in a variety of colours in raw silk, chiffon, net, organza in both cotton and pure variety. 

These lightly embellished outfits are ideal for dowry wear as they feel festive and bridal without excessive embroidery. The handcrafted look of the embellishments makes the dresses feel classic and heirloom aesthetics. The timeless designs can be worn to weddings, dinner parties and Eid making them easy to carry on wearing for several occasions.


Motifz

The design philosophy of Motifz is to provide heavily embellished embroideries at an affordable price point for Pakistani brides. These designs have a classic silk thread craftsmanship that is made through a sophisticated state of the art machine using traditional motifs. The variety at Motifz is extensive due to their optimised manufacturing of formal wear ensuring that brides are able to find their perfect dowry dresses without fear of going over budget. They have a large selection of chiffon and silk suits that are ideal to wear for formal dinners. 


Khaadi

The Khaadi fashion retailer offers casual and formal solutions for women, their collections have multi-purpose designs that can be worn to festive occasions and weddings. The transformable designs are easy to pair with embellished bottoms of your own choice or dressed down with plain straight pants. The personalising and customisation of their designs make it easy to buy dowry dresses that can be worn later on as party wear. The sub-brand Khaadi Khas offers silk and net wear with elegant silk thread and gold thread embroideries with colourful sequence motifs. 


Image

The collection by Image for dowry dresses is simple and elegant, they have a variety of ready-made designs for women who want to skip the hassle of designing and tailoring clothes. The eastern traditional wear can be worn for multiple events and festivities including weddings, dinners and family gatherings. Their colour palette is sophisticated and neutral ensuring that women from any age bracket can enjoy the classic traditional design in whites, pinks, pistachio and gold shades. Ideal for those ladies who prefer minimal embroidery and threadwork on their suits as a change from the heavily embellished bridal wear.