Pahela Baishakh
Local boutiques track the trend
Women admire dresses displayed at a three-day dress exhibition titled 'Porao Megh, Orao Megh' on the occasion of Pahela Baishakh at Doll's House which ended on Sunday.Photo: STAR
Fashion houses in the port city have already come up with exclusive collections for the Pahela Baishakh to meet the demand of both the trendy and festival lovers. To attract the people who like to celebrate the day with essence of being Bangalee, more than one dozens of local boutique houses have tried to track the trends with varieties in design and colour combination. But the sale is not satisfactory compared to the previous years due to the poor financial condition of the customers, traders said. Most of fashion outlets are focusing on bright coloured dresses, including the traditional combination of red and white of Baishakh with variety in boutiques, blocks and embroidery. Shailpik, a popular shop, arrayed their five branches at different city markets with variety of dresses like salwar kameej, panjabee, fatua, shirt and T-shirt at reasonable prices. They focused on bright eye-catching colours like parrot green, pink and magenta in the dresses using karchupi, hand embroidery, computer embroidery, screen print and hand painting. Salwar kameej is being sold at Tk 700 to Tk 1700, fatua at Tk 300 to Tk 900, shirt at Tk 500 to Tk 1000, T-shirt at Tk 150 to Tk 350. Salsabil Boutique House at CDA Avenue of East Nasirabad has taken preparation for customers of all ages. It is selling Tangail sari at Tk 350 to Tk 1250, sari in block and handprint at Tk 650 to Tk 900, hand block sari at Tk 700 to Tk 1500, women's fatua at Tk 400 to Tk 800, men's fatua at Tk 450 to Tk 550, panjabee at Tk 800 to Tk 1,500. Doll's House, the oldest boutique house of Chittagong, organised a three-day exhibition titled 'Porao Megh Orao Megh' from April 4 displaying different clothing and ornaments designed by designer Ivy Hasan. Ivy said she tried to introduce a sort of comfort in her Baishakh collection of sari, fatua and salwar kameez in endy cotton and khadi with traditional borders. Shells, mirrors, beads, metals and pottery have been used in ornaments as embellishments. Price of sari ranged from Tk 800 to Tk 2,400, fatua from Tk 350 to Tk 600, ornaments from Tk 100 to Tk 650, salwar kameez from Tk 1,200 to Tk 3000. Pinon Sarighar at OR Nizam Road welcomes Baishakh with an exciting collection of cotton sari in block, handprint, acrylic and chumki. Price ranges from Tk 550 to Tk 1,400. Craft Castle has launched fatua and panjabee of more than 20 designs at its show rooms at different markets, including New Market and Mimi Super market. Craft cotton fatua are being sold at Tk 500 to Tk 700 while prices of fatua in embroidery and block are in slightly high that start from Tk 800. Prices of Men's panjabee in embroidery and applique are also in higher here starting from Tk 2000 to Tk 3,600. Other houses like Mia Bibi at Probartak, Aryan at Jamakhan, Gift Avenue at Momin Road, Ramania at Mehedibagh, Taznur Boutiques at Zakir Hossain Road, Swastika Boutique at MM Ali Road and Masum Cloth Store at Terri Bazar also have made preparations for celebrating New Year. Traders, however, said sale is yet to get momentum as people are in financial crisis due to price hike of essentials. Monika Bhattacharya of Swastika Boutique said people from middle-income groups who usually love to celebrate the traditional festivals and like to usher in Pahela Baishakh with traditional dresses are now passing through hardship and this why sale is not up to the mark. Rajib, a university student, was seen looking through the panjabees displayed at a shop at New Market on Sunday but the higher prices discouraged him to buy. Ziaur Rahman, director of Craft Castle, said they had to keep the price little higher as they tried to maintain the quality. Moreover, price hike of different raw materials forced them to keep the higher price of dresses.
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