Saturday 8 December 2012

Rani Emaan – My Review

My experience with Rani Emaan staff was fairly good, I emailed them, they emailed back fairly quickly discussed options with me and sent sketches and updates after each discussion. I dealt with a lady named Rizwana who was very helpful throughout the process, I also spoke with Farzeen (one half of the designer duo) who was a pleasure to talk to, friendly and didn't give me any sort of attitude when I mentioned I am on a budget and requested a discount (some Pakistani designers are known to hang up at the mention of a tight budget or a discount request!) The fact that she didn't give me one is beside the point! At least the lady dealt with my request in a polite and tameezdar manner!


The main thing I stumbled on and which proved to be an issue was that they didn't have many examples of the types of kaam (embroidery) they could do on an outfit, its well and good to discuss on the phone but I would have liked to have seen swatches/samples and close up photos to give me an idea…

The Outfit:
My outfit on the whole is very pretty and pretty much what I had requested cut wise, it has a lot of flair and the lining and churidaar are also both very good quality..

The main thing I felt let down by was the kaam… I specifically said I do not like sequins and this is what I got all across the bodice! 




The work below the bodice was lovely however, the sequins were the most prominent.



I am not going to complain too much as I like the outfit in general but when you’re paying designer prices you do feel let down when a main element isn't quite 100%. The other issue which has cropped up many times in the past (not just a RE issue but something I suffer from across the board) is that chiffon just isn't durable – after just a few wears the sleeves are completely ruined and stitching has come undone on one of the kalis… For the price paid I would have liked to have the option to wear it again but it’s in a bit of a state now…


What I love is the kaam they did on the daaman and if they had done the same on the top this would have been a 10/10 outfit for me, again this small issue could have been rectified if only they had provided good quality close ups of the kaam offered.





On the whole I got many compliments on this outfit and did enjoy wearing it – would I recommend Rani Emann? I think so – I've seen many a glowing review especially where bridals are concerned and so would like to put my own issue down to mis-communication – perhaps if I had been more specific from my end and sent pictures of what I wanted rather than relying on them I may have ended up with the perfect outfit!

9 comments:

  1. Nevertheless, outfit is beautiful, colours are amazing! Also I hate it when the sleeves get messed up, I've tried tidying them up but sometimes it's a lost cause!

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  2. Picturing all the elements together it looks like a beautiful outfit! The soft pastels colours are really romantic and pretty, the shape with the scooped hem is lovely and I really like the embroiderery at the bottom. I can see what you mean by the sequins but what a huge bummer about the sleeves!! I'd be so gutted after spending all that money. Maybe you can get the sleeves replaced or go sleeveless? It would be such a shame if you only got to wear it once.

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  3. Hey supersummer. Your dress is beautiful and i would love to have similar dress for my walima. Did you order from rani emaan website or did you go to their shop? I dnt live in pakistan and i dont think ill be able to go to pakistan. Can you please tell me more about how you order it and what did you pay for it.

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  4. i emailed them then followed up with a phone call, ive never been to any of their stores and the whole process from start to finish was done from my phone/laptop! The price was around 55K pak rupees + shipping via DHL which adds an additional £50-60.

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  5. I would like to add if you're ordering one of your bridals I would advise you to get swatches of kaam and colours before proceeding with anything...

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  6. Hello, iv been trying reply but I dnt knw why it taking so much to message show up. Anyways thank u fr trying to help me n I really appriciate it. hw shud we add another??

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  7. Hi,

    Iam thinking of order my barat n walima outfit as iv problem going to pakistan for my wedding shopping. I need realy help cuz i dnt want spend alot of money on something i dnt like. Its a special day n iv to look good. Iv seen few outfits n decided what changes i want regard colour. U have experince with them. Can u help me? i want to discuss with u n iam open for ur maswrah.

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  8. How long did it take to receive your order???

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  9. For those of you considering to order from Rani Emaan, I wanted to share my experience. I went to the Rani Emaan store in Washington DC and picked out a dress. I asked for some changes, including adding sleeves, changing the color of the dress and the kaam, and adding additional kaam to make the dress more "bridal." The sales girl gave me a "sketch" of the dress. I then confirmed our conversation with a detailed email.

    I purposefully ordered my dress about 9 months in advance, so if there were any issues I would have time to get it sorted out. Unfortunately my dress was delayed by several months. Whenever I followed up to see when it would be ready, I repeatedly was told that it would be ready very soon. It became a serious concern when it was less than two months before my wedding, and I hadn't picked out my wedding jewelry yet, as I waiting to try it on with my dress.

    When the dress finally arrived, there were two serious problems. First, I asked for gold kaam, and the sales girl suggested I incorporate silver kaam as well. I agreed that it would look better that way, and asked for a gold and silver mix, with gold as the predominant color. The outfit I received had mainly silver kaam, and all of the lining on the outfit and dupatta was silver.

    Second, and more concerning, was that my outfit was made BACKWARDS. The bottom part of the dress was sewn on backwards, so that the heavy kaam was on the back, not the front. When I notified the owner of this, she said she personally viewed the dress herself and didn't see any errors. She only acknowledged the mistake after we sent her pictures of the dress.

    There were a lot of other issues with Rani Emaan, including horrible customer service. Although they attempted to fix the dress, they were unable to without ruining it, so they then sent me a make-up dress, that dress was too short and had less kaam than the original. I appreciated the efforts to make up for their mistakes, but in the end I was faced with either a backwards dress, or a dress that was so short that you could see my legs when I sat.

    In the end, I wore the backwards dress with my gold jewelry and looked fine, and my wedding was beautiful. That said, when you pay a large amount of money to a designer for a specific dress, you expect professional results--not a backwards dress with obvious design flaws and a three-month delay, and not horrible customer service.

    Bottom line: Rani Emaan makes beautiful dresses, but only go to them if you are willing to buy a dress of the rack, with no changes. Give yourself a lot of time for the dress order, and expect difficulties in communication. Personally, I don't think it's worth it--with a wedding you have so much to deal with as it is, but that is just my opinion. Good luck!

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