How a HAJAR piece is made

Every piece begins on paper. The silhouette is drawn flat, then cut in muslin and fitted on a stand before a single thread of the real fabric is touched.

The embellishment is where the time goes. A densely worked kameez carries somewhere between forty and ninety hours of hand work — pearl clusters set first, then mirror, then the sequin fill that ties the two together.

Only once the panels are finished are they joined, lined in raw silk, and pressed. The pearl trim along the neckline and hem is the last thing to go on, always by hand, always after the final fitting.