With ball gowns, Western-style bridalwear and cocktail dresses, Afghan tailors driven out of their homeland by the Taliban are carving a niche for themselves in Pakistan's capital.

Their stores stand between rows of animal carcasses and car workshops in Islamabad's grubby Peshawar Mor neighborhood - known more as a haven for refugees than a home for glamour.

In Pakistan, dresses are normally the preserve of a tiny liberal elite, with most women more likely to be seen in public wearing the traditional baggy shalwar kameez.