Seasonsal Transitions – Summer! Bright Light and Beachy!

August 3, 2015August 3, 2015 Shilpa5 Comments

Hola dearies! Happy yappy Monday to you all!! Do I sound too excited on a Monday? That is ONLY because I have an awesome post in store for y’all! :*

A little back story before we dive right into the post. A week back I was thinking what my next post/theme/couple of posts was going to be and just when an idea was forming in my head my sister told me she and her friend would shoot with me as well! Two cuties who look like a million bucks in just about anything they wear on my blog? I’m on!

So the Concept of the next four posts isss……1 2 3 4! Confused? That’s One Theme, Two Staples, Three Girls and Four Seasons!! Ta-daaaaah! So its basically seasonal transitions of the same staple outfit. (Sonam Naidu..You remember you asked me to do this long ago with my red skirt? Thanks babe ❤ You inspired me!) So I will be showing you guys how to wade through the four seasons in a staple maxi skirt, my sister in pants and Sandhya in a dress! *So excited I could dieee*

Summer!

So this post is all about Summer! Summer is all about the beach and bright and light colors and that’s what we went for indeed!! 😀

First up, Sandhya’s Look

Firstly, lets all step back for a moment and admire this cutie…now lets proceed to the look. Ha! So we decided to keep Sandhya’s beach look very simple with this thin cotton brightly colored almost spaghetti strapped dress. She chose to pair it with these open gladiators which look elaborate and simple, dressy and laid back at the same time! Simple airy dresses like these scream summer and we love that! Dresses are also easily transitionable and you’ll see why we need that next week 😉 (Suspense and all!! :P)

Next, Anusha’s Look

Anusha look like a pretty picture in these comfy as hell palazzo pants and this lacy spaghetti top. Palazzo are one more piece of outfit which define sweaty summers and she sure was uber-cozy in them! She finished her look with these open flats and a pair of blue aviators!

And finally, Shilpa’s Look (yes mine!)

I bought two maxis recently (like at last!!) and the minute I saw this coral one I knew this is exactly how I wanted to style it! This orange shirt and coral skirt combination almost give it a maxi dress like feel and knotting up the shirt made me feel breazy in my tummy and I loved it! (Lol!) I finished this look with these pretty F21 turquoise beads and I was pretty pleased with myself for thinking up of that color combination! (not at all pompous! Nope!) I also wore these cool blueeye collection beaded bracelet (birthday gift from *wink wink*) and my lazy flip flops to complete the look.

As I’m finishing this post I realise I’m running so late to work! So this is where I sign off peeps! Next week we three will show you how the same three staple outfits can be worn for spring! (Also, I just realised, I should have totally gone spring first and then come to summer isnt it?) Excited? Oh I sure am! Hope you enjoyed this post! I’m yapping too much today! Have an amazing week ahead! Love you! Stay Happy!! ❤ ❤ !!

Guess who gave their first interview!?!

July 28, 2015July 28, 2015 Shilpa8 Comments

I was walking down the street, walk-walk-walking down the street when I listened to this beat, Liss-Liss-listened to this beat!

I was asked to take the hot seat take the take the hot seat coz I gave a tete-a-tete ya ya I gave a tete-a-tete!!! 😍😂🎶🙏🏻😈💃🏼

So hi everyone!! My post is coming one day late, but if you have been following me on Instagram or Facebook you’ll know I gave my first interview and all!! Oh gosh! 💞

Recently a new yet-to-launch app called Ethnic Threads contacted me because they wanted bloggers to try the beta version of their app prior to launching it and I agreed of course!! This is an app through which Indians all over the world get to meet each other exchange ideas and tips about how to nail the various ethnic traditional Indian looks and buy sell and rent ethnic garb from and to each other through the app!

I was enjoying this app when one day the creative head of the app mailed me asking if I could do an interview because she liked me style and I acted all lady like and agreed to do the interview…nah…just kidding…I jumped up and down like a monkey and said yaaaa baby letzzz do this! (First interview and all guys! Cut me some slack will ya?)

Here’s an excerpt of the interview:

ET: Tell us 3 interesting things about you.

SR: 1) There is a picture of me when I was five or six and I have draped one of my mum’s dupatta as a gown and worn her heals (probably a gazillion sizes bigger than mine) and posed proudly for the picture! What more proof did anyone else need that fashion is the field I was meant to be in? Haha!

2) This weekend has been a rather eventful one for me! Sunday I ran my maiden half marathon and Monday I get my first interview (a.k.a this one!) published! I’m loving it!

3) As crazy as it sounds I do a lot of online “window” shopping! And sometimes I apply only one filter – colour! (Dear online site, please show me any and every thing you sell -men’s wear or women’s wear in yellow! yes! Yellow!)

To read the rest of the interview head over to this URL and do read up!!!

http://blog.ethnicthread.com/2015/07/beat-blues-tete-tete-with-shilpa-from.html?m=1
Yayyyyy I’m happy! Hope you guys read it! And loved it!!! I rapped in my blog!! Whowwww !! Have a nice rest of the week lovely readers!! 💖😘

Look Book Series : Tan Bag Look #3 – Off to Work

July 20, 2015August 14, 2015 Shilpa13 Comments

Hi guys! So today I’m back with the last and final look in the tan bag look book series! It’s a traditional Indian office wear look! It’s Monday and you’re looking for some inspiration to dress up to work aren’t you? Well let’s consider this post to be God sent then 😆😋

While in my last two looks with this bag I tried mixing it with contrasting materials like denim and colours like navy blue, in this look I took the amateur and straight forward route! Used the colours appearing in the bag to make an outfit! And Ta-da here’s what I got! 🎶

While you are looking at the pictures, imagine me to be standing next to you clapping my hands 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 and jumping up and down like a five year old because I’m thrilled about how well I think these pictures have come out! All thanks to my friend and upcoming photographer Pranav and the amazing graffiti walls we decided to use as the backdrop!

Coming back to my outfit (yes I definitely will yap about it for sometime and you have to read through that! Please 😭😂) So the white kurta and white leggings look has come up on the blog a couple of times before, as this is my go to attire when it’s not the dress but something else it the outfit which needs to stand out! In this case it was this beautiful Dupatta and the bag and the sandals of course 😃 I have to tell you a little some-some about this Dupatta now! My mom bought this Dupatta close to 15 years ago because she was at that Beautiful expensive Dupatta – with plain yet elegant Salwar kameez phase (don’t we all go through that phase? 😊) and my dad got a brainwave and decided to fabric paint some flowers into it because I think the salwar she wanted to wear it with had these similar flowers. But 15 years later the salwar is gone for good and what remains is this beautiful flowy dupatta and I found it stashed away by mom one day while digging for something else!! La la la laaaa laa! And ever since I found it I have been obsessing with it, pairing it with literally every plain salwar I own, wearing it to work atleast once a week and I decided why not show it to you guys as well 👏🏽😊👏🏽 I also kind of sealed my brown-white play by adding these brown beads and brown (and new!) sandals to this look!

I think this look compliments the tan bag the best and it makes me office ready too in the process (win-win?). It is a really easy and effective idea to pair the color combination of the statement piece (bag in this case) to make your outfit!

Outfit Details – White Kurta – Fab India, White Leggings – Colors, Dupatta – really old, mum doesn’t really know where it is from although she thinks it’s either from Nalli or Kumaran, Chennai, Tan Bag – Bags by Anqi (Instagram), Sandals – Charles & Keith, Watch – Tommy Hilfiger, Beaded Necklace – Thrifted from Delhi

That’s all about my look, coming to something else I wanted to tell you guys!

Pranav and I are friends for the past five years now! And recently he told me how he liked everything about my blog except the quality of the photos and the locations I choose 😂 Pranav wants to take up photography ( fashion or wildlife? Lol) as his serious hobby and very sweetly agreed to use me and my blog as his guinea pig and you won’t hear me complaining about that 😋 thank you Pranav and welcome abroad the Frillthrills team (team? What team 😂😐😂)

That’s it from me guys! Hope you enjoyed the look book series! Cheers to more such awesome posts coming your way and a bigger toast to the deadly Monday definitely coming your way 😉!

Trends I have to try! Like SERIOUSLY HAVE TO!

July 13, 2015July 13, 2015 Shilpa6 Comments

I had so many content related photo shoot kinda posts ready and yet I chose to put up a trends to try post today! Nah I’m just kidding! I had a horribly busy week and weekend so I had no time for a post and hence ba-dum-tssss a “trends to try” post!! 😍

So diving right into the topic, this is a list of new and not so new trends which I have been wanting to try for so long now, but I just haven’t been able to lay my hands on the perfect piece of each trend so the wait continues! 😔 I’m also realising that I probably should have released this post before my birthday so my friends could have used it like a checklist to buy me my gifts (Lel level max!)

1. Co-ordinates (or co-ords as they are coolly called!)

Remember when we were in school in kindergarten and we were dressed in these matching skirt and blouse pieces? Well they are back in trend now, so bring em matching matchings out! Or head over to http://www.stalkbuylove.com where you can find yourself some cool coords! (Psst..the plain orange upon orange one is mine! Stay off that piece 😂)

2. Tassel / Fringe bag

Have you like found a trend really gross when it first hit the ramp and then you slowly and gradually graduated to really loving them? (Like the Birkenstocks!?!) That’s what happened to me with these Bags! They scream laid back street style like nothing else and what’s funny is that, that’s one style I can never pull off … Like nevaaa! 😑

3. Pineapple print everything

What’s with the pineapple print craze anyway? That’s a question you won’t find me asking because I’m going crazyyyy sillyyyy over this print! And I think this will be the first among this list of trends I might actually end up trying! They are so fresh summery and comfy! Whats the complain? 😆

4. Jumpsuits 😒😢

Being short, not really thin and kinda broad and … (Ya you get the drift don’t you?) is a real bummer when the trend you want to try is a jumpsuit! This was one trend I was kinda ashamed to write about because ummm…jumpsuits…ummm…fashion blogger kinda obvious I would have to have at least one jumpsuit right? WRONG! 😡😡 because I seem to never find one that fits me horizontally AND vertically 😂

5. The flowy synthetic maxi skirt

Wow..that might be my favorite trend to try ..the maxi! While I do have wrap arounds and maxis in cotton I don’t have one in this supremely figure accentuating and beatifically falling sheer or synthetic material and I really want one! (Yup I’ll give you my shipping address! Please? 😭)

So that’s a round up of the trends I want to and have to try peeps! Tell me what your trends to try are and we can both obsess about them too 😍😁 sounds like a plan? Haha ! Have a nice weekend readers! Let’s hope we get through this week in one piece 😂

P.S.: Source for every picture was Pinterest by the way!

LookBook Series : Tan Bag Look #2 High-Teas and Haughty

July 6, 2015July 6, 2015 Shilpa19 Comments

Welcome back guys! It’s that time of the week again and while it’s like any other awful Monday for people like me, I know it must be a god-awful Monday for my readers from the West after their super long weekend and all! And for that, I’m truly happy! Huhuhu 😈😈

So for today’s post, while I have tried to keep my tan bag the centre of attraction, I can’t deny the fact that there is one other piece which kinda grabs the spotlight and that my friends is this gorgeous dress!

This is a dress I bought from Eshakti ages ago. Now picture this! This beauty has been sleeping in the wardrobe of a fashion blogger for close to 7 months now – unworn, untouched – could there be a worse plight for a dress? Nah.

I thought the embroidery of the dress would beautifully bring out the lace detailing on the bag but what it ended up doing in afraid is stealing the spotlight for itself. Cheeky cheeky CHEEKYYY!

This dress in my opinion screams sophistication and hence that title for this post 👻

Fit and flare dresses are really the rage now. And the best part about them is that they do justice to the not so petite ones (like ahem ahem me) by cinching at the waist and the really petite ones by flailing below the waist beautifully! Hope this blog motivated you to think about buying that fit and flare that has been lawling about in your online shopping cart for way too long! 😆

I learned about Eshakti through blog posts of other American bloggers and I decided to visit that site strictly for “window shopping” 😂 but their amazing collection and their beautiful idea of customising every aspect of the dress just got to me. I was lucky because I had someone coming down to India from the States at this same time and so I asked them to bring it 😁😁 so it’s basically an Indian brand even having a branch office of sorts in chennai (my city) shipping their products from Gurgaon (another city in my country) to the U.S. (Not my country) from where I got it to chennai through a friend. WHY YOU NO OPEN IN INDIA Eshakti?? 😔

Outfit details : Dress – eshakti.com, Bag – Bags by Anqi (Instagram), Watch – Tommy Hilfiger, Shoes – Westside

That would be all from me folks! Do you have your perfect fit and flare dress and the perfect tan bag to go with it? Tell me what you think! Have a great week ahead! Stay happy stay sassy! ✨❤️✨

P.S while I thank everyone who readily agree to click pictures of me right after I awkwardly request them to, it’s my sister who has been constantly clicking my looks when I’ve got no one else to do it and strangely I’ve never gotten around to thanking her!! Thank you so much Anukutty (embarrassed? 😈) half my posts wouldn’t have gone up if it weren’t for you! 🐳🐳🐳

LookBook Series : Tan Bag Look #1 Casual Grunge

June 29, 2015June 29, 2015 Shilpa10 Comments

Hi y’all! It’s Monday all over again *fake yayyys and faker hi-5s to you* and before you get into the daily grind here’s a post to cheer you up!

TAN! There is something about this color…I share a connect of sorts with it! Whenever I go shopping I am drawn magically to anything Tan/brown and that’s why, when I was vigorously stalking Instagram one ~~day night~~ midnight and came across this Tan Bag, I knew I wanted it. Buy it, I did, and hence what better way to flaunt it than starting right here!

I kept this look really light and casual!! Pinterest is crazy about the denim and tan-bag look and I loved that idea!! So in comes the over-used over-sized denim shirt! 😋

I was looking at the security who realised we were clicking pictures and was yelling at us for it! 😀

I decided to pair my light blue denim shirt with dark blue denim jeans (what a creative genius! 😂) and decided to wear gold and brown accessories like my Peter pan collar necklace under my regular collar, my gold watch, and these brown gold sandals I flicked just for that day from the sister!
👜Coming to bag!!👜 Ba-Dum-Tssss 🎼! I loved loved simply loved the lace detailing in the bag on the sides. It’s very structured but made of very soft leather and hence I was able to stuff all the random things I carry in my handbag to work (how do men walk into work carrying absolutely nothing? How!??) It has an adjustable and removable sling and golden buckles! A close up if you wish!

Tan and lace - two things I love, in one bag!

Outfit details – Denim shirt : Thrifted, Jeans : Levi’s, Tan Bag : Bags by Anqi (Instagram – @bagsbyanqi), Sandals : Bata, Watch : Tommy Hilfiger, Peter pan collar chain : Globus, Sunglasses : Claire’s

That would be all from me folks! Hoping to add a couple of more looks styled around the versatile Tan Bag. Tell me if you enjoy the concept and tell me the colors and outfits you would pair it with. Have a great week. 💟💞💟

The Six Yard Story!

June 22, 2015October 15, 2015 Shilpa20 Comments

Upping their saree game – a feat every Indian girl wants to nail-is pretty simple to achieve. Tie your saree as frequently as possible and not be sorry about it. 😛 (See what I did there) Buhaha!

I for one love my sarees and love to explore the different ways I can tie it and the different ways I get to stitch my blouse! Thats precisely why, when Sareez – The online store approached me to do a post featuring them, I was more than willing! Upping my saree game and strutting around and getting clicked in a fabulous saree? Count me in!! 😀 For this post I chose from the WIDE collection of sareez.com a half-and-half or whats called a partly saree, where the pallu or the part of the saree I drape over my shoulder is of one color and the pleats or the fan like shape the saree takes below the waist is of a totally different color, giving it two-piece feel!

I loved Sareez.com for more than just a few reasons. Their range is just ginormous (is that a word?) and their filters are amazing – price filters, occasion filters, saree color filters and even saree material filters! Woohoo! Their quality is a next plus – right from their packing (if you are sending it as a gift to someone, you should probably remove the first “few” layers of packaging.. lol.. its so well packed! :P) and the quality of their product. I have been very skeptical about buying sarees online, but what you see is truly what you get here. Also, for a small fee they even stitch your blouse and give you the skirt required for the saree. Yayy!

This is a designer synthetic saree with golden and broze embroidery and detailing. It has a beatiful three-fourths sleeve black blouse and its a perfect party wear kinda saree. I decided to go simple on the accessories and chose this beautiful pearl earrings (twas a gift! gift! gift! 😀 ) and chose my tommy hilfiger watch and my glitter clutch!

Also, (dont laugh at me now!) in an attempt to improve my blogging I shot a video for this saree!! Sharing the link here!

These beautiful video and the amazing photos were captured by Ranjini Ramesh. Thank you so much Ranjini! This post wouldnt have been half as beautiful or colorful if it wasnt for you. :* Follow her on Insta here Here and her youtube channel here! If you want such beautiful videos done, dont hesitate to ping her at ranjini.ramesh14@gmail.com!

Outfit Details : Saree – c/o sareez, earrings – gift (I think it was thrifted in Mumbai! Correct me if Iam wrong gifter :P), Watch – Tommy Hilfiger, Clutch – PolkaDot and You (Instagram)

Thatt would be it from me folks! Have a fabulous monday (er..ok) and an amazing week too! Oh and its my Birthday! WISH ME!

Shades of Summer! ~ Ft. Just my luck by A&M

June 15, 2015June 15, 2015 Shilpa16 Comments

The change of climate is such a looked forward to event in the west…closets, schedules, timings and emotions all change with changes in the seasons. My country in general and my city in specific however (here we go!) has just one two climates – summer without rains and summer with rains. Yes. YES. So basically we are wet for 8 months of the year because of sweat and wet for the remaining 4 months of the year because of…wait for it…sweat + water (rains!) We have no anticipation or nervousness while pulling back our curtains every morning or while checking the daily weather forecast. We are the land of the risen sun. We do sunny. forever. period.

All that being said, we have some major advantages. We can use every piece of clothing through the year without thinking about things like transitions or changing wardrobes like three-four times a year. We get to plan for that road trip we have been meaning to take in December or May or August without giving a thought to any factor other than our mood (really!) We enjoy parks and flowers and lawns and hills and sands and beaches through the year. We do sunny forever and you’ll find us really happy about that!

As an ode to this Indian Summer, here’s a really summery and bright and vibrant outfit I put together. Its the perfect sunny-sunny and the sunny-but-rainy outfit you can probably lay hands on!!

This is a beautiful dress which is a mix of chanderi silk and a Kantha work fabric designed completely by the fabulous Just My Luck by A&M ! Had you told me lime yellow with lime green butta work on it would go so well with blue block prints I would have scoffed at you. But loook!!👇👇👇

While trying out the look I was trying out a couple of different accessories to sort of figure out which went best with the dress, but ended up loving each piece completely so decided to include every picture of the shoot in the post (except one where I looked positively hideous because I was sneezing and simultaneously asking my sister to stop clicking. Yes.)

This dress to me defines summer. An Indian Summer! It’s bright, its light and comfortable which makes it my go-to piece when its bright warm and sunny and its a one piece, well above the ankle, just wear it and you’re good to go sort of, elegant outfit just right for the sunny yet rainy sort of day where jeans is just not an option. Aaand needless to say, I felt fabulous in it. I was very particular about getting the brightness of the lime green against the morning sun and my sister, my photographer, so sweetly and readily agreed to get up for this photoshoot 😍😘

Just my luck is a boutique store dealing with every Indian fabric, designing them with a modern, retro kind of twist and yet giving them a very desi vibe. They deal with fabrics ranging from ikat (as seen in this post) to chanderi silk and outfits ranging from booty shorts to maxi dresses. I got to interact with Aruna, and she is the perfect example of “do what you love and you’ll outdo yourself every single day!”

Outfit details : Kantha Dress – Just my Luck by A&M (catch them on Facebook by clicking here or Instagram by clicking here!), mini gladiator sandals and nude pumps – Westside, Long bubbles chain – Westside , Necklace used as headgear – thrift shopped off the streets of Mumbai.

Hope you enjoyed this post readers. I sure enjoyed putting it up. I’m off to bask in the summery morning of Monday (too positive?) You enjoy your Monday too and if you are from a tropical country, I would sign off by telling you to keep calm, because winter is never coming. Haaa!

First Blog Anniversary!

June 10, 2015 Shilpa28 Comments

Its been a year! A year since I decided I wanted to blog! A year since I realized clothes, styling and writing are my true passions and decided to follow them. A year since I decided to give up apprehensions about how good or bad I might be at this and get down to business and find out. A year since I started discovering how beautiful, giving, welcoming and heartwarming the blogging community is. A year since I made so many strong soul-matey connections with various bloggers all over the world.

I know I haven’t come too far from the start line and I definitely can’t write award winning books like “how I made $40k my first year of blogging” (there is really one such book 😋) Hell I can’t even write about making $40 in my first year of blogging but what I can talk about are the friends, readers and memories I have made this one year and I can talk about what a well rounded personality blogging has made me. Its amazing what like minded people when brought together on a common platform like this can do.

This blog and the people that make it have become very close to my heart through the course of this year and I thank you all so much for showing me so much love! I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! Signing off!!

Cape of Some Hope! Ft. Just My Luck!

June 8, 2015June 8, 2015 Shilpa7 Comments

Capes are one of those pieces I’d completely written off my wish list because they are always so thin and sheer and are basically attires which accentuate your curves when the silhouette alone shows off. That, or they make less fit and fab people like me look splotchier than usual because they accentuate the bumps as much as they do the curves. 😝 and then there are winter coats and capes which not me, but my city helped me eliminate as a clothing option because hey hey hey, winter is nonexistent in Chennai remember? 😂😐

That’s when this double Ikat cape came along and completely changed my opinion about capes and I’ve known no comfort ever since. 😊 It’s just amazing! What’s also amazing is the brand Just My Luck by A and M and its enthusiastic and charming owner Aruna with whom I got a chance to collaborate to present this post 😊

I’ve put together two looks with one cape. – a beach party look and an office party look, and let’s see how you like them!

Look 1 : Beach Party

This look was all about playing it cool and casual like how we would at a beach party. This cape has some beautiful pink blue and green floral patchwork along the border and that inspired me to go blue-green to match the cape. This is also the first time I’m actually posed for pictures. So tell me what you think 😀
Before we move to the next look, here’s one last picture, which obviously didn’t make the cut, but I loved too much to not include. 😝

Outfit details : Cape / long coat – Just my Luck by A & M | Blue shirt and green shorts – Vero Moda | Sandals – Bata | Necklace used as head gear (howaboudthat? 😉) – Thrift shopped off the roads of Besant Nagar, Chennai.

Look 2 : The office party

This look is a dressier version of the cape. It can be interpreted as “how you would go to an office party” or as “how you would go to a party from office” 😊 I have, here, paired the cape with a formal high waist trousers, a high-low blouse which when tucked in passes as a formal shirt and some heels. I added the head gear for some attitude… Honestly how cool is adding such head gear? (So proud of the self. 😇😂)

Outfit Details : Same cape by Just my Luck | Shirt with mild hakoba work – Nuon from Westside | High waist trousers – Marks and Spencers | Earrings and Necklace on the head – Pantaloons | Bandage Heels – Bata once again!

I had so much fun working with Aruna on this post. Its so easy and motivating when people you get to collaborate with are so full of zest and creativity. Just my Luck by A & M uses contemporary and traditional Indian fabrics like ikat, kalamkari, silks and cottons in western outfits like capes, shorts, palazzo pants, jackets, and kaftans. The founders have a love affair with their prints and colors and that’s visible on every piece of clothing they put together. Check out their collection on Facebook by clicking here or on Instagram by clicking here !!

That would be all from me folks. Watch this space for one more amazing outfit post from Just my Luck. Have a great week. Pull out those stappy heels, feel uncomfortable as hell, but walk tall anyway and take Monday headlong. 😂😉

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