Seasonal Transitions – Spring! Fun Young and Colorful

August 10, 2015August 10, 2015 Shilpa9 Comments

Helloooo all you lovely people! I’m actually glad for a change the weekend is over! It was probably because I have such amazing things lined up for the week (hint hint) and I’m literally raring to go!!

Anyway, all that can wait! Monday’s here and that only means one thing!! a new post is here! :* So while last week I gave you three styling ideas for summer – one with a skirt, one with a dress and one with a pant, today I’ll show you how the same three staples can be used to create looks for spring by changing just a few pieces here and there!!

First up! Sandhya’s look

So for Sandhya we interpreted spring to be the fun weather which requires a bit of layering because it’s still quite chilly!! So she wore a plain peach tshirt over her printed cotton dress to keep her warm and since knotting everything up is the trend now we thought knotting up the tshirt would give it that fun element! Toinkkk💡!!

Wazzaa jumping shot!! 😍 we kept the rest of Sandhya’s look simple with a pair of floral flip flops in place of the gladiators because..hey..floral means spring…duh 😂haha!!

Sandhya’s wardrobe (summer and spring) : dress – Reliance Trendz, Peach t-shirt and gladiator flats – thrifted Germany, Floral flip flops – thrifted Chennai

Next, Anusha’s look

For Anusha we decided to retain the Palazzo pants because they were airy comfy and colorful and we replaced to spaghetti lace top with a fitted almost body con type of tshirt because it keeps you warm and cozy again! However the top being black I quite dint find it too springy and hence decided the orange and blue statement necklace would be a perfect addition to the look! So there you have a nice springy and colorful Anusha!! 😍😘

Wazzzaa fun and candid pulling shot to show of the wideness of the palazzo pants!! 😂😍😂! Haha! I liked Anusha’s spring look the best because it looked so put together and yet so chic and comfy!

Anusha’s wardrobe (summer and spring) : Palazzo pants – Akritti (by Pantaloons), fitted black top and lace top – Sandhya’s (I honestly don’t know where they are from ), flats – Bata, watch – Timex, Statement necklace – the Fashionhub (Instagram account), blue aviators -myntra online

Finally, Shilpa’s look

My look was all about florals! I traded my plain orange top for this floral crop top to ensure it had the right amount of color (a.k.a a lot of color) to depict the weather!

Wazzzaa Audrey Hepburn-esque pose!! 😝😝 so I completed my look by trading the flip flops for a pair of Zara golden flats (it looks like magic woven into a sandal! I swear!) and wearing my rounded cat eyed sunglasses in place of my aviators!

Shilpa’s wardrobe (spring and summer) : Coral skirt – 19•F (from pantaloons), orange shirt – Only India, turquoise beaded necklace – forever21, animal print aviators – Claire’s, red flip flops – lotto online, floral crop top – Westside, rounded animal print sunnies – Polkadot and you (Instagram account), golden flats – Zara, boho beaded wristband – blue eye collection!

That brings us to the end of the this week’s post! How would you transition from spring to summer with a staple piece? What defines spring and summer for you? What do you think about Sandhya Anusha and my looks? Do tell me! I’m all ears 👂🏼👂🏼

I have told you this a million times but every now and again I want to tell all my readers a big thank you again! (here take a kiss each 😘) you guys are probably the most supportive and encouraging people and I need that now more than anyother time! Thank you more than most! Have an amazing week ahead! Xoxo!

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!

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!

Print Preview Finale!! – TOW the Quirkies!

June 6, 2015 Shilpa5 Comments

Title inspiration : Friends! 😝😍

Aaanyways! Hi you guys! As a final part of this print preview series, I bring to you quirky prints as the theme. So what qualifies as a quirky print? Any pattern which is actually decipherable and isn’t meant to be on a dress – like a face! or pineapples! or tea cups! or hair dryers (what? It’s a possibility Ok?)

All dressed for an office party! The only kinda party I attend! 😂

Since any and every unual print qualifies as quirky I’m going to restrict myself to just a few. So what you see above is a really cool tribal print bubble top. I bought this one online off an Instagram account for 300 bucks can you believe that? 😍😊
When a lot is going on in one piece of your outfit it’s often a wise idea to restrict the chaos and have every other piece quite plain. That’s why I paired that top with a red blazer and blue jeans!

Other fun(ny) prints include the famous pineapple printed crop tops and shorts which has taken over the F21 and HM market! I love them but not enough to buy them yet! 😂
Here are some really different prints I came across on Pinterest!

Typewriters have never looked this good. Agreed?

A big moustache creeps me out only in real apparently!

Also, here’s my take on these fun prints!

This is the famous iron box printed kurti my sister owns. Since she’s too busy to pose for me (😕 uh-huh) I decided to put a look book of sorts with that piece. So I paired it up with my sister’s knee length denim shorts and a pashmina shawl (my proud possession. Lol) This print never fails to turn some heads and others find it to be an easy conversation starter when she wears it. Its quirky and pretty cheap and we had no reason to not love it 😊

Outfit Details : Iron box printed Kurti – Aakriti by Pantaloons | Knee length denim shorts – Bare Denim | Pashmina Shawl – Thrifted off the beautiful streets of Delhi.

That’s all for today’s post my beautiful readers. Do you have any such fun prints which make heads turn too? Tell me! I’m all ears 😀🙉

Also, watch this space for some amazing outfit posts and website recommendations in the days to come! Have an amaze-balls weekend! 💝 Ciao!

Print Preview – Western Symmetry

June 1, 2015June 1, 2015 Shilpa9 Comments

Its Monday my dear readers and publishing this post will probably be the best thing I’ll be doing today. 😟😀 Today’s post is about a few western prints. When I think western prints I think geometry I think precision and I think formals. I don’t know why, but all that comes to my mind are these prim and proper pencil skirts and A-line dresses but let’s try and break that stereotype henceforth shall we 🙂

Houndstooth Print

The houndstooth print became pretty famous last year with it taking over the runway and many blogs too. I love (with a capital L) monochromes so I had no problems embracing the houndstooth print.
The houndstooth is literally in the shape of a houndstooth. No really. 😛

This print started being used in predominantly every outfit possible. Skirts, blazers, scarfs, entire dresses, etc. Since its basically a black and white (mostly) print it lends itself beautifully to bright colors like red, yellow, violet, pink and so on…and on.. 😉

This is how I styled this print!

While you get skirts and dresses with really big houndstooth prints I chose really tiny prints because..well…I’m not exactly petite and nothing gives that fact away like big prints. 😂

Outfit Details : Houndstooth shirt : Fast Fashion | Chino Trousers : Marks and Spencers | Nude Pumps : Westside | Purse : Lifestyle from Lifestyle | Shades : Rayban

Chevron Print

Chevron is basically an Multi National Company and their logo is basically two downward arrow heads. For some reason this print grew really popular about a couple of years ago and what’s more, they decided to call it Chevron, the name of the company that originally designed it. Ha.

So chevron is one all-rounder print let me tell you! It lends itself as much to outfits as it does to home decor!! Don’t believe me? Google it! Also here’s what I did with the chevron print for home decor. (Warning! This was when I used paint and canvas for the first time in my life. So shoddy painting ahead!)

Outfit wise, the chevron print again is used on any and every outfit. They are a special favorite of the shift / shirt dresses because the vertical downward arrows and lines give some amount of shape which is clearly lacking in those dress styles. I have no dress which has this cool print yet. I’ll get one soon!! 😤
After publishing this post, Nandhini, my running inspiration and reader of my blog told me she had an outfit in this Chevron print and so sweetly and readily agreed when I asked her if I could put it up on my blog! So here you go! Nandini owning the chevron in this mint and white peplum chevron top for you!

Thanks Nandini for contributing to my blog (again!) You’re a savior 💝🙏😍

Polka Dots
Polka dots is a classic. Its so 80s I feel like an old time heroine whenever I wear it. Nope that’s not same as feeling old. Nope. 😂 Polka dots are everyone’s favorite and everyone has at least one Polka dotted outfit as a matter of principle! 🙏
I have styled my polka with stripes once on the blog before.

I also own a beautiful polka dress which I am just realizing I’ve never shown you guys before.! 😱

Yes. Short hair.! 😍 so long ago!
Also, here’s how my fashionista friend Madhu satisfied her polka craving.

I love the frills on her sleeve and her choice of shoes too! Thank you Madhu for contributing to my blog. I couldn’t have asked for a better outfit or photo! Yayy 💝💝

Outfit details (mine) : Polka shirt – Thrift shopped in Mumbai | Striped T-shirt – Waves Chennai | Polka Dotted Dress – Max

Outfit details (Madhu) : Polka Cardigan – Splash | Black Jeans – Calvin Klein

Symmetrical patterns

While all things east are handmade and labor intensive, they can’t and they don’t follow much symmetry. This symmetry is more than achieved in western machine made outfits and don’t we love them. 😇
I recently bought this diamond print silk jacket from Vesa Online and here’s how I styled it again for this post.

This jacket defines style in so many ways for me. Its classy, its colorful, it’s rich in material, its Indian in texture but western in print. Ufff! I love it!

Also,going completely off topic, guess what readers? I STITCHED THAT DRESS.!! 💃🍹🍻🎶🎊🎉🎇
Yes that’s right! If you’ve been following my blog I made no bones about my stitching experiments and this dress is one of its results. Its a bit loose (I might have cringed and cribbed about how loose it is if someone else had stitched it, but now I use “bit loose” 😂) but its a labor of love and I can’t but love it two hands and two legs. This is how I styled it without the coat!

I cinched it up at my waist with my tan belt to give it some shape.

Outfit Details : Dress – Stitched by me | Jacket – Vesa online | Platform Heels – Westside | Tan Belt – Lifestyle

That’s all from me readers. Thank you so much for coming back and reading and loving my blog every single time. Have an amazing week ahead!

Eight Reasons why Kangana Ranaut is the biggest fashion icon of recent times!

May 25, 2015May 25, 2015 Shilpa3 Comments

1. She tries varied styles. She’s does not do a Vidya Balan or a Sonam Kapoor – sticking to particular attires or sporting just international labels.

2. She has through the years maintained, flaunted and made us fall in love time and again with her curls. She made us believe curls are cool. Cools are curl…lel.

3. She is not the perfect size zero nor does she particularly have the perfect legs or body but she gives a damn, throws caution to the wind and experiments anyway.

4. She mixes prints, colors and trends like a boss.

Source : Bigindianwedding.com via Pinterest

5. When she has an occasion she dresses up, but for the other days, its simple comfortable and cozy staples you and me would be seen in that she sports.

6. She never tries too hard. When she imitates a old time fashion icon its never a “oh look at her, she’s subtly trying to be actor.x” its always a “oh look its actor x” ya she just goes all out and looks like the icon’s clone, thus paying a tribute to them rather than aping their style.

7. Have you seen the way she answers her interviews? From not knowing a word in English and being branded as a village bell with an accent she went on to becoming such a force in English and vocabulary and diction and pronunciation and CONTENT that it was such an in-your-face to so many in the film fraternity.

8. She has recently declined to endorse a fairness cream (She was offered Rs.2 crores for it mind you) because she strongly believed color means nothing and that it would be like insulting her dusky sister, which if she could never do, she could not insult an entire nation. Read this link for more news on that!

Kangana, you beauty! FTW \M/ !!!

P.S.:All Images are sourced through Pinterest

Print Preview – Sway the Indian Way 2.0!

May 20, 2015May 20, 2015 Shilpa17 Comments

A quick post this one! Ever since I launched a facebook page for my blog I haven’t been giving the usual life updates that I used to. Granted, I don’t lead a page3 life (not even page 16 if you ask me 😂) but it used to be fun, talking about completely random stuff. But going big means channeling and focusing on strengths which effectively put an end to these ancillary topics. *Sob. Sob.* However, here’s a “life update” I’m gonna have to give you! I’m learning STITCHING.!! Ahhhh!!! Yes its the most fun thing to do! I enrolled myself in a stitching class recently and boy am I having a ball – a cotton ball – a stitched cotton ball – hahaha! So far I’ve done a pillow cover (elementary my dear Watson!), a kids jubba, an A-Line dress (more on that later 😍) and now an umbrella skirt. Yay!

So when my teacher asked me to buy material for my next class which was going to be an umbrella skirt I didn’t quite know what print I wanted. I went shopping and a bit of picking and prodding ended with me getting a beautiful material. Add a class of sewing hemming and a lot of struggle and Ta-daaaa 😇😍🙌👇👗

I won’t say this skirt was easy for me to stitch. Especially the waist where I had to insert an elastic into a slit and sew up after that but I had fun all the same with my tailor-teacher. 😍📍✂📏😇

This skirt is basically a patchwork of odds and bits of plain and kalamkari prints which were probably in excess. It must have involved so much labor because use square you see there has been individually sewn to the next square. I got this running material for Rs.200 per meter x 3 meters. So for Rs.600 ($10) I have a lovely summery printed maxi ready!! 😍

Outfit Details : Plain T-shirt: Globus, Skirt: Material Color’s Choice Chennai, Stitched by yours truly, Necklace: Gift, Platform heels : Khadims Chennai.

I found a lot of Indian fabrics and prints in this skirt. Its a prettiest and the most satisfying thing I have done and/or worn in a long time. Hope you guys liked this post. Thank you so much readers for coming back and showing so much love every single time. 💝

Print Preview – 💃 Sway the Indian-Way 💃

May 17, 2015May 18, 2015 Shilpa17 Comments

Hi you guys! I am back (about time!) with yet another post about Prints!! Back when I did my first post – I dint think this theme through and chose florals as an individual post and went ahead with it. But then the very obvious struck me! Taking prints as a theme just brings in almost an entire genre of fashion into its purview and here I am trying to talk about prints in like four to five posts. Which is impossible. Which is not doing justice to the theme. Which is why I decided on this elaborate plan of choosing groups of prints per post and what better way to start than closest to home. So presenting to you – (cue music 😂) my take on INDIAN PRINTS! 😀

The fashion scene in India is pretty competitive (Indians – ‘nuf said) and growing. While designers love experimenting with colors and cuts there is something common across the country’s fashion industry- Embroidery!! Embroidery is so South Asian and specific to us that I bet its not even a considered as an option for the designers of the West. While prints have been prevelant from before embroidery came into the picture, the sheer workmanship and creativity one can display (and hence charge a bomb for,) through embroidery makes it a luxury and preferred favourite of the runway. So while embroidered-wear can sit snootily in the throne I am today going to embrace its less glamourous cousin Indian Prints because hey prints are here to stay!! 😀 They have been around for ages, they are at times handmade, they fit our purse strings and they are fun to work with and sport. For this post I have chosen four basic prints every Indian girl knows or should know!

Kalamkari

While I have yapped enough and more about Kalamkari on this blog to you before, heres what you need to know of what Kalamkari is all about !!

“Kalamkari is a type of hand-painted or block-printed cotton textile, produced in parts of India and in Iran. The word is derived from the Persian words ghalam (Pen) and kari (craftsmanship), meaning drawing with a pen (Ghalamkar). The “kalam” or pen is used for free hand drawing of the subject and filling in the colours, is entirely hand worked. Only natural dyes are used in Kalamkari and it involves seventeen painstaking steps.”

While in modern times, on the kalamkari dresses we wear, the parts about natural dyes and the “pain staking process” part might not be true, it is said that artisans still use their pens to touch up the lines and pictures created mechanically! So you say its handmade or nothing? Haha good for you bro, I am happy with a “fully machine made but thoda handmade bhi” tag too!

Chennaites looking for Kalamkari, the place you gotta be is Shilpi! (Nungambakkam or CP Ramasamy Road)

I have had a love affair with this Print and material right here on this blog several times before! See for yourself! 😀

Meanwhile, here’s how my favorite cousin styles kalamkari palazzo pants while vacationing in Thailand

Gosh! This chic knows to holiday in style!

Block Prints
Another traditional form of prints are block prints. This is another form of Kalamkari but its quicker and easier to make because they are block printed!

Anyone can try block printing because it works on a simple concept! You’ll know what I mean when you see this!!

Yes! We all, each one of us, could have become artisans had we had the vision mission and purpose when we were taught the highly messy, satisfying art of vegetable printing. Lel.

So blocks which basically look like this are available on etsy and amazon! Wet paint on them and plop them really hard on a fabric of your choice and you get your block print!

Block printing is widely used in India. It works really well on cotton and hence we Indians embrace it with two hands and two feet because a thing called winter is nonexistent here.

This Kurta – my all time favorite, is a really old block printed piece I have!

Also here’s how my school mate and friend Anusha loves her block prints

Anusha is giving western outfits and retail brands a run for their money by rocking New York in this block printed beautiful salwar kameez.

Nailing looks since 1990 can be a tagline for this cute fashionista friend of mine 💝😊 thanks Anusha for the contribution

Bhandhani

Bandhani is a type of tie and dye practiced mainly in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat, India. The term bandhani is derived from the Sanskrit word banda (“to tie”). Bhandhini is tough process whereby a piece of cloth is tied up and covered in small loops at various places and then dyed. On drying these tied up portions are opened up and since they weren’t exposed to the dye they remain in the original shade.

Bhandhini is again a work of art special to Gujarat and Rajasthan (honestly how skilled and creative are these people?)

My friend Nandhini readily agreed to help me out with showing my readers how she styled her beautiful bhandhini saree. I love the way she has accessoried so perfectly for this saree!

How Nandhini? How do you manage to find the perfect accessories every single time 😍!

Bhandhini apart from being styled as sarees is really popular as dhupattas and skirts

Ikat

I must say I knew nothing about ikat until very recently. I call it the aztec of Asia. I saw this video about how ikat is done and it is such hard work!! Check out the video here :

Giving you the link because a) seeing it is so much better than reading about it and b) even describing the process seems like hard work for me 😐

I recently bought an AMAZING ikat short skirt and I’m surely posting about it soon. But for now lemme show you how some of the lovely girls I know styled and nailed this pattern!

Niveditha does Ikat in style with this boho type blouse. She has pulled it off with such grace and elan and she gets brownie points for such a fabulous backdrop 😍

My style crazy shopping crazy bestie preeti does Ikat in this party wear shirt and she sure has moved out of comfort zone and is rocking the look!!

While these are not all the prints that there are in India I have tried covering the main ones. Hope you enjoyed this long and long due post. Have a happy rest of the weekend peeps. Love y’all 😘

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