Heylo blogging world! It’s so good to be back in my favourite writing space again! I’ve been having a re-starting trouble for quite a while now. Recently I picked up quite a few stuff from the Koovs.com sale and I decided there could be no better time, rime or reason to come back to my blog and show you what I got! So here goes.
Shirtdresses have always intrigued me. “How can people wear a straight piece of clothing with no shape or cut or structure and be okay with that?” I asked myself. Always being on the “healthier” side of things I never wanted to try a Shirtdress regardless of how obviously comfortable it was going to be. All this changed when I saw a really cool denim Shirtdress on the Koovs.com sale at a very reasonable price. “Let’s try it” I thought and I was quite literally sold on the idea the minute I saw it! 😍
Being the perfect length, this denim Shirtdress hit just above my knee. Pairing them with my trusted white sneakers was a no-brainer and thus emerged what I suppose must be the simplest and most comfortable looks I have posted on my blog!
There are no pretensions of perfection when you step into a Shirtdress. You are what you are with all you perfect imperfections (so much lyrics flicking!) and you got to embrace that to actually rock a shirt dress.
My only two accessories for this look were my white sneakers and my blue sunnies. Since it was an early morning shoot and I was rushing, I didn’t have time to apply even the very basic makeup I usually put on for shoots!
My wonderful and talented photographer for the day was RamKeshav check out his work on Facebook , his Website or Instagram. The wonders he creates with his camera are just amazing! Can you believe all the pictures of the shoot were taken in daylight and the lighting effects were all purely his and his one love- his camera ( that’s what he calls it!) Thank you Ram! I’m going to make the most of our Collab ASAP because this dude is going to be going places very soon! 😍
It’s Monday! Lalalala 😍 I’m jumping with joy for Monday means posty-toasty day! Say yay for its Monday! ❤️ so I’m bringing the month long theme seasonal transitions to an end today with this exciting post about winter! Now winter as I’ve told you’ll several times before is pretty nonexistent in the tropical country I live in but hey it isn’t wrong to be fashionably prepared for a winter that might strike someday is it? Like what if you went on a penguin siting expedition and got stuck in the arctic circle one day? Ok..ok…what if your husband suddenly got a transfer to Alaska and you got to make lively there? Got you thinking dint I? Good now let’s move on and start of with our three looks for this winter babaayyy!
First up, Sandhya’s look
Now this cutie decided to look really chic and classy in her winter clothes as well and she transitioned from this warm pink light cardigan autumn look to her thick full arms body hugging tshirt with her wooly infinity scarf.
Since her skirt was the staple she did worked around the other elements like adding black stockings and edgy black and studded heels. I think she looks like an absolute stunner what do you say?😍😘
Also, thank you Sandhya for making this whole theme look so glamorous! It was wonderful and so easy and comfortable working with you. 😍
Next, Anusha’s look
Now Anusha retained her violet pants and her grey boots and replaced her grey sweatshirt and denim jacket with this light yellow crop top sweater! So cute!
This sweater may have been short but it was so cozy and comfortable to be in. You could always wear a full tshirt to cover your midriff whenever you want to go cropped for your sweaters! The gray gumboots were perfect for this season as well and hence we decided to retain it for this look!!
Finally, Shilpa’s look
Before I start of with my look I’m sure many of you are probably going to hate it and so I want give away a few disclaimers 😂 this look is so laid back and it’s probably for one of those days you just want to run some errands in your locality and then go back home and re-watch Friends for the millionth time. That said, let’s get started 🙈
Well…what do you think 😃! For winter I retained my black maxi skirt and replaced the tshirt and denim shirt with a warm sweater! I also went from femine heels to my white kicks to complete the outfit
So this was a sweater I bought from Oasap.com for a vacation and while I and everybody who would have ever worn this sweater would have paired it with a pair of tights I decided to change things slightly with this look! And that’s why I look like a fur ball – warm but pretty unshapely! Haha! But who cares about how chic they look when at home or when they are going nowhere significant right? So for those days you can try this look I hope!! 😍😂
That would be all from me folks! I hope you loved this whole theme! Your comments are what keep me motivated so please keep them coming! Did you like all the looks? Which one did you think was the easiest to achieve? Do tell me! I’m all ears 👂🏼 love you! ❤️
Oh and P.S.: in case you were wondering, we thought it will just be wrong to have a photo shoot in broad daylight because it’s such a green summery place where I live and hence we waited for it to become twilight and then carried on with our shoot because we figured that was probably the only way we could get the winter effect!! Thank you Pranav for the awesome photography as always ❤️
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! shiny shiny beacuse Im sweaty sweaty!
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! 🐳🐳🐳
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 😘
My wonderful and talented photographer for the day was RamKeshav check out his work on Facebook , his Website or Instagram. The wonders he creates with his camera are just amazing! Can you believe all the pictures of the shoot were taken in daylight and the lighting effects were all purely his and his one love- his camera ( that’s what he calls it!) Thank you Ram! I’m going to make the most of our Collab ASAP because this dude is going to be going places very soon! 😍 
shilpaviswesh.com 