October for all Indians means only one thing! The most vibrant Quarter of the year is here! Every year I remember as a kid, the whole atmosphere at home and at school used to undergo a shift when October sets in and I realize the same excitement has transcended well into adulthood as well!
Hailing from a city called Palakkad which lies almost on the line dividing Tamil Nadu and Kerala has its own strange perks! We get to celebrate Keralite festivals without looking like a South Indian going on Karva Chauth fasts (er…yes I have some such friends! :P)
After what seems like the longest break I’ve taken from the blogging world, I’m back with the next post you guys!
So, before that, tell me..how you been? ๐๐didja miss me? Didja think about me? ๐๐ป๐ธ๐ป๐๐ป a big hug if you did! A big hug if you didn’t too! ๐
Diving straight in, I decided to do a four part post about what to wear this summer when you decide Pants are not your cuppa! What with the sun scorching, I bet jeans are the last things on your mind. But what are the alternatives you may wonder. Fret not love, for I’m here to show you four cool and easy ways to waltz through summer pants-free! ๐
Part I – The quintessential Six yards
The Saree is the touted to be the most beautiful attire. Drape it well and it can be the most accentuating outfit you’d ever have worn! And that’s why the Saree is my first choice of clothing this summer!
This beautiful Kota cotton Saree has a funny story behind it! It about a year ago (oh coming to think about it, exactly a year ago!) that I decided to gift my grandmother (let’s call her paati because that makes typing a whole lot easier for me!) a Saree for her birthday. I fell in love with this Saree the instant I saw it because I could so imagine my paati looking cute and bright in yellow and green. Also, I presumed she would love something cool and comfortable like a Kota cotton anyday over a heavy silk Saree. Well I was mistaken wasn’t I!
Let me continue the story after the next image! ๐
So I buy the Saree and take it to her, and my paati being my paati looked at it with a dead pan face (something like this ๐ถ) and took it. Hahahah! I later realised she wanted a silk saree as it turned out that I wasn’t alone in thinking cottons would be what she needs. So one year later, this saree was still new and unworn and I shamelessly went and borrowed it back from her for the shoot! Yup thaaat’s me! Happy and shameless!
And that’s exactly what I seem to be happily declaring to the world in the next picture! Lol!)
Cotton sarees in general and good Kota sarees in particular weigh almost nothing! So take out your mom’s or maybe even your paati’s saree out and take it for a spin this summer!
Outfit Details: Kota Saree – Shilpi (Chennai), Readymade blouse – RmKV (Chennai), Necklace – Gift, Footwear – Koblerr (Chennai)
These pictures were taken by the awesome Sneha Chandrashekhar! We did all four outfits in one shot and they have all come out so well that it’s making me exercise so much self control to not release all of them in one go its not even funny anymore! โน๏ธ Thank you Sneha for ensuring I’m spoilt for choice! (follow her on Instagram @purplecurlss)
That’s all from me this week! I promise I’ll be regular (atleast till this series is done with!) with a new post coming out every Monday! See ya! โค๏ธ
Upping their saree gameย – 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. ๐ (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, whenย Sareez – The online storeย approached me to do a postย featuring them, I was more than willing! Upping my sareeย game and strutting around and getting clicked in a fabulous saree? Count me in!! ๐ 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 lovedย Sareez.comย 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 beenย 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! ๐ ) and chose my tommy hilfiger watch and my glitter clutch!
Also, (dont laugh at me now!) in an attempt to improve my blogging Iย shot a video for this saree!! Sharing the link here!
These beautiful video and the amazing photos were captured by Ranjini Ramesh.ย Thank you so much Ranjini! This post wouldnt have been half as beautiful or colorful ifย it wasnt for you. :* Follow her on Insta hereย Hereย and her youtube channelย here!ย If you want such beautiful videos done, dont hesitate to ping her at ranjini.ramesh14@gmail.com!
Outfit Details : Saree – c/oย 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!
Instead of cribbing about lack of content I decided to do something constructive and useful. I have decided to start a website review segment reviewing the Made in India websites which I have tried in the past, showcasing their positives and highlighting their negative aspects. This is not a sponsored post and every opinion is my own.
My first site review is a treasure I found roughly a year back called Hands Of India. Interestingly I spoke about it in one of my first posts way back in June of last year.
This website was started by two sisters from Uttar Pradesh who are providing this platform for artisans from rural areas to showcase their handicrafts. This is what their website has to say about their efforts.
“HandsOfIndia” showcases the timeless creations made by the humble artisans of our country who are largely unaware of the real worth of their products, especially in a marketplace cluttered with mass produced replicas. This name signifies the skill and painstaking handwork of the craftspeople and the fact that these products are created using simple, natural techniques relying solely on the accumulated knowledge of generations of artisans and the skill of the human hand. It reaffirms our love for all things handmade.
I have ordered their products once online and I have been to their exhibition once and I was so thrilled with the outfits, the quality and the fit and comfort. They have a wide variety. I have tried to capture the essence of their collection here below.
Reversible Jackets (my personal favorite 😍)
Incidentally this was one of my buys from their website too!!
The comfort is unmatched guys ๐
Sarees: They have a wide variety of sarees in cotton and silk. I’m definitely thinking about buying one of these for my mum. What do you think ๐
Majorly eyeing this one! I’m a sucker for anything yellow and pink! And about that, Saree I’m not sorry! Lel!
Dresses: They have different types of dresses you can choose from:
This dress felt like made to order on me. While they don’t a wide range of sizes (S-M-L) the ones available are very standard and feel comfortable.
Kurtas and Salwars: Their kurta range is one segment I’m yet to try! A picture of some kurtas I’m eyeing 😝
When it comes to salwar sets they frankly outdid themselves. Let me explain. I purchased a salwar off one of their exhibitions. It was pretty loose for me so they happily agreed to alter it for me for free. When I went back to collect my altered salwar set the kind lady told me she had mentioned in detailed the alterations done on the cover which she asked me to safekeep. She also asked me to mention the same alterations every time I bought salwars off their website online! How thoughtful is such customization ๐ I was so impressed!
The salwar I bought is such a beautiful pastel green. I wear it for any formal event at work, for meetings and interviews and it has never failed to get me a compliment or two ๐
Apart from they also have a lovely collection of culottes, skirts, palazzo pants in pure khadi cotton.
The only minus point I have to point about this website is that more than once I’ve really loved a piece but have been unable to buy it because of they don’t have all clothes in all sizes.
Overall I have had an awesome experience with this clothes line and I am surely going back to buy from them real soon and I would strongly recommend this site to all my Indian friends ๐ Do check out their website (click here) and their facebook page (click here)
How did you guys find this new website review segment? Did you find it useful? Would you like me to review any particular website? Do tell me! I’m all ears. 👂👂!!
I attended two weddings in a span of four days and only once I got done with them both did I notice a trend. A trend I’ve infact been yapping about in my blog. A trend I’ve been tracking as part of my four post series. Yah! Neon! Both my outfits had neon of varying proportions in them. Ok the yapping stops here! Photos now!
Look #1: White Anarkali with Neon Embroidery
So an anarkali is basically a long gown, fitted till the waisted and flowing from there till a few inches above the ground. While my anarkali suit is pure white it has beautiful neon pink and green embroidery in the torso. Anarkalis are suitable for weddings of colleagues and not so close friends 😜 and for not so grand occasions!
Moving on…because I’m so excited to present this second look;)
Look #2: bright striking glaring Beautiful NEON Saree!
A Saree is a very traditional attire which almost every Indian woman loves to buy/stock/hoard
I wore this Saree for a friend’s reception. I believe a Saree should justify the occasion for which it is worn. 😜 Sarees should be worn for events involving family and close friends.
This saree was a kinda impulse buy. I paid a bomb for it when I saw it online and I should say I wasn’t very happy with the way it looked when I received the Saree. The moment I stitched my blouse to resemble a boat neck top and it came out so well, I was a happy girl!
I was still apprehensive about being the living traffic light, what with such bright colors spewed all over me, but I decided what the heck, if a fashion blogger won’t sport this, who will? And I went for it!
That brings me to the end of Part two of my neon series. Also I’ve given Indian bloggers the idea of incorporating neon into their festive collection wardrobe! Hope you try it out ๐
P.S. on a totally different note, it was my close friends birthday and I did this for her
I stole a piece of wood from some carpenters I knew and a handful of nails too and I sat and banged them into the wood 😜 and used red wool to form the heart and painted the words with acrylic. Needless to say, as is the case with anything handmade, she absolutely loved it! ๐
I present to you all the Indian tradional attire – The Saree. Six yards of fabric, one fabulous look ๐
The typical Indian girl starts wearing a saree in her late teens and as she ages the saree becomes a wardrobe staple. Traditional or not, I’m of the opinion that the saree is the perfect cloth for a woman of any body shape or size simply because it so beautifully lends itself to any type of styling and it can be tied and worn in a completely sensuous way such as these actresses :
Or in simple modest ways like me ๐
Material: A saree can be made of pretty much any material with their prices varying with it. Right from silk to jute to fruit fibers (I once gifted my mom a banana fiber saree, it looked gorgeous btw ๐ ) the variety is abundant. That being said, we often stick to silk for occasions due to its grandeur.
That would be me in a silk saree for a wedding
Parts of a saree: A saree is worn with a blouse which covers the torso. It is wrapped around the waist and tucked into an body hugging skirt. While the lower half of the saree is called the pleats, the portion which comes above the blouse is known as the pallu or the pallav. Funnily, the pallu is, in most cases pleated and pinned up too.
That would be me with my sister and granddad at my cousin’s wedding ๐
While I ve described how a saree would look when tied in a prim and proper sort of way, I’ve at times experimented quite a bit, be it by stitching fun blouses or by going all out and decking myself up in a very 70s heroine sort of way.
I’ll leave you with a few images of some of my other looks in sarees. ๐
By now you might have gotten a drift of my mad love for this attire. Before you get bored let me stop.! ๐
What did you think about this attire? Liked it? Do tell me ๐
shilpaviswesh.com 