Subtle Hues for Holi ft. Sumayaa

Hello ladies! Hope all's going great. Well, Holi is round the corner, which means it's yet another turn for me to don an Indian outfit. The fact's not hidden that I'm an occasional Indian outfit wearer. And when I do, the day's gotta be special. Holi is a fun-filled festival, celebrated across the globe but it's no longer restricted to just the mandatory splashing of gulal and munching gujiyas, but also about wearing trendiest Indian outfits, striking a melange of colours!

kurta, earrings : Sumayaa | churidaar leggings : Myntra | heels : Dorothy Perkins

bangles, rings : The Trinket Shop

For me, a subtle kurta from SUMAYAA is the pick this time. It's a pure cotton kurta in pink with beautiful silver embroidery. The embroidery is called the 'gota patti' which makes any garment look exuberant and traditionally artistic. I love how it falls on the upper-front of the long kurta and the sleeves, and also matches the silver jewelry I added to the look! I chose to pair it with a solid white churidaar to give a sleek, tall look while matching the leggings with a pair of white heels. A perfect blend of soft hues for a day look!

The 'Kurta' is an outfit that has stretched beyond the Indian borders, and has evolved down the ages to suit the ever-changing demands of the fashion forward world. A long top, generally of knee-length, paired with salwar or churidar and dupatta is what comprises the salwar-kurta-dupatta get-up. But SUMAYAA has brought in a varied range of styles for the Indian-modern trends to discover! They have a wide stock of lehengas, skirts, crop tops, fashionable kurtas, etc. In fact, they even sell unstitched pieces for gifting purposes, and of course for getting your customised outfits stitched!

So, if you're in Lucknow, and have nothing to wear for Holi, you must visit Sumayaa - the designer store, located at B-11, Kishan Bazar, opposite One Awadh Centre Mall, Gomti Nagar. I'm sure you're pretty much going to fall in love with each of it's designs at a blink! Keep following me on instagram & facebook for regular fashion updates. Until next, lots of love!

Photographed by : Saumya Kumar | Makeup by : Simran Taneja

~xoxo~

Ethnicity & Pride with AuthIndia

Indian culture is known for its diversity the all over the globe, with ethnic clothing being just one of the things that distinguishes one part of India from the other. The traditional Indian attire has earned admirers from people from all over, with highlights of the craftsmanship with which artisans create traditional dresses, which of course is incredible! Coming to my love for Indian wear, its new. I usually opted to carry kurtas on occasions previously, but with my recent admiration to the ethnic embroidery and its various versions had me fall deep in love with it! Well, not just the clothing but Indian jewelry is another thing that has managed to make a place for itself in my ethnic collection.

With tons and tons of online shopping brands mushrooming in India, its hard to find your kinda ethnic styles both in clothes and jewelry under one website, but stumbling upon AUTHINDIA recently, I knew there's something for everyone! Be it young girls, middle age women or your beloved grannies having lived half of their life already, AuthIndia caters to each and every female with hundreds of apparel and jewelry designs with latest ethnic trends! 

"Striving to explore the authentic handmade products, cutting across the length and breadth of India and fishing out the most splendid and exquisite handicrafts to the reach of your houses" is their foremost motive. In my favorite jewelry section, they have minakari jhumkas, to pachi and kundan earrings (starting from 250/- onwards), and not forgetting the amazing handcrafted terracotta necklace set (starting from 300/- onwards) that suits all age women aptly. 

Pink Pachi Jhumka (325/-)

Pachi Drop Earrings (300/-)

Terracotta Gold-Black Necklace Set (450/-)

The best part about terracotta jewelry is, that you can match them with any of your favorite kurti or a saree, or any traditional outfit. It stays for long, and are quite light weighted. Available in traditional & trendy designs with a glossy finish to them.

----------------------------

Authindia, as the name suggests, is a brand that contains authentic Indian handicrafts, which also includes a wide range of ethnic apparels like kurtis, saree, dupattas! Since I like to dress simple and casual, a beautiful long kurti in blue with chikankaari was my pick from the website. A pure cotton fabric with hand embroidered in chikan in orange both front and back, the kurti looked fabulous when paired with a plain white pair of leggings and accessorized with the pink pachi jhumkas and heels! Belonging to the city of Lucknow, where the exclusive chikan embroidery was  fashioned, I have a different attachment to it, and its astonishing to find an entire section of chikan kurtis on the AuthIndia site selling so many different lengths, colors and embroideries!

Blue Chikan Kurti with Orange Embroidery (599/-)

Complete Outfit Details

kurti, earrings : AuthIndia | leggings : Lyra | heels : StreetStyleStore | rings : Myntra

Please Note : From chikan embroidered sarees and suits from Lucknow, hand-loom sarees from every state of India, handmade jewellery, Kutch embroidery bags of Gujarat and colorful & unique handicrafts, diversified home decor items made of eco-friendly materials from all over the country, AuthIndia as a brand brings you lots and lots of stuff to make your shopping worth every penny you spend!

I really hope you liked reading this post. I feel, as a fashion and lifestyle influencer, I have been bringing a lot of unnoticed brands to you. It would be a pleasure to know your experiences on the websites I keep sharing about, including this new one as I'm talking of here. And, may you have a great time shopping!

Photographed by : Yash Athwani  |  Location : Cappuccino Blast Mall Avenue

~xoxo~

Eid-E-Pehnava

Hello lovelies, how are you all? All set for the most awaited festival of the year? Well, not just Muslims but I guess all others like me wait for Eid the whole year eagerly, because hey its all about sweets and greets! Also, about sharing clarity of thoughts, warmth and love!

Last year, if you remember, I posted a quick recipe giving a twist to the regular dates eaten during iftaar everyday during Ramadan for Eid (if you haven't seen that yet, check it out HERE); so this year I thought of doing an outfit post since so many of you'd been requesting me to do an Indian wear since long!

To be honest, I'm a not a fan of Indian attires that much because I feel a simple tee and jeans are more comfortable and if you know me well, you know I always put comfort over fashion! But, when it comes to special occasions like any Indian festival, I make sure to make my parents happy as they see me dressed up in an Indian apparel from head to toe. Likewise, as we talk of Eid today, I got a set of Indian jewelry for myself recently from THE TRINKET SHOP and went ahead to match my attire with that (quite rare because it goes the other way round for usual, right?), but I just fell in love with the pieces and thought of wearing it on the special day; so checkout all pictures and outfit details below..

kurta, salwar : Sewa Chikan (Lucknow) | dupatta : Local Market | heels : Steve Madden

All Jewelry : The Trinket Shop

As you know Lucknow being a traditional Indian city, is known for its Awadhi culture that has a great number of Muslims settled since forever. Eid in Lucknow is really different and majestic, celebrated with so much of enthusiasm that where else would you see the same vivacity I'm not sure! Being a Lucknowite, I've grown up seeing the warmest atmosphere with Eid celebrations happening all over the town and I love to celebrate the zeal along! 

Every year my friends and I get dressed in our new Indian clothes and hop onto greet others at their place. This year I decided to go all white since I believe its the color of true elegance, purity and simplicity. I got myself a chikan embroidered kurta and salwar from the expert chikankaari shop in the town named Sewa Chikan. Lucknow also has the distinction of being today, the cusp of a very beautiful, very aesthetic form of white floral embroidery. The art of Chikankaari has been practiced in Lucknow for almost more than two hundred years, and I've been wearing it since always and have truly loved it so! I really like the embroidery work as done all over my kurta and its sleeves and also on the edges of my salwar, quite beautifully intricate it appears! PS : Choosing white for the top and bottom doesn't mean I don't like colors, and to break the monotony, I simply added a multi colored dupatta that couldn't have made the attire look more chic anyways!

I am not overly obsessed with jewelry but I like adding it to my attire often. So, this time I went ahead and wore it all in my neck, ears, and hands! All that you see in the pictures above, is handcrafted jewelry by a Chennai girl Bhagya Suresh, who happens to be a friend and runs an online shopping portal by the name The Trinket Shop. She exclusively designed this entire set of silver metallic jewelry for me for Eid and sent it across at the earliest so that I do not have to search for stuff all over the place! Silver metal, crafted along the colorful threads makes it look so graceful and magnificent. The necklace, earrings, bangles and rings, I am already in awe of TTS that showered so much of love upon me! ---- Must must check out this store for some really cool and affordable jewelry and accessories!

Shot at : Saadat Ali ka Maqbara (a historic monument in Lucknow)

I hope you liked reading this post. If you did do tell me in the comments below. Also, don't forget to celebrate Eid in the most awesome way you could. Eat lots of sewaiyyan and biryani and do lots of duas, for they shall be granted if your soul be true. Have a great time guys! Eid Mubarak!

Photographed by : Exposure Imageries

~xoxo~