One of the Sixteen Adornment

Hello everybody, hope you all are doing fine. 

Do you ask where was I for these many days? Well, nothing but I had been to India my home. We enjoyed the one whole month vacation there and now I am back to Muscat with the usual routine. So it has been long since I wrote something and today I am going to talk about this which is a visual treat for me back home in Bangalore and more so in the remote villages nearby when we drove from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu where we holidayed.

If you want any hint on this, remember our Neena Gupta’s directorial series back in nineties Saans.

Courtesy: Saans Serial Promo on www.youtube.com

Yes of course I am talking about the beautiful vermilion coloured huge dot on the forehead of women in India.  There has been a joke on this too.

Courtesy: www.jokofy.com

Just recently, I read somewhere where they asked why do we wear bindi ? Why only Vermilion red? Is there any reason behind?

I am sure you all might have seen your mother, grandmother, aunt sporting this Bindi as one of the adornment in the middle of the forehead. It is said if you see a woman with this bindi from very far and you assume she has to be a married woman (This is one of the sign of a married woman). The scientific reason behind this is to stimulate the nerve that joins the centre of forehead and the brain and keep it active throughout the day. While keeping the bindi or vermilion powder, we have to press the centre point of the forehead so that the brain gets some kind of acupressure and it calms down the stress levels inside the brain. It also enhances the thinking nerves inside the brain.

Vermilion Red has the power to subside the negative energy of the person in front of it. This secret was very much used by our ancestors to turn all negative energy to positive and hence they use to propagate upon wearing the Vermilion coloured powder to the women in the house.

All said and done as and when the trend changed wearing this Vermilion powder to plastic stick on and later on totally discarding it as it might not suit the attire. It is true to some extent, but I feel given a chance why we for a change don’t revive this trend back.

I came across a beautiful innovation video which is a life saving dot. Literally Iodine supplement for the women in India. Must Watch and here is the video.

Need some inspiration? Sure we do in the name of fashion.

Ashley Judd at the premiere of her NGC Documentary on AIDS in 2007

Courtesy: www.nymag,com

Gwen Stefani, an avid promoter of Indian Culture to the Non Hindu population in early 1990's

Courtesy: www.nymag.com

Katy Perry in her Indian Attire to the 2011 Grammy's

Courtesy: www.nymag.com

Sana Saeed elegantly sporting the bindi with the western outfit

Courtesy: Sana Saeed official Instagram

Willow Smith, Rapper Singer and Daughter of Will Smith has often seen with the bindi

Courtesy: Dailymail UK

GENERAL DISCLAIMER

The copyrights to all pictures and logos mentioned in this blog belongs to the respective persons. I do not claim any monetary benefits by using these pictures.

SUMMER LINEN LOVE

It is getting pretty hot in Muscat and would you still want to hug in your tight jeggings, pencil skirt??? Naaaahhh!! I don’t think so. So what do you think is the best clothing for Summer? I would say something easy, breezy, comfortable fabric like Cotton, Linen. There are tonnes of apparel in the market. Just pass through any shopping mall and you would see bright coloured Linen and Cotton clothing. Cotton you all know, you might have been wearing it since ages. What about Linen? You might have known about it but without being aware of what it is. Thanks to fashion industry and skilled workers in remote places, Linen fashion is getting revived.

I will definitely be giving you some links below but first let me ask you what exactly is Linen?

Linen is a fabric made from the fibres of flax plant. Linen is laborious to manufacture, but the fibre is high absorbing in nature and garments made of linen are valued for their exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather. The linen texture can be seen below.

The word linen is of West Germanic Origin and cognate to the Latin name for the flax plant, linum and the earlier Greek linon. This word history has given rise to a number of other terms in English, most notably line, from the use of a linen (flax) thread to determine a straight line.

Linen textiles appear to be some of the oldest in the world: their history goes back many thousands of years. Fragments of straw, seeds, fibres, yarns and various types of fabrics dating to about 8000 BC have been found in Swiss lake dwellings. Dyed flax fibres found in a prehistoric cave in Georgia suggest the use of woven linen fabrics from wild flax.

In the past “Linens” were also referred to light weight undergarments such as shirts, chemises, waist shirts (ganjiparak/ ganjifrock), lingerie (a word also cognate with linen), and detachable shirt collars and cuffs, all of which were made almost exclusively out of linen. The inner layer of fine composite cloth garments (as for example jackets) was traditionally made of linen, hence the word lining.

Beauty of linen is that it is natural, rustic and comes with muted colours. The fabric is breathable and comfortable when worn. It is light weight; weaves allow air flow for the skin to breathe which in turn minimizes the heat.

The fashion industry has understood the importance and usefulness of Linen and many designers are coming up with unique and varied clothing for both men and women. Even the retail industry has summer collection dedicated to Linen.

Plenty of brands which do Linen clothing are Marks & Spencer, Banana Republic, Bossini, Raymond Linen Club, J.Crew, Macy’s, GAP, Uniqlo, Old Navy etc.

Designers who are trend setters be it in a Saree, Dhoti, Apparels, Kurta, Shirts, Trousers are Anavila, Wendell Rodricks, Ujjawal Dubey, Siddartha Tytler, Anand Bhushan, Hemant & Nandita, Sailex to name a few.

Below are the pictures of Linen Shirts and Contemporary take on Line Apparel for men and women.

So ladies would you want to ditch those skirts and trousers for the office wear/ casual wear with a Linen Saree? Men do you think you shall be making style statement with these Linen shirts/ trousers/ suits?

Pssssstttt: For those who have inspired to buy this Linen here is the link for Raymond and Anavila.

 

If you want to read more on Scientifically yours, Sari, click here.

If you need more information please visit the Facebook Page link in the above mentioned. Also please feel free to share any other information you have got about Linen. I would love to hear from you.

GENERAL DISCLAIMER: The copyrights, trademarks and other geographical indications of the photos published in this blog belong to the respective manufacturers. I do not claim any monetary benefit by publishing these photos on this blog. This blog is written only for information purpose. 

DHOW IN OUR TRADITIONAL ATTIRE 

Hello Everyone, Today I am going to start a new journey here with you all sharing my thoughts, views and maybe giveaway few links to those who would want to shop their heart away. It has been a couple of months since I shifted to Muscat, Oman from my hometown Bangalore, India. When I landed here little did I know that this city is so culturally profound and people here are so warm in welcoming us. 

My heartfelt thanks to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al Said and everyone here.

I am happy to see Men and Women dress up in their traditional attire. Men wear a White robe called as Dishdasha and Women wear a Black robe called Abaya. On some occasions, men wear a Khanjar on their waist.

 

In certain places like while Gymming or trekking or any other sport activity they are seen in different clothing. This impressed me a lot; Do you ask why? Because I don’t see all the women in India wearing a Saree or any other traditional attire and so do the Men in Dhoti or a Panche.

So I decided, if not every day but for some occasion we should sport our traditional attire. The day wasn’t very far. Me and my husband had booked ourselves for a traditional cruising here in Muscat called Dhow Cruise, which is a traditional Omani boat used for transportation and fishing, and what better way to enjoy the cruise while draped in a saree and dhoti. 

I had to insist my husband to wear a dhoti. It was easy to convince him especially after watching this movie (Detective Byomkesh Bakshy). He was ready to experiment so here are few pictures of the event. 

Check out the Facebook Page of the event that we booked through. Hurry up guys because they have one soon to be held on May 8^th 2015.

If you have anything else to add or share, please drop in your comments below. I would like to hear from you.