A Tale of 9 Yards

Hello people, it has been a while since I wrote something for you. It was a long Vacation back home in Bangalore, India. It was when I thought what should be my next blog on and that was the time my DH (Dear Husband) grandmother gifted me 2 of our 9 yards Saree. I couldn’t believe my happiness because by now you all know how much I love draping the most elegant clothing.

Elegance, Poise, Feminine and so much more when I say an Indian woman wear a Saree; no wonder it is still high on fashion trends when it comes to ethnic wear. Most commonly a Saree comes in a 6 yard fabric but the length varies across India. 9 yards are still used in few of the South Indian States and in Maharashtra. The Fabric varies from Pure Silk, heavily intricate design and motifs to a Simple Cotton with little but beautiful motifs hand loomed.  

 (L) Nauvari (R) Madisar 

The most common types of 9 yards drapes are from Tamil and Maharashtrian Brahmins. But there are many other drapes in the said regions like a Nauvari  (Typical 9 yard drape), Lavni (Dancers Style drape), Peshwa (Typical 9 yard drape with a little twist), Olakachche (Pant Style drapes found in South Karnataka), Horakachche (Pant Style drapes found in North Karnataka and similar to Nauvari because the influence from Maharashtra), Iyer and Iyengar Madisar (Pant Style drapes with a little variations where the pallu falls from Right Shoulder and Left Shoulder).

These Saree is worn without the underskirt, neatly pleated on the waist and thrown over the shoulder with variations in tucking the fabrics in different regions. Covering from head to toe, this is the most elegant look with good old traditional ornaments accessorized along. Pant Style 9 yards are not only Elegant and also very practical, be it walking for miles, doing regular chores at home. In cities 6 yard saree is taken over by 9 yard saree but when it comes to functions and wedding, ladies wouldn’t give a miss to drape one 9 yard saree passed on from generations.

Getting on with Flower Decorations for the House and Deity

Let us get back in time and see how our grandmothers wore 9 yards saree and did their daily chores. Thanks to my younger sister who was ready to model for me. Nowadays a lot of cross culture weddings are taking place so we draped ourselves into these beautiful 9 yards. I have been married to a Marathi descendants and my younger sister to a Tamil descendants who have settled in Bangalore for many years so we dressed accordingly. Photography: DH.

Early Morning Temple Visit to Seek the Blessings

Decorating the Front Yard with Rangoli

Offering Haldi and Kumkum to Married Women

Playing Chouka-Bara during Leisure to Improve the Thinking Skills

Playing Fugdi to maintain Physical Strength

Having Fun by Playing Hopscotch 

I had so much fun creating this for you guys because for the love you pour. If you like this Blog, Please Share it with your friends and family and of course comment and let me know which picture was the best you thought was and what should I write next. Until then Bye.

White Sneakers & D.I.Y

Hello beautiful people, today I am going to share the absolute trend of the season or may I say trend of the decade. Also there is a little DIY in this blog. So let us see what I have got.

There is a huge trend and I am totally in love with this trend. It is the White Sneakers you guys. I am sure you all would have worn it in school a white canvas shoe on Saturday's or teaming it up with a denim for an after school friends meet. Right?

Now it is just looks great on anything you team it with. Be it Denim, Shorts, Skirt, Dress or even a Saree if you can carry it off well. I got one White Canvas for myself.

Take a look at your favorite Friends character Rachel Green aka Jennifer Aniston sporting this look and rocking it. Also this trend have caught up our Bollywood Beauties.

But are you the one like me who would want to be different but follow the trend? Then there is something for you guys. I was going through the Instagram page and came across the designer
Ka-Sha Khan (Facebook Link) posted a lovely embroidered white canvas shoe. I decided I should customize my shoe to stand out in the crowd and also garner some praises ;)

Top: Ka-Sha-Khan 

Bottom: Initial Stage of DIY

Here are a couple of pictures of my customized white canvas. So you guys, there is never a boring dull day than wearing your creation.

If any of you try doing one for yourself. I would love to see them. Post in your comments and tell me what did you all think of this and yes keep sending love.

1 Saree and 3 drapes from Day to Night

Hello my beautiful people. It has been really long since I interacted with you guys. But I was prepping something fun this time. A Styling Blog and what better than my eternal love for the 6 yard fabric called Saree/ Sari. Yes Folks, I have done a styling blog where I show you how to go from day to night with a Saree. Hope you guys enjoy my styling date because I have made this with love.

How about power dressing for a Brunch ladies? Let’s get the ethnic vibes from North India our favourite Lungi Kurta. I have combined a Nice Yellow Saree into a wrap around straight skirt/ Lungi with a sporty ethnic kurta, Fusion Chandbali, Hair braided in front and left open and a nice phulkari handbag to go with it can be paired with Juthis/Mojaris.  Don’t you all wanna try this look?

Of course you would want to go shopping in the evening. This Flamboyant look for an evening at shopping can definitely make few head turns. The Same saree I have draped it like a harem pants and I have teamed this with ethnic peplum blouse, along with a huge earring, a nice Kolhapuri Chappals, Jhola bag, Hair braided on one side and a litte fun with Ray Ban Shades. Carefree dressing I tell ya.

Now for some dancing and fun, let’s head to Disco. What??? Disco and a Saree??? I would totally rock a normal saree but for the beginners here is the cool way to drape it such that it gets a western dress vibe. After draping it in a dress, I have teamed it with a cardigan, Envelope Clutch and a braided updo along with a statement earring (or can be necklace) and a nude pump to rock the party and kill the dance floor.

Hope you guys like this styling blog. If you all like me to do such Style Blog drop in a comment below. I will surely look into more of this.  Do you want to know how to drape this style drop in a comment and I shall do another one for the draping styles.

Lots of Love

XOXO

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.