Posts from — October 2009

Bonjour everyone

I was going through my box of beads and strings today and found a single peacock feather – i collect a variety of things to make accessories and the feather happened to be one of the things I had put in my collection long time ago.

image by jpgmag.com

Ah the colours on it, they were just amazing. I sat there admiring the feather and imagining peacocks dancing under the  rain. I was feeling slightly moody and dull the whole day (maybe it’s the gloomy rainy weather outside that’s ruining my mood) so making accessories, sketching or reading is the best way to make myself feel better. After rummaging through my box, I gathered some leather strings, translucent beads and made a simple  necklace; or should i say : a ‘peacock feather necklace’   here’s a pic below

the necklace i made with a peacock feather and some beads

A few weeks back while I was going through edressme site  I came across some lovely earrings made of peacock feathers. They were very long and elegant unlike the pair of peacock earrings I already had. Wearing earrings made of feathers is quite hippy-like and there is this certain funky look to it too.  You could most certainly wear such earrings with soft chiffon tunics or kurrthas, or if you want to wear it to a dinner then pair it with a solid black dress or another dark colour and look sophisticated and elegant.

peacock feather earrings from edressme.com

One of my favourite accessories is this peacock earring, which I bought from India. Although, it’s slightly shorter than the one on edressme, it is still quite impressive when worn and gets a lot of admiration from other people. 

the lovely peacock earrings from India

Bonne journée et bon soiree everyone. 

image by artsonearth.com

Some months ago I was working on a  set of wedding dresses, which included the bride and groom and that of the bride’s maids and the rest of the family (which means the moms and dads of both families too).  It was one really memorable experience for me because it was the first time I was designing a wedding set of clothes for both men and the ladies. With just one month to do the planning, designing and managing of the wedding we were running around finishing each task as if our backs were on fire. My dad took the task of creating the backdrop for the place where the newly wed couple stands. Dad’s professional artistic background made him quite confident with what he had to pull off.

dad working on his wonderful concept of japanese screens for the backdrop in the wedding reception

But I was far away from it, believe me, it was almost a nervous breakdown for me. It had to be perfectly executed for the two families, and  to me the biggest achievement was a big grand smile on their faces ultimately.  The two families decided that the theme for the wedding would be a Japanese/ Oriental concept. It is common for Maldivian weddings to be themed today; some weddings are even themed as  a Bollywood movie with the families of the marié et mariée wearing colorful modern saris and embroidered silks.  Within 4 days time I came up with the designs for the bride, groom, the bridesmaids, the boys in the family and the parents of the two families.

the final set of sketches i prepared to show them - they were finalised after sketching hundreds more!

While I was designing I had to keep in mind the cherry blossoms and use of purple tones in the designs, ‘cos they were the main elements that they want to see throughout the wedding reception. I used these in the designs and they all just loved it There were some ups and downs during the preparation for the wedding and things did not go according to plan sometimes – it became a huge learning experience for me; a reality-check into the world of designing for ‘real’ people. It’s not about dressing a mannequin or the standard 6 ft model wear a designed latex creation but about making real people with curves and people who are just around 5 ft look stunning. The final outcome was amazing (considering it was  my first time designing wedding outfits), the two families had a big smile on the night of reception and looked satisfied with their outfits and most of all the bride; the queen of the night was looking cheerful and comfortable.

the newly weds standing against the fine japanese screens dad made for the wedding. The tailor did a splendid job and the embroidery was delivered to our expectations of the pattern we created

the screens were beautifully lit for the night's reception and look at those lovely flower girls and boys, they all look so cute in the designed outfits. this picture is a memorable one for me

I am most certainly looking for such opportunities to design for weddings and for many more occasions in the future, ‘cos every experience is a challenge I most happily welcome

Brighten up your wardrobe with a yellow element, be it a dress or pair of pants.  The yellow garment was found on every runway show this spring summer, and honestly it did brighten up the collection with those ‘y’ numbers popping up from  the parade of light creams, greys and whites. Designers who used ‘y’ were ; Emilio Pucci, Salvator Ferragamo, Jean Paul Gaultier and Bottega Veneta to name a few. And the best part is that this color suits any skin color and we could either look formal or casual in the ‘y’.

Below are some pictures from the runway of this summer. All images sourced from style.com

Salvatore Ferragamo spring summer 2010

salvatore ferragamo 2010

Emilio Pucci spring summer 2010

yellow pulled off in a different and quirky way on jean paul gaultier 2010 (so 'gaultier' to twist the trends in creative ways)

bottega veneta spring summer 2010

Yellow is also the color that is warming up the red carpets and wardrobes of celebrities.

eva mendez in yellow

Image by splendicity.com

misha barton and freida pinto wearing yellow Dior dress

image by profashionelle.com

Anne Hathaway wearing Lela Rose spring 2010

image by Glamour.com

bonne journée everyone and wear some yellow

Salut everyone, I  recently bought this lovely pair of nude coloured shoes and they are absolutely lovely. The nude / pale colour trend is very popular this season and I have already written a post on it with some pics of designers collections from the fashion weeks.  This time I’m posting about the shoes which are following the same palette. Interesting isn’t it?

here’s a picture of my new pair

new shoes in pale skin tone

Donc, I have been hunting down some samples of shoes from the runway of this spring summer 2010, to show you guys. All in pales and cream tones and georgeous designs that one cannot resist. They are lovely to wear and one fact that actually goes along with the colour is that they give the impression of a ‘long leg’ (now, who could resist this?! )  Wear those shoes with denim jeans or jet black pencil skirts and you will look longer ‘cos there is no black full stop ( i mean a black shoe ) chopping off the length of your legs. In other words, the nude shoes brings the effect of legs that are going on and on..

Alors,  feast your eyes to these yummy shoes. All images sourced from style.com

Bottega Veneta spring 2010

Donna Karan spring 2010

Jonathan Saunders spring 2010

Missoni spring 2010

Karl Lagerfeld spring 2010

a pale turned to white and looks like an inspiration of the indian sandal - Marc Jacobs spring 2010

Skin coloured shoes from Emilio Pucci spring 2010

Jean Paul Gaultier spring 2010

Narciso Rodriguez spring 2010

Now, boys did you think I would leave you out?  Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors had showed the trend on men’s shoes too

Michael Kors spring 2010

Marc by Marc Jacobs spring 2010

Marc by Marc Jacobs spring 2010

Girls here are some more from the nude/pale trend

Versace spring 2010

Christopher Kane spring 2010

Nina Ricci spring 2010

Nina Ricci spring 2010

Classic wedge shoes with a pale colour cordination - Ralph Lauren spring 2010

Ralph Lauren spring 2010

a little bit quirky on - Jean Paul Gaultier spring 2010

Carolina Herrera spring 2010

Christian Dior spring 2010

bonne journée everyone and i hope you will try this trend

1:   It’s the skin tone

Nudes and pale shades dominate the colour palette of the spring summer 2010 runways . Designers like Bottega Veneta went for a complete nude/pale palette for their spring collection though giving shocks of bright colors on the garments creating a sophisticated and simple look. In fact, a number of collections in this season has been seen playing the same pattern of using bright coloured pieces embosed on a pale colour.

all images sourced from style.com

Fendi spring summer 2010

Gabriele Colangelo spring summer 2010 - the one shoulder trend is a little too old now, but this one by Colangelo is a refreshingly soft take on the trend

Fendi spring summer 2010

Bottega Veneta 2010 - the complete collection was based on pale colours and this piece is especially very elegant and feminine with a hint of a masculine wrap around karate style belt

Nude colours on Dolce and Gabbana spring summer 2010

Bruno Pieters 2010 - pure loveliness

Bottega Veneta spring summer 2010 - shocks of bright colours combined with pale skin tones gives a modern sophistication

Emilio Pucci spring summer 2010

Etro spring summer 2010 - play of colours on pale skin tone