Category — Fashion

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

An old pair of unfortunate black skinnies had come my way sometime ago on a dreary rainy day in Male’, its original jet black was faded a little and it had a white spot on one of the legs, looked liked it was scratched there. I took it happily though, had in mind thousands of experiments to do with it and my hands were already itching to take up the jeans and turn it into something different (the DIY DNA in me shook up inside, the very moment I saw the jeans). So the next morning on an empty stomach, though feeling a high boost of adrenaline, I was at full swing DIY-ing the jeans. What were my equipments this time? – I was armed with an old brush, a bleach bottle and a pair of rubber gloves. I wanted to let the imagination and the bleach take its own artistic pattern over the jeans. It created a rhythm and a flow that looked like floral faunas or as of an alien flora species found amidst a space venture through an unknown planet – that’s what I love about bleaching and tie dying; they create patterns that are out of the world and the more you experiment with it the more there is to see.

After the bleach, a good wash and dry I slashed a few cuts across the knees with a scissor and let the threads around it come out stubbornly. I have a complete satisfaction after it was done. Bleached and tie-dyed denims are the recent hype around the fashion cities, though it’s something rare to see in Male’ of course which results in the same “What the?!” stares when I walk down the street. I suppose I look like half of an African Wild dog to them running back and forth. Or maybe I look like I’ve got white paint accidently splattered all over my lovely jeans. Oh chier!

ah the african wild dogs fur...reminds of the bleached patterns on my jeans, non?

image via kruger2crayons.com

my bleached denims

If you happen to have any plans of Do-It-Yourself for your old jeans pairs and tees even, then you should go for it. Being a little different from the rest of the crowd is no harm of course.

Bonne journée

Fashion’s night out is pretty similar to a biig melting pot of  fashion. Organised by the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and launched by Vogue, FNO’s where a lot of shopping, parties and most of all designers meet designers and where new possible business partnerships are to be initiated (am so wishing i was there ). It is also seen as a CFDA move to make the best out of the world recession. I know dears, i should have at least put up this post before September 10th.  Sorry about the delay but if you want to learn more about Fashion’s Night Out then click here.

image via fashion plate

bonne journee

my old vogue magazines

Ok, so here’s the Big Q: how many of you had seen the movie “Devil wears Prada”? Well, I’m pretty sure most of you must have seen the movie based on the novel by Lauren Weisberger (a former assistant of Anna Wintour).  But this September the real devil is out in flesh – straight from the core of Vogue US head office. Just when you thought that you were safe eh?

The documentary by R.J Cutler ‘An experience he describes as “hell”’ –according to dazed digital is to be premiered around selected cities this month.

“The September Issue” brings to public eye what was unseen before, to be scrutinized, criticized or hailed by an eager audience. The Vogue editor of 20 years for the fashion bible – Anna Wintour and her most trusted work colleague and creative director Grace Coddington will be seen preparing for the much awaited September Issue of Vogue magazine.  Why is the September issue so anticipated? Well, here’s the thing: the Vogue issues every month and in a yearly cycle there’s always one issue that is especially anticipated more than the others- this time it’s the issue of September.  The word has gotten around that the documentary shows a clear portrayal of the ruthless ‘ice princess’, but also shows a more mellow side of Anna as being a mother to her daughter, a sister and daughter to the former editor of Evening Standard. The relationship with creative director Grace Coddington who has been working alongside Anna for 20 years is also explored in the movie and though Grace is seen as a softer considerate character compared to the frosty ice princess -the difference in characteristics hardly hinder their work instead the result of their team effort is interestingly successful.

Thus it’s said that the September issue is more about work; about the ways individuals compete with, grate against and inspire one another in the workplace.

Like it or Hate it. “September issue” is a list topper of must-see fashion films, a film about Anna Wintour’s influence in the making of Vogue and Fashion itself and about the hardworking, dedicated and creative team behind her: this is one movie that cannot be missed indeed.

Anna Wintour: "You aren't a bad person because you wear Carolina Herrera or J. Brand jeans."

notebook doodles

silvers and sketches

Silver has made a comeback as the ‘it’ accessory with a zest of rock n’ roll in it this time, dominating the accessories of fashion houses like Gucci, Balmain and Roberto Cavalli with their jackets and handbags being adorned with hardware studs. Silver studs (also seen in Bronze/gold) seem to overthrow any other metallic form of adornment; studs have been seen in forms of pyramids, conical and round, blinging bags, clutches shoes bracelets and belts. Plus the increase of DIY (the ‘DIY DNA‘ found in many of us – the tendency to change the original product one has by adding new ornaments to it) has brought this current trend into a bigger focus.  For a most part silver accessories like that of chains with army tags, rings with eagle talons and earrings in a more goth-influence is now highly fashionable. Further on, the silver studs and rocker chic jewellery is apt and wearer-friendly for all ages (but if worn sensibly and not over-do i.e.). I have posted images of some accessories in silvers and studs. Plus, I was doing some doodling inspired by the trend (the doodling is less of a doodle and more of careful shading though) so they are posted for you all to see.

image via closet couture

image via polyvore.com

eddie borgo bracelets

image via chictopia.com

earring wiht skull from chictopia

image via chictopia.com

stepehen webster ring

image via dress on fire

Balmain studded dress

image via chictopia

original sin bracelet

image via purseblog.com

bally-studded-top-handle

image via jak and jil

givenchy haute couture in paris fashion week-one of the most amazing shows

image via jak and jil

a pair of jimmy choo's that are absolutely fabulous

image via trendmill.com

a studded black number that jessica biel wore

image via chictopia

image via chictopia

by bird skulls

image via polyvore.com

studded gladiator sandals

image via polyvore.com

image via polyvore.com

a studded variety

image via polyvore.com

studded belt

A couple more notebook doodles-inspired by the stud trend

spike-studded and black - a more gothic twist

a scaly reptilian skin with spikes - from another dimension

Hope this post will inspire to bring some silver studs or silver jewellery into your wardrobe (goes for guys and girls )

Bonne journée everyone

The 80’s are back with a blast! Yes, Boys and girls this year the ruling trend in fashion is the denim shirt from the eighties. So take out that acid washed worn out blue denim shirt that was tucked into a dark corner of your mom’s closet. Hunt it down from thrift shops or vintage departments ‘cos it is high time that you fashionistas wore it What was once considered classic 80’s signature: the black leather pants/jackets and floral slip dresses worn with the blue denim shirts or the ripped jeans is now back in 2009 and it’s a big hit as a street style in the big fashionable capitals of London, Paris, Milan, Stockholm, Berlin and Tokyo. As I update myself through Vogue and blogs such as the Sartorialist and Bare Style the only pieces of clothing that keeps recurring in them is the denim shirt and the ripped jeans. Needless to say, they are the key pieces that everyone and anyone can wear, and it has an individual feel about it that is irresistible:). Match it with leather pants or black skinny jeans and a white tee –and look stunning!

image via Bare Style

image via Bare Style

This fresh revival of the denim does not leave out our boys. In fact, guys could wear the denims shirts in dark and ice blues. You could pull off the denim look by wearing the double denim: with a blue tone denim shirt and black denim jeans or an icy blue shirt with a darker navy pair of denim jeans.

image via ASOS Diesel Shighy Denim Shirt

image via ASOS Nudie Gunnar

Alors, I have been wearing the denim shirt for quite some time now, with a white tee and some chunky jewellery: if you want to give this look a try u can accessorize with silver, rusted gold or bronze necklaces. And I have been getting the ‘what-the?!’ stare when I am on the road ( I look like a blast from the past I think, hehe) but reviving our old mate the denim is quite something. Why don’t you give this trend a try?

found out this morning that my vintage denim was hanging outside!

blue denim shirt , black skinny jeans accessorized with a bronze chain

wore it with a fringe necklace i recently made