36 | The Tale of the Most Ornate Blouse

February 7, 2019February 7, 2019 / Srishty / 1 Comment

Let me tell you a little bit about my sartorial choices – Whenever I have to decide on Indian festive wear outfits, say, for weddings, Indian festivals or parties where ideally you should wear Indian, I always try to get something unique. What I mean is I am sure a lot of people want that, but I am willing to go that extra mile. Basically, I don’t stick to just looking for ready-made garments, I try to have a picture in my mind of what I want to wear & then actively work towards making it come together. This is not so difficult if you do not care about how much you spend on the said outfit, because then you can simply leave it to a designer and tell her your vision, but I try to get these outfits for cheaper than the most obvious way to get them, because let’s face it, these outfits only have a face value & you cannot get a lot of re-use out of them.

More importantly, I love working on making these outfits come together, then just handing over the task to an expert, because I love when the end result is a fruit of MY vision!

I thought I’ll share some of these outfits on the blog from time to time, because the stories about how I ended up getting these made excite me a lot 🙂 Maybe, you will also find them as interesting!

Onto the story of the most ornate blouse:

When I graduated engineering college, we were preparing for our farewell & one of the most important bits for such events (especially when you’re young :P) is what to wear. Since we were supposed to wear a saree, I had a clear vision in mind of a plain thin material (like georgette) sari in hot pink! Being in the student life, I wanted to go as cheap as possible, so I bought a very pretty looking hot pink fabric for sari but it was a mixed fabric, not pure georgette, so it came for dirt cheap price-wise. Then, I looked for a border to put on the sari and another pretty sequin fabric for the blouse. This sari turned out way, way better than my expectations. Both I and my mom have re-worn it several times afterwards and I for one do not seem to get over it even after 6 years!! I am pretty sure I’ll re-wear it sometime again! Below is a bad quality picture from 2013. 🙂 That’s me wearing the sari for the first time. 🙂

Afterwards, I planned to wear this sari again for a close friend’s sister’s wedding in 2015 & I really wanted to do something new with the sari this time. I already had this purple blouse made and I paired the hot pink sari with the purple blouse. I would like to believe that this combination is match made in heaven.

But when did this ornate blouse happen? ~~Come on, woman, people do not have time for so many of your silly stories!~~ I had gone to the Gujarati market in Janpath to look for something, don’t remember what and I was just walking back in disappointment on not finding it when my eyes fell upon this really ornate kurta. It was bright purple & full of golden & pink embroidery all over. It immediately reminded me of Madhuri Dixit’s ornate blouse in the song ‘Didi tera dewar diwana’ because of the color! Now, the Janpath Gujarati market deserves a post of its own because of its uniqueness. You end up finding absolutely one-of-a-kind fabric pieces or clothes there because its mostly hand-embroidered stuff which Gujarati families make & bring there to sell. I love going there because even if I don’t buy something, there will be just so much artistic stuff to look at! Sorry, back to the ornate purple kurta. It was a kurta but it reminded me of Madhuri’s blouse as mentioned above. Immediately I envisioned that I will get this made into a blouse & pair it with plain sarees or lehengas or whatever works! I ran to the shop and bargained the kurta from 1500 to 600 INR probably 🙂 (it was a long time ago!) and ran back with my prized possession! I was elated with my vision.

Never even once did it cross my mind that tailors will refuse to cut apart a kurta and stitch it into a brand new blouse because its extremely difficult to re-stitch something which has such heavy embroidery. I got refused by several tailors and my mom, who is anyway not into experimenting for outfits, suggested that I should simply wear the kurta as a kurta because who knows it will end up well even if some tailor agrees to put so much effort for us. This was unacceptable to me! My mind was set on the blouse. Finally, after a lot of coaxing, one tailor relented and the best part is that he stitched it very well also. 🙂

Afterwards, I also got a plain lehenga made to go with this blouse for another occasion. Whenever someone compliments this blouse or asks about it, and I tell them that it was a kurta I saw hanging in some market, they find it unbelievable. I am just happy that it’s a very unique piece.

10 quick work outfits | Friday’s List

April 4, 2015April 4, 2015 / Srishty / 18 Comments

Hello world! 😀

It has been so long since I did one of the work outfits posts. Why? Because I am still a little embarrassed about the idea of doing these posts. Today I am like what the heck! I have clicked them, might as well make good use of these pictures. You know how long it took me to realize that? Well, these pictures are from last summer, so, yes, almost a year! And, no, I did not forget about having clicked these. 🙂

Anyway, here are 7 work outfits and, as you will see, I love it when I get the maximum use out of a single clothing piece, for me this means that I am getting experimental, and, of course, it gives you more number of outfits for less money. 😀 Honestly, I sometimes feel that even if I was a princess or something, I would never have liked the idea of wearing a garment only once.

Back to the outfits, as you may know by now probably (from previous work wear posts), I hate it when women wear stuff to work that is ‘fashionable’, ‘trendy’ or ‘stylish’ as per their aesthetics, which does them more harm than good. What I mean is that women already face the challenge of not taken seriously at work and, then, you give the other gender enough reasons to not take you seriously by wearing, what, noodle straps to work? My point is simply that proper work wear doesn’t have to be boring, you don’t have to dress too-in-your-face to look good. Let me know if you agree and definitely let me know if you don’t, as that would help improve! 🙂

1. Starting with my favorite one, which you have already seen here in tons of posts.

Pink Kurta: Aurelia, Black Dupatta (Stole) & Churidaar (Trousers): Local Stores, Shoes: Westside

2. White blouse: Pantaloons (Annabelle), Peach pencil skirt: Dorothy Perkins on Jabong, Shoes: Local store

3. Baby Blue Shirt: Street Shopping in Janpath (this is at least 4 years old), Blue Pants: Van Heusen, Shoes: Bata

4. Purple Shirt: Cantabil (first garment that I bought especially for work), Grey Pencil Skirt: Bombay High, Shoes: Local stores

5. Black Kurta: Myntra.com, Pink salwar (trousers): Sabhyata, Shoes: Same as outfit 1

6. Blue Blouse: Chemistry on Limeroad.com, Peach Skirt & shoes: Same as outfit 2

7. White Shirt: Cantabil, Blue Pants: Same as outfit 3, Shoes: Same as outfit 2

8. Yellow kurta: Local store, Pink salwar: Same as outfit 5, Shoes: Local store

9. Green top: Penny Lane (ages old), Black pants: Promod, Shoes: Same as outfit 3

10. This is right before the onset of winters, when I thought I probably will never post these pictures.

Electric Blue Shrug: Dressberry from Myntra.com, Blue Shirt: Same as outfit 6, Pants: Same as outfit 7, Shoes: SM Store, Makati, Philippines

That’s all! And from here on, I am taking a break from these outfits posts till the time I become completely comfortable with the idea. 🙂

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments. 🙂 (Know-All, you better not. 😀 😀 :D)

Outfits with memories attached | Collablog Diaries

December 30, 2014December 30, 2014 / Srishty / 8 Comments

Remember Collablog Diaries, anyone? It was a series of collaboration posts started by 4 bloggers and, with the year-end, we have come to the last post which is supposed to be published on my blog. The first post we did in the series was on Rose’s blog about our favorite DIY (Do-It-Yourselves) for skincare, the second post was on Mily’s blog about our then favorite makeup product, the third post was on my friend Kay’s blog. Now it’s time for the fourth post.

Unfortunately, both Mily and Rose couldn’t participate this time, so it would be just I and Kay. This time we decided to share one outfit/piece of clothing each that has a memory attached to it.

Over to Kay from IshtyleAwhile:

For most people, wearing a sari itself is memorable and, sure, I have some great memories associated with saris- the first sari I ever wore, the first one I bought with my own money, the first sari my colleagues gifted etc. This sari, however, holds a very special place in my heart.

When I got offered a job to teach in a pretty reputed school in Bangalore, I was really excited. To be teaching 11th and 12th standard as a fresher out of college ain’t something everyone gets to do. However, I was really worried about being taken seriously. Fortunately, the school that I worked in had a rule where we had to wear saris 4 days of the week. Most people would have hated it, but I loved the idea of getting up and dressing up.

This sari is the sari that I wore on my very first day of work 5 years ago. I wore it with a simple string of pearls and pearl earrings. There has been no looking back since then. This sari set my style, not just in terms of fashion but also who I am as a teacher. It says “ She’s fun but disciplined. Don’t mess with her.”

{A little note: I couldn’t help writing it, this is such a warm and emotional memory to be attached with any clothing! 🙂 }

Now, over to me: 😀

I am writing about a shirt that you have seen a lot many times on this blog, once in the Pinktober post and once in a work outfits post. Why is this shirt special? This was one of the gifts from the first salary of someone very close to me. So, yes, this shirt is very special even though I don’t know how it became such a popular piece of the label Annabelle (available at Lifestyle/Pantaloons/Shoppers Stop) that I have lost count of the people I have seen wearing this same shirt. It’s not even funny!

That was it. Would love to know if you have any clothing item with memories attached, or, you know, those lucky/unlucky clothing items. This reminds me, I had this shirt that I bought specially for campus placements, I used to wear it for all the interviews. There was only one company’s interview where I did not wear it and that’s the company I currently work for. What do you have to say about that? 😀

Going pink for a cause: #Pinktober

October 28, 2014October 28, 2014 / Srishty / 10 Comments

October is the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in America. Since the Pink Ribbon is the international symbol for breast cancer awareness, October is now ‘Pinktober’ and it is all about being aware and making others aware about breast cancer. Before getting tagged for this post by Krupa of Ishtyle Awhile, all I knew about it was that it is something very common and it is something for which symptoms are not always visible. For this post, I started researching about it and I think we can all collectively agree that it is something for which women should keep examining either themselves or by doctors regularly as breast cancer can be cured if detected early.

While you can get tons of articles on how to get yourselves examined for it and precautions you should take, I would list few unknown things I came across (before we move on to pink things of #Pinktober 😀 ):

1. Apparently under-wired brassiere should be avoided and yes, fit is the most important thing.

2. The well-known symptoms of breast cancer are visible in very less number of cases, in most cases the symptoms aren’t visible.

3. Apparently, for mothers, breast-feeding for a longer period of time reduces the risk of developing breast cancer at a later stage in life.

4. Few things that can reduce the risk of any disease, be it cancer or anything else, include eating a balanced diet complete with green vegetables, exercising regularly and being physically active in general. 🙂

5. Apart from these, you should totally check out these two links: https://www.fredhutch.org/en/diseases/breast-cancer/tips-prevention.html and http://www.examiner.com/article/precautions-every-woman-can-take-right-now-to-prevent-breast-cancer.

Moving on to lighter stuff :D, here’s how I am celebrating pink for Pinktober:

I am showing you how hot pink can totally work in formal wear although it seems impossible. 🙂 Many pictures are taken from previous posts, please bear. 🙂

1. First up is this pink shirt from Annabelle, Pantaloons. It looks a bit coral in the picture but believe me, it’s hot pink. Frills on the neck and the color itself, enough to make this shirt stand out among the crowd of formal shirts while still looking smart and serious.

2. Here’s how one kurta transitions from super formal to semi-formal to Diwali look 🙂 This kurta is from the brand ‘Aurelia’. I love their quality, by the way.

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3. Here’s the pink salwar (South Asian pants). Comfortable, chic and totally wearable. These salwars are from ‘Sabhyata’ and I love how light and comfortable they are.

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I hope we all manage to spread awareness about this as much as we can. I am tagging Shruti from ‘In Love With A Twilight Star’ for carrying the word forward, she being from the medical line might be of extra help to us. 🙂 I tag all of you reading this to spread awareness about it as much as you can. 🙂

Shopnineteen Haul & Website Review

October 25, 2014October 25, 2014 / Srishty / 6 Comments

I wanted to try something out from Nineteen since forever. They manufacture their own stuff and are based out of India. As per their website, they have been in the business of export for a while but I think they started selling on Nineteen since around an year back (just checked – 2012) . I wanted to buy something from them, mostly because they manufacture their own stuff and they are not shady overpriced. Since the time they launched, I keep browsing their website every now and then. The best part is that their designs are very different, the worst part is that not all designs are good different. However, sift through the clothes on their website and you will definitely like many things.

Here’s what I bought (followed by what I think of them). Oh, I am so sorry for not mentioning the packaging. Look at that!!! Wonderfully packaged stuff which made me feel really, really happy. Now that’s what we call putting your heart in the business and knowing how to make your customers happy. Believe you me, not only does the packaging look good, the stuff actually was very well packaged in separate paper wrappers (and those paper wrappers were worth skipping a heart beat!).

I bought three tops in their buy-any 3 things-for-999 offer. The first one is a red-colored polyester blouse and I bought it for work. It is really beautiful and works great for office.

The second top was this lavender and white color crop top which is really beautiful but I am not comfortable doing crop tops (more like my parents aren’t 😛 ), still I liked it a lot. I bought it believing that I would find some high-waist skirt or pants in my wardrobe to wear this with. So far, zero success. I might just pair it with a sari in the coming wedding season to let go of the guilt. Believe me, I am a very sensible shopper, this is my one ‘brainless’ purchase in a long time.

The third thing is this top in bubblegum pink color. I basically bought it because I don’t remember owning this color ever. Sorry for the weird picture. You can check it out here. This top is so very soft!!!

Lastly, here’s what I think of the website:

What I liked:

The best part for me is that everything is exactly how it looks on the website. All 3 things that I bought look exactly same as the website in reality. In fact, when I saw the bubblegum pink top on their website, I felt that the material is a little cling-ey, when I tried the top at home, it was exactly that. 🙂 So, the website gives a fair idea of what you are buying.
They put a huge effort in making your shopping experience good. The stuff was very nicely packaged (as you can see) and it put a big smile on my face. Their customer service is amazing because I talked to them on phone as my order wasn’t getting placed. In fact, even the emails that they send about dispatch and other details are so quirky and attention-grabbing just like their packaging.
It is all their in-house manufacturing, which is something that attracts me.
The stuff is not shady overpriced like many other websites.
Huge collection to choose from.

What I didn’t like:

Like I mentioned, they have unique designs but not necessarily in a good way. Most of their stuff is towards the bohemian side, I really, really hope that they come up with some classy designs next or other designs as well like we see on those Chinese wholesale websites.
Although in this department, they are much better than their counterparts, I still hope that they start pricing their clothes even better or increase the quality of the material that is used. 🙂

Overall, I had a lovely experience and I would love to shop from them again if I come across any new designs that I like. 🙂

5 practical work outfits | Philippines Edition

September 28, 2014September 28, 2014 / Srishty / 36 Comments

It’s been so long since I did these work wear posts. I am kind of embarrassed about outfit posts honestly, but I like sharing my work wear despite. So, I still continue with doing these. I understand many of the audience here are guys, I am sorry, feel free to skip this post. 🙂 (I know that Know-All WILL comment on this post no matter what. 😛 )

So, here’s what I wore for my five work days in Philippines:

[Day 1] I wore a black blazer-trousers combo with a lemon formal shirt. Basically, I could have said that I wore a pant suit but, here in India, somehow we don’t use that term a lot. I did not click a picture of my clothes that day. Sorry for that. 🙂

Black Blazer: Van Heusen, Black Trousers: Promod, Lemon Shirt: Bombay High

[Day 2] Blue Shirt: Van Heusen, Dark Blue Pants: Van Heusen, Tan Shoes: The Landmark, Makati, Philippines, Watch: Fastrack

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[Day 3] Black Blazer: Van Heusen (Wore the same one as on day 1), White Top: Pantaloons, Peach Pencil Skirt: Dorothy Perkins (from Jabong), White Flat Shoes: Local Store, Rajouri Garden, Delhi

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[Day 4] Red-Blue Dress: Van Heusen, Black Blazer: Same as above, Tan Shoes: Same as day 2

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[Day 5] So I had decided while packing for Philippines that I’ll wear Indian formal to work one day. Although, I was apprehensive that they might not consider it formal since they don’t know what it is. Still, I really wanted to wear it and I did. I got lots of compliments that day. In fact, the security guard lady loved the outfit so much that I gave her the dupatta (stole) as a present while coming back. She was very happy. 🙂

Ok, I am cheating a bit. The picture below is not of day 5 because I forgot to click one. It is actually a picture I clicked in my office (here in India) long ago but I wore the same outfit on day 5. Only, the kurta (tunic) was not this pink one but a white one with stripes.

Black Dupatta: Street Shopping, Black Churidaars (Pants that I am wearing): Street Shopping, Pink Kurta: Aurelia (The white one that I actually wore was from Westside)

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Now coming to my favorite part, my tips for formal work wear (and travel packing too 😀 ):

1. There’s a slight bias with me. I quite love formal work wear, both Indian and western. So, I am always excited to style it. Most people I know hate work wear. If that’s the case with you, I really can’t help much except that I hope this post makes you like it. 🙂 Also, I think people really hate it because they don’t feel like they have a lot of choices. Let me tell you that is not the case. Just keep an open eye and you can find work wear at quite a lot of places. (Some day I’ll do a full-fledged post on how to find work wear easily, do you like this idea?).

2. I know this post makes it look like I am endorsing Van Heusen. 😀 No, that is not the case. I like them and they have good clothes but the fact that I am mostly wearing their clothes in this post is a coincidence. Coming to Van Heusen as a work wear clothing brand, the good thing is that they have a good variety and very nice quality clothes. The bad thing is that it is one of the very few formal wear brands available in India for women and hence the clothes are so common that you can always spot people wearing the same clothes. #truestory (I am not going to count the point that they are pricey since I feel that all of these retail brands are overpriced as they charge us so much more than their manufacturing cost, so no point writing same thing repeatedly for all brands).

3. A good brand for Indian clothes that you can wear to work is Aurelia. Their kurtas (tunics) are very good quality and not shady overpriced. You can find their stuff on many online shopping websites.

4. As some of you would know, Dorothy Perkins recently started selling in India through the e-commerce website Jabong. Design and variety wise, they have a very nice collection. But I think the price is just not justified at all for the quality. Also, the clothes on the website look slightly different from reality. One reason for them being pricey is the currency difference too. Whatever be the reason, I would advice to buy them only during huge Jabong sales. 🙂

5. A very good brand to find trousers is Promod. I have praised them here too. They don’t have a lot of variety but they have clothes with perfect fit (at least for me).

6. You can also find Indian formal wear at Westside and sometimes, even Western work wear too. Oh, and, they have a large variety of shoes. They have a good collection but the quality is usually poor, so I only buy them during sales. Paying a lot for bad quality things is just not done. 🙂

7. Other brands that I have tried for work wear and liked include Bombay High and Cantabil. I have not tried anything from Allen Solly and Wills Lifestyle but I have always felt that they have good quality and nice variety (and pricey! 😛 ).

8. Last but the most important, if you think you can find work wear only in big retail giants, then you are wrong. I and my sisters have bought very nice formal dresses and blouses while street shopping. I have done work wear posts before and if you check them out, you can see that I have a lot of clothes and shoes from local stores (you can check those posts under the personal style section).

9. Whenever you are on a business trip, ALWAYS carry at least one blazer. You have to make space for it in your luggage. It’s very easy to transform any outfit to a formal one with a blazer. 🙂

10. When you are on a business trip and trying to save space in your luggage, don’t carry a lot of shoes. Some basic ones can work with almost all the outfits and if they are good ones, you don’t have to worry about wearing the same ones day after day. Relax, everyone in the office knows that you are on a trip. 🙂

That’s it, guys. Thanks for reading, really. 🙂

Life of Srish

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