Thursday 17 August 2017

OUTFIT OF THE DAY: My Mother's Watermelon Shawl

I've always said that I get my fashion tastes from my mother, and sometimes I've gotten my outfit ideas from her too!

My mother has a much more amazing wardrobe than I do, and she's lucky enough to either have new clothes sent to her from family in Pakistan, or she brings back a few collections for herself on her yearly trips to Pakistan!

One of the other things she has that I love is her collection of beautiful shawls and scarves - they're bought from all over the places, whether it's from Pakistan or Saudi, or just high street stores like M&S and John Lewis.

I borrowed my mum's shawl not too long ago to complete my outfit - this beautiful watermelon print to go with my plain navy shirt dress and navy palazzo trousers. I love that the stripes and fruit/florals are very in right now - I've seen dresses in this kind of print on the high street and catwalks, and it's perfect for summer.

This is the shawl I wore with my outfit (although looking at this picture, the shirt dress and palazzos remind me a little of a lacha!), the shawl made a beautiful statement piece and it's amazing how one piece can make a whole outfit!



Wednesday 16 August 2017

BOLLYWOOD ISTYLE: Aishwariya's Mama-and-Daughter Pose!

I recently saw this on Manish Malhotra's Instagram account, featuring Aishwariya Rai and her daughter's Independence Day celebrations. I love how Aishwariya's outfit compliments her daughter's which looks seriously cute!


Tuesday 8 August 2017

Saverah Women Expo '17

I recently attended the Saverah Women Expo 2017 at the O2 Arena, which was a weekend featuring a collaboration of vendors selling scarves, modest and Asian outfits, jewellery, halal food, skin care products and makeup, and Islamic art and stationary. There was also a series of seminars and workshops, fashion shows to see the latest collections by different brands, and even a nasheed concert to enjoy.

I only managed to attend one day of the event, but I had a good browse at the shopping hall, caught a catwalk show and managed to speak to lots of other bloggers and vendors, which was a really fun-filed day!

I  managed to get a good look at the vendors who had outfits and scarves available - I often see a lot of outfits and modesty-wear from online websites or Facebook/Instagram groups, and it's nice to see some of these brands up close and see whether they are as nice as they look!

I managed to find a few vendors which I wanted to list, as I get asked a lot by readers about UK-based brands which are reliable, and I thought some of these had some really nice outfits!

First are Traditional Images London, who carry a lot of Pakistani designer pret wear, such as Khaadi, Maria B, Agha Noor, Sapphire, Gul Ahmed and Threads and Motifs (all brands that I LOVE!), which I was really pleased to find!

I also really liked the dresses by Amore Mio, a brand which sells dresses and modesty-wear which I thought were really pretty.


I also liked the abayas by Avyaana Abayah, which had some really chic pieces that caught my eye - I really like that these incorporate current trends like frills, bell sleeves and rich materials.


There were also pretty scarves available by Aidijuma, a Malaysian brand which had scarves for a very reasonable price (from £5.99 upwards), and beautiful dresses and abayahs from designer Jenny Tyayawati who also had her pieces on the catwalk as well.


Lastly were pieces by Haiqah UK, which was a range of dresses, abayahs and scarves, as well as some more luxurious pieces by Sana Zinga, whose pieces I thought were beautiful, with lovely fabrics uses and interesting cuts.


I'm a big fan of jewellery from Pakistan and India, but it has to be decent quality pieces, as there is also a lot of junk out there too! I also came across jewellery vendor Artisan Jewels, whose pieces were beautiful, and who I bought a few things from (post coming soon on that!).



We also came across a halal makeup brand FX Cosmetics, which was developed by two scientists to be properly wudu-friendly, which I thought was really interesting. I liked that there was a huge range of products available, and there were some seriously pigmented eyeshadows and highlighters which I loved!


Halal skin-care company Tamese & Jackson were also at the exhibition - have a read of my post to find out more about them!


I also found a really cute stationary and card company Islamic Moments, which had a range of products that caught my eye (and naturally I bought some cards and notebooks from them!)


I also managed to catch a fashion show with a few brands showcasing their collections, with a range of modesty brands and Asian fashion-wear. I loved the colours and styles of these pieces, although I would have liked to have seen some more dramatic pieces as well.


And of course here's what I wore, a kimono with off white separates (which were the comfiest pieces ever!), and accessorised with a colourful yellow bag!


It was also nice to catch up with the other fashion bloggers while I was at the exhibition - here I am with Modest Seamstress (here and here) and also Be.Hijabi, both of whose blogs and social media accounts I love!


The Saverah Women Expo was a pretty fun event, although I do feel that more could have been done to interact with customers and people who attended, as a it took a while to get busy (although this is also down to the bad weather that weekend as well!). I was really glad to find a lot of new designers, vendors and sellers, and managed to make my purse a bit emptier by spending on a few things too!