Dian Pelangi's Hijab Styling Workshop at London Fashion Week

I've been busy for a few days, this week, but I haven't been lazy! I managed to catch a Hijab Styling Workshop a few days ago with reknowned Indonesian designer Dian Pelangi, as part of a showcase for London Fashion Week. It was a very last-minute, unplanned trip which I managed to go to because I was in the area anyway, but it was a great opportunity to meet other bloggers, photographers and designers and certainly other hijabi fashionistas!

I 've been following Dian Pelangi for a couple of years now, her designs are beautiful and very, very hijab-friendly, and I love the amazing fabrics, embroidery and cuts she uses. I also love the fact that each of her designs are unique from the next, and that no two design are ever the same, with a very eclectic boho-chic style to it - you can check out some of her designs here and her Instagram page here.

Part of Dian Pelangis' appeal is that she not only designs her outfits, but acts as stylist as well, and also showcases and models her outfits and designs herself as well. She's certainly built up a following from her style, which I can see is part of the ever-growing market of modest fashion and hijab styling which is becoming very big these days.

This is Dian Pelangi at the show wearing one of her latest designers from her 2015 collection, I love that it's a maxi dress that can be compared to Pakistani fashion - I can certainly imagine wearing this to a wedding function!

During the workshop, Dian showed a few ways that of tying hijabs and scarves, in a turban style, a looser draped style, and the more Arab styles as well. I don't have clear pictures because the lighting wasn't great, and the I didn't have my DSLR, and I didn't get to make a video either, but I'm sure you can find the videos online in a few days! I did manage to speak to the designer after her show to compliment her though, and also managed to get a close-up photo of her two beautful models, who were also wearing Dian's designs.

After the workshop, I also had a look at the designs on display at the exhibition in the building, which was very interesting because it had designs from all over the world.

I even managed to find a contribution from a Pakistani designer, Hamza Bokhari, whose design combined Western Style with beautiful Eastern embroidery.

I also managed to meet a few well-known bloggers who were attending the show to support Dian Pelangi, and managed a quick chat with some of them. Below are the bloggers and hijab stylists I met, I didn't get to speak to everyone and I'm sure there were a lot more:

Amena of Pearl Daisy
Yasmine of Yaz the Spaz
Nadine of Nadoona
Fatima of Muslimah Style Guide

There were definitely a few more (and I'll update as I remember!) but these were the ones I remember most, all very lovely women who were very friendly, and very helpful when speaking to them about blogging!

I definitely had a good time, it was nice to meet other bloggers and I certainly spotted plenty of style. It was a bit of a last-minute dash from work for me, and I'd like to go to a longer event in future, but it's good to see how big the modest-wear market is getting, and the different women who are part of it.

KAPRAY SHAPRAY: A Spring Fling Display

I saw this display a few days ago, and thought it was interesting because there were four heavy outfits in the window, each different to the next (except for the fact that they had the Pakistani trend of longer hems/kameezes).

What I did like was that there was a variety of designers/styles on display - the first two are paler colours, golds and creams with floral work (which is quite in trend at the moment), and the second two are deeper colours. It's not often you see a heavy black outfit, but they're starting to come into the shops more often! I also recognised the last outfit as being a very similar to this Nomi Ansari outfit, which would make a beautiful mehndi outfit.

I didn't get time to go inside this store (I probably will the next time I go past though!), but I did like the fact that there are a few varieties of heavier outfits for customers for are looking for something which they can't necessarily go to Pakistan for. It's also quite ideal for girls looking for their bridal outfits, it's around this time of the year that a lot of brides-to-be start shopping around and looking for their bridal dresses!

My favourite outfit is probably the second one, it's girly and floral-embroidered, and idea for a spring look. It's also heavy enough to wear to a wedding (I can imagine a mother-of-the-bride in this outfit, maybe?), although I'm sure the price tag is substantial too!

Curly Fry's Shopping Therapy! My Nyx Lip Creams and Makeup Revolution Haul

I've been shopping less these days, but I still somehow managed to end up with a bunch of stuff this weekend to make my purse lighter!

I bought some new scarves this weekend from a stall in my local area, whic sells beautiful wool-mix scarves for a bargain. I'm always looking to update my wardrobe and thought these scarves were lovely - all probably will be worn to work this week!

I also received some Nyx matte lip creams which I ordered online, and which I'm looking forward to trying, as well as some Kiko lipliners, and a lip primer. I've been hearing about a new drugstore brand as well, called Make Up Revolution, which has beautiful colours for very cheap prices, and wanted to try this out so bought an eyeshadow palette, bronzer and lipstick from this brand, which I've used and quite liked. I've also put some print trousers (on the right) that I bought recently, which I loved because it can be worn with my Western clothes, but I can also imagine wearing it with a plain white kurta.

Have you tried any of these lately? Any new purchases?

THE WEDDING POSTS: My Wedding Cake

I thought I'd do a quick post about my wedding cake, as this was something I received a few compliments for from my guests, and which was probably one of the easier parts of wedding preps.

I'm lucky enough to know a few bakers and cake-makers, not least of all my sister JoJo Jeenius, who has made cakes and cupcakes before for events like this. My sister ended up making our cake and some matching cupcakes, and one of my very best friends who also makes cakes, made us some cupcakes for the rest of the cake table, which made our day!

I'll admit it now, I gave my sister a little bit of a hard time about what design I wanted, becaused I wanted something pretty extravagant and she wasn't sure she could keep up with all the extravagance I wanted. Having said that, after giving her a headache about it, I told her to go with a white, gold and red colour theme to go with the rest of my stage and hall decor, and that I wanted red roses, with extras like the lace effect and ribbons, pearls and flowers added on, which I told her to decide what worked best. My sister also worked with my best friend to make sure that the cupcakes would go together, and that the theme would be the same in terms of colours, which worked pretty well.

We opted not to go for a big cake because we didn't have a huge number of guests, and we also had a lot of cupcakes. It was still three-tiered and had a beautiful rose cluster on top with diamontes, pearls and lace all over. Initially we were going to have pillars between pillars, but we got worried about how the cake would be supported by pillars and the fact that the design might look lopsided or untidy, so we didn't go with it.

My sister also wanted to make sure that each cupcak had a motif which matched the main cake, using flowers and a lace motif, which I loved because it looked subtle and pretty.

In our case, there was no need for a cake-tasting beforehand because I've tased so many of my sister's cupcakes - and I was pretty confident of the taste. You can also see the outside cupcakes below which were made by my best friend, who opted for a swirly, buttercream topping which we loved, these all had flowers on them to tie in with the main colours and theme.

When it came to the Big Day, I was pretty overwhelmed by a lot of things, not to mention feeling a little like we were in a daydream, so it was an amazing moment when the cake got brought out to the main floor and it was time for us to cut it. We loved the fact that our friends and family surrrounded us to cheer us on while we cut it, and that first bite tasted amazing!

(Even better, my husband fed me a piece, I bit my slice delicately, and then shoved a piece of cake in my husband's cake which he didn't see coming!)

I loved the cake we ended up with, mainly because it was elegant without being too much. My sister knows what a chocoholic I am, and made the biggest layer a chocolate one, the middle one vanilla sponge, and the top one a red velvet. I remember having leftover chocolate cake and cupcakes the day after our wedding and appreciating how good they were!

I'll be posting other cake ideas soon, of what I had in mind before we went with the design my sister and I ended up going with, as well as some funkier ideas I had in mind but didn't get to do!

OUTFIT OF THE DAY: The Ferozi & Hot Pink Sana Safinaz Suit

I love dawats. Not only do I get yummy food cooked by relatives/friends, I get to dress up and make my husband wait three hours while I put my make-up on (I joke, I'm not that bad yet!).

I've been waiting to wear this outfit, which I ordered via a friend from an exhibition in Dubai - a beautifully embroidered Sana Safinaz suit. I ordered a couple of these suits together last year and had been saving them for after I got married to wear them, and have finally been getting them out while I still can!

This is the outfit, I wanted to show how delicate and tight-knit the embroidery is in this outfit, as well as how well stitched the whole thing is. I love the beautiful ferozi (turquoise or sea blue) colour, contrasted with white and hot pink embroidery.

This is how I accessorised the outfit, I didn't want to wear a  hot pink scarf with it, so picked a dusky pink hijab and matching heels to soften the look. I also found some perfect matching bangles from Pakistan which had been sent to me, in pink and sea green, which gave a playful touch. And of course, I had to add this clutch for a sparkly addition!

This is how I wore it, excuse the silly poses, I had to make my husband take these again and he kept asking my why I was doing stupid poses and making me laugh. I love how the outfit fit on me, it was fitted without being too tight, and the heavy embroidery made it hang nicely.

 

Outfit - Sana Safinaz

Clutch - Green Street

Shoes - Kurt Geiger

Ring - Accessorize

Bangles - Pakistan

Hijab piece - Dorothy Perkins

It was lovely wearing such a well-made suit, my mum and husband loved it (both of their favourite colours are ferozi!) and it was nice to wear something that wasn't blingy for once. This is a perfect outfit for a summer's day as well, and I imagine I'll get a lot of wear out of it in the coming summer. While I can see that shorter hems are slowly creeping back into Pakistani fashion, this still feels like a very wearable, classic outfit, so I'm not worried about it looking outdated!