BOLLYWOOD ISHTYLE: Suman's White Floral Suit in Maine Pyar Kiya

Every now and then, I'll get a hankering to watch a classic golden oldie. And this one goes way back to my childhood, Maine Pyar Kiya which was released at the end of the 80s, and where you can see the classic late 80s/early 90s fashion strongly present throughout the film.

So I watched this film not too long ago, and I loved how many memories it bought back to me - Salman Khan skinnier and with more hair, power jackets, tennis socks and THAT magical bridesmaidy dress I loved when I was 5, which had another skirt on top - I thought some of the outfits were pretty cool. A lot of them were simple but striking, and very strongly iconic of the 80s fashion and beautiful 90s, and I loved that there were so many I wanted for myself (or used to have!)

There were two suits which I loved in this film (and which I'd wear myself in a shot if I found them floating around on the high street!) - let me know if you liked these too - taken from one of the most famous songs in the film (which we all made fun of afterwards for years!)

The White Suit

This was something I remember seeing my eldest sister having something along the lines of back in the 90s - fitted kameezes with high collars, big flower motifs, churidar pants and chunky shoes (I'm pretty sure I've seen all of these in the fashion trends today!)

I loved that this is made even more classic with a simple high ponytail and pearl earrings, and really emphasised the Bhagyashree's (the heroine) figure for a slim, willowy look. While I'm less keen on the huge floral motif, I love the cut of this, and can imagine myself in this!

The Rainbow Outfit

I remember this trend a lot in the 90s (not to mention the long, loose straight hair and the simple bindi look!) and I also saw this rainbow look in a lot of other films (including this rainbow sari worn by Madhuri!)

This is perfect for a simple mehndi outfit or a dholki outfit - loose, comfortable and colourful, and very easy to copy - perfect for a 90s Bollywood theme!

I loved watching this movie and it's classic songs (my husband thought I was crazy for watching it but admitted it brought back a lot of memories for him too!) - it's given me the idea for a 90s Bollywood theme party or dholki one day.

The best thing about this is that I probably have some of these still in my wardrobe somewhere - not to mention the fact that a lot of 90s trends are in right now, so you'll be able to pick up something in the shops for a vintage style!

KAPRAY SHAPRAY: The Maxi Shirt Dress Trend

I've been seeing a big trend recently of maxi shirts and maxi shirt dresses recently, following on from the kimonos and long jackets I've been seeing. The thing I love about this is how easy the maxi shirts are for people like me to wear, who look for long-length dresses and tops which feel more modest and are amazingly comfortable.

I've seen these hitting the high street over the last few months now, and love the styles that are out there - a lot of them do remind me of kameezes though! 90s fashion seems to be hitting the industry - first with the marsala colours and the dark, brown lipsticks, and now these flippy shirts which were big in that decade.

Here's a few examples I've seen on the high street, and which are available to buy at present - there's lots more but the main similarities I've seen are the long styles with slits on the sides, some with buttons and some without.

I saw a really pretty floral print maxi shirt in high street store H&M, and snapped it up, as it looked perfect - it's long, has full sleeves and is very easy to wear. I wore this on a day out a few weeks ago and found it idea for the warm weather, it's slightly sheer so I wore a vest under my shirt and accessorised with a maxi cardigan, but I loved the look.

I've seen a lot of girls wearing this, and I'm not surprised, it's comfortable and it's a good intermediate for those who want to wear modest clothes or want to transition to to longer hemlines before they start wearing an abaya. And of course, it's very flattering on the figure, it certainly made me look slimmer and longer!

It's also given me the idea to make one of my own pieces like this. I haven't been able to find more printed long shirts like this that I like, there are a lot of plain ones out there and quite frankly, a lot of them were quite boring! So I've been hitting the local fabric stores and markets for some pretty, printed fabrics, and I've already seen a few that I like which I want to get stitched for summer. I'll be sure to post the results of any dresses I end up making, I love the idea of making my own and having a more of a unique touch, and would love to see what I end up with.

OUTFIT OF THE DAY: Jumpsuits and Jackets

I've been looking out for a decent jumpsuit for a little while, and while I've seen a few designer ones, some within my budget and some a bit higher, I've been wondering whether it was worth the cost of buying a whole new outfit - particularly for a fashion trend which isn't exactly a classic look the way a kameez might be.

I've been trying to avoid buying new outfits if I didn't need to, partly because I don't get to re-wear a lot of my outfits, and partly to save money/wardrobe space. I also am a big advocate of re-wearing, re-using and re-inventing outfits, and I always try to do this with my own wardrobe in a way that my outfits look a little different each time I wear them!

So naturally when I was thinking of getting a jumpsuit/jacket combination, I realised that I already had the basics in my wardrobe. Remember this jumpsuit from my hen night and the jacket from this Eid out? Well, I'd been wondering whether I could combine the two for a hijab-friendly, Pakistani style outfit, and decided to try it the next time I had an evening out.

These are the two outfits, the jacket came with an inner slip and churidar pants, from a shop in Green Street which I'll never remember the name of (and which my husband bought for me the Eid before we got married!); and the jumpsuit was just a basic black one from Zara, although I've seen cheaper ones of these in River Island, New Look and even Primark.

 

This is how I wore it, I styled it with a jewel red hijab and paired with plain red court heels. I love wearing this shade of red and never get to wear it enough (especially red scarves, which I'm a little conscious of because it's so bright and risks making my face look a bit pink!).

It's not ENTIRELY hijab-friendly because the jumpsuit was fitted, although the jacket hides the curves a little and the legs at least are baggy. I also adjusted the arms by wearing sleeves with them (they're basically fabric tubes for your arms, literally sleeves by themselves), which I always use with short-sleeved tops because it makes a difference instead of having to layer too much, or wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt underneath. Very useful for summer times!

 

Jumpsuit - Zara

Jacket - Green Street

Shoes - New Look

Hijab - Local market

I LOVED how easy this outfit was to put together, and how effective it looked. Everything I'm wearing in this outfit was something I already had, and can easily be found on the high street in some version or another. I've tried this with another hot pink jacket that I have, and it looked pretty good too (although a little bright), and it's a good way to re-use old outfits.

I also like the fusion of East-meets-West with this look as well, there's no need for a dupatta, and it's easy to glam it up a little with a statement necklace or bangles, ideal for a night out.

What do you think of this look? Would you try it out?

Bollywood Fancy Dress...Ideas!

I'm attending a Bollywood fancy dress party in a few weeks, and have been trying to think of some iconic outfits which I can copy (based on the contents of my wardrobe and what's easy to replicate!)

Here's the top 5 ideas that I've narrowed down to - I'm still deciding on the pros and cons and what I think would work best though.

1. Madhuri in Hum Aapke Hain Kaun
This is nice and easy, a plain green kameez (I'm sure I can find one somewhere), a white skirt (I already have one, although mine has a bit more lace on it!) I'm thinking I may have a harder time finding the jewellery, but anything close enough would work! Personally I'm leaning a bit towards this one because I feel like I can also make it hijab friendly, and it looks pretty simple to copy.

2. Meena Kumari in Pakeezah
This is one of my favourite iconic Bollywood looks, not to mention one of my favourite golden-olden actresses. The key to this look, in my opinion, is the jewellery, it would be fairly easy to weat a simple, plain anarkali suit and jazz it up with jewellery. The half matha-patti would be fairly easy to find as well, as they are quite popular at the moment too. I'm also quite inspired by Dia Mirza's take on this too, although I doubt I'd be able to look as great as she does! If in doubt, otherwise, I can use one of my mum's old dupattas with tinsel along the hem!

3. Madhuri in Devdas
I have a green anarkali which I've always imagined looking like this outfit, it's a similar shade of green and it has a lot of gold work on it, although I'm less keen on this look than the others. I also love the iconic white and red sari worn by the two actresses in this film for the Dola re Dola song, and it would be easy to borrow a sari in these colours, but this idea has already been taken by the fancy dress party's host! Pity, eh?

4. Anything 60's, eyeliner flicks and vintage Bollywood
...like this Asha Parekh look, sari, eyeliner flicks and all, plus some added beehive. Can I also mention that I love Hema Malini back in her heyday? The only downside to this is that there's no one identifiable iconic look, which I would love to go for. Plus side if, all I'd need it a lot of eyeliner, back combing and some tight kameezes!

 

5. Deepika in Om Shanti Om
I think this would be another outfit which would be easy to copy, a hot pink dress (which I have more than one of!) and some beehive hair styling and eyeliner flicks. I think I would also enjoy trying to create this look, and it does allow for some flexibility in terms of jewellery and make-up. I'm not sure how 'famous' or iconic this look is though, or whether it would be instantly recognisable, which is a bit of a drawback.

 

Other ideas are:

• Something from Jodha Akbar, for a Rajasthani look, although this would involve a lot of jewellery
• The black dress worn by Aishwariya in Taal (nice and easy!)
•  The green lachcha worn by Kajol in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (although I'm not keen on the lime green, I'd love to wear a lachcha!)
• Kareena's t-shirt and salwar look in Jab We Met (okay, not really!)
• Madhubala's Anarkali in Mughal-E-Azam, quite possibly one of the most iconic costumes in Bollywood history, although I think this outfit would be hard to copy.

I'm still googling/asking around/brainstorming up ideas at the moment, and will most likely go to the shops for a few ideas as well.

In the meantime - what would you dress up as for an iconic Bollywood fancy dress look?

BOLLYWOOD ISHTYLE: Kangana's Simple 'Rekha' Look in 'Shootout at Wadala'

I'm a fan of Kangana Ranaut, and I love how she puts together looks which are both stylish and unique. Her latest upcoming film 'Shootout at Wadala' seems the same, in that Kangana has taken a style and made it look great. In this film, she has gone for a slightly different style and opted for, er, an Indian housewife look.  

This is also a look that reminds me a lot of Rekha in the 70s and 80s, with her long hair and red lips. I also noticed that rather than go for a overly-glamorous look, Kangana wears simple cotton-printed saris and her make-up is generally quite simple and light, something which is quite credible as a housewife, and which also makes a nice change from the highly-polished look we always see in Bollywood films! What do you think of this look? Do you think Kangana looks similar to Rekha in these shots?

All images from Shootout at Wadala trailer and do not belong to  me

BOLLYWOOD ISHTYLE: Juhi's Orange Affair in Ishq

I saw one of my favourite golden oldies classic films recently, Ishq, which brought back a lot of good memories (okay the 90s films aren't exactly everyone's golden oldies, but they are for me!), with lots of comedic moments and sing-a-along songs (no one else sang with me, but oh well.)

This outfit stuck out for me (at the obligatory wedding scene) because it looks both traditional and yet would still look today by today's standards. The colour orange is starting to grow on me, but while I wouldn't wear this shade of orange myself, Juhi pulls it off quite well. I love how it's mixed with traditional gold jewellery - the matha-patti headpiece looks nicely done with the pearl-strands of earrings (my mum has a few pairs of these from her younger days!) - and it results in a pretty, almost Mughal-ish look. I also like the fact that the outfit is not heavily embellished with too much detail, it seems to be a dress-shape with trousers and a simple but big dupatta scarf which actually makes for a really nice bridal look.

While not everyone might want to go for this look as inspiration for their wedding day, I think it would make a really interesting mehndi outfit - certainly I'm seeing an increase of orange being worn as mehndi outfits on some girls. What do you think of this outfit?

All images taken from Ishq, which belongs to producers/directors of film

COPYCAT DESIGNS & DRESSES #10: The Olive Green and Ice Blue Patchwork Kameez

Thought I'd do a quick post about another copycat design we have, this time one of my sister's outfits from years ago (we're talking about a suit we got copied about ten years ago!). Back before the rise of online replicas and the growth of the Asian clothes industry, my sisters and I all used to buy a copy of the latest Asiana magazine whenever my Mum went to Pakistan, and pick an outfit for her to copy. We could have designed our own but there were too many risks of colours being wrong, designs looking ugly, and tailors not understanding our instructions, so we just sent ripped out pictures from magazines and ask for outfits in that way.

This outfit below was one of those pictures we got made about a decade ago, I can't remember which magazine it came from but I managed to find a picture on Bargello, surprisingly enough, which was the same picture my sister sent to Pakistan to get made. At the time, fitted kameezes and trousers were big in fashion trends, and this was something which was bright, colourful and very stylish. It was a 'patchwork' style design, in a bright rich ice blue and olive-limey green, with dark blue embroidery work.

Image from Bargello

This is the version my sister ended up with, in the same colours and design, although my sister added longer sleeves and opted for plain silk trousers in blue rather than the same patchwork style trousers (it actually looked better with the plain silk trousers, in my opinion).

We kept the embroidery fairly the same and it worked well with the outfit, the thread work was very neat and well-done, which we were quite impressed with. I also liked the fact that the colours of the outfit looked so rich because the fabric was silk, which made it a very pretty outfit.

THE GOOD: The outfit looked very pretty on, while it's not in fashion by today's standards, it could easily be adapted for the current trends (I've suggested replacing the trousers with a plain sharara, which would make a great mehndi outfit!). The colours themselves are beautiful, they're very flattering and the quality of the outfit has meant that it has lasted well even after ten years.

THE BAD: Comparing the outfit to current trends, where everything is long and flowy, this outfit looks very short and outdated. But it's still very pretty!

THE UGLY: My sister wearing it for the first time on Eid morning and then having to put an apron over it to wash up. Oh dear.

OVERALL: My sister said this outfit was very comfortable, which was the case with a lot of outfits my Mum got made for us when she went Pakistan. While it's not on par with today's trends, it's a beautifully made outfit which could last for years, and certainly looks classic because of the colours. If I saw the original picture today, I wouldn't be very keen on it, but having seen my sister's version, I love the rich colours of the silk and the simplicity of it. Perhaps it's something that could be recycled in futures years, for a 90s' themed party maybe!

BOLLYWOOD ISHTYLE: Karishma Kapoor's Bridal Red

There's a few outfits which I think look pretty enough and striking enough to look good at any time of the year, whether it's due to good tailoring, beautiful colours or well-put together design.

I love this long red outfit by Manav Gangwani showcased at HDIL India Couture Week in Mumbai from a few years back, which is an example of this - although it may be a bit heavy for some, it makes a beautiful alternative for a bridal dress. Karishma Kapooor looks beautiful in her iconic fitted churidar pants and long kameez, which she was often seen wearing in her films of the 90s, and it's something which would look great today (also, my sister had something extraordinarily similar to this about a decade ago!)

I'm a big fan of velvet when it's used well, and I think it looks pretty here, with the beautifully fitted ling sleeves and dramatic neckline. If only we could all pull it off like Karishma though, eh?

Image Source

BOLLYWOOD ISHTYLE: Madhuri's 90s Colourama Glamour in 'Dil Tera Aashiq'

Being a 90s (and partly 80s!) child, I'm a real sucker for looking at the bright colours and iconic outfits of that period, because it reminds me of those Bollywood films we used to watch while growing up - and Madhuri Dixit is definitely one icon of the 90s. A good example of this would be one of the family favourites (for us anyway), 'Dil Tera Aashiq', which features Madhuri in a range of colourful outfits and styles which were very typical of both Madhuri's style and the 90s.

First example of the outfits is this rainbow-style sari, a colour combination which actually appeared a few other times in other films in the 90s, although I do love it here. This sari also really reminded me of Satya Paul's multi-coloured, rainbow style saris in his 2010 collection, as seen here and here, especially because of the bright, jewel-like shades used and the use of blending colours into the next.

I remember during this period when two-toned fabric was very popular, and was worn quite a lot at weddings - and this lengha is just one example of it being worn in a purple/golden shade. While Madhuri manages to pull it off with her lovely figure here and a very sweet, girly look, I wasn't so lucky, unfortunately, when I think of all the organza disasters I was paraded in back in those days (grrr!). This lengha is also quite typical of it's time in terms of the fitted top and the simplified work (unlike the heavy outfits of today!)

I really, really love this deep purpley-plum dress, which is a long maxi dress with a split at the front and pretty bronze detail around the neck. It's something which would definitely look great with the fashion trends of today, and also something which wouldn't have caught my eye back in the 90s (probably because I was too busy twirling around and imagining myself in a rainbow dress), but it's something I love now. It looks really elegant and flowy, and the fitted sleeves, the work around the waist and the pretty up-do hair that Madhuri has are all something which look lovely and something I wouldn't mind wearing myself!

Back in the days when singing around trees and magic wardrobe changes were normal and needed no explanation, there were plenty of different outfits in songs, all usually in different styles and colours which I'm sure you all are familiar with! This fresh pink coloured sari is another example of a simple outfit which was often seen in different colours (either bright coloured or pastel colours!) on the heroines of a lot of songs - and on Madhuri I'm glad that it's not over-done with accessories, but with rather a large pair of funky diamante-style studs and some pretty bangles.

Next is this pretty yellow and red long dress and salwar which, again, would not look out of place in today's trends. I also like the fact that the dress seems to be made out of a rich, silky material and again, has a front-split which I remember being in fashion at the time (I owned a few kameezes in this style to attest to this!). Add to this Madhuri's dark red lips which were in vogue and her curly hair, and you have a classic Madhuri outfit!

Then, of course, there is the obligatory imaginary wedding scene which often appeared in a lot of these films. I've noticed that a things which don't really appear in today's films and fashions, such as the 'naath' (nose ring) were quite common then, and of course, the classic bright red lips.

This outfit always reminded me of a few other outfits (such as this song in Maine Pyar Kiya), in the way that the skirt has panels in 2 different colours, and in the jewellery worn. This is quite a pretty look on Madhuri, and of course, has a swishy skirt which can't go wrong!

 Throughout the film, there are random outfits which appeal to me because of the colours used, or the simple styles. Below is a fitted, shimmery gold kameez/dress which was very typical of the style worn in this film, with a light pink dupatta scarf and trousers, which I think would fit very well with today's trends.

 There's also a mujra-style appearance which I thought I'd mention, the pale pinks and darker pinks work quite well with the shimmery gold, and the jewellery (and the hat!) looks pretty good together. Another example of a classic look from the 90s which often appears (with matching background dancers!) in a lot of Bollywood films in this period.

There is also this red lengha outfit which was very typical- I've seen Madhuri in several movies with this type of outfit, especially when doing her classical dances. Again, I like the full skirt made up of panels, and the fact that it uses a lot of colours - although I find the red shade a bit bright!

There's plenty of colour in this film, and a lot of pieces which were very typical of their time. I do like the fact though, that there's a lot of pieces which could be worn today, and the fact that the jewellery and accessories used compliment Madhuri's look and the outfits quite well so they work together. My favourite is still the purple dress (something to keep as inspiration for a future outfit, maybe?) and the fact that she's able to pull off red lips in a way that it doesn't look too much - especially as in today's beauty trends, red lips are usually the focus of a look. Which outfit did you like best?