Pantone Colour of 2020: Classic Blue

Happy New Year guys! I hope you're all having a wonderful start of 2020, new year, new decade! I'm hoping to become a little more active on the blog this year, so here's hoping!

I thought I'd start off with Pantone's colour of the year - Classic Blue. It's an interesting choice, although one I was slightly disappointed with, as it's a bit boring and it seems like Pantone chose to play it safe compared to the more vibrant colours of the previous years!

It also feels like a slightly ambiguous colour - we all define 'classic' blue in different ways, and indeed when I Googled the colour, I got lots of royal blue, mid blue, vibrant blue - so basically a rich, semi-dark blue? This is the blue given to us by Vogue below:

You know I love a good moodboard, so I made a quick classic blue moodboard of the kind of stuff to expect for classic blue in 2020 - I'm liking some of the dresses and jackets!

And then of course I had to make another moodboard with Asian outfits - although I found this harder as there were lots of shades of blue, and lots of navy/dark shades mixed in. I also found that some of these look a bit dated - blue is a lovely colour but these days the Asian fashion and bridal trends are leaning to neutrals, pastels and softer shades which are a lot more popular.

Having said that, I had a quick look at some of my outfit choices over the last few years and I do have plenty of blue! Here's just a few of my pieces - although in the last couple of years I haven't picked this shade!

It will  be interesting the year throws up with classic blue - it's a fairly easy colour to find and I've seen some flattering designs and shades, but from previous years I've seen that the colour of the year doesn't always hit the shops!

What do you think of the classic blue colour?

My Eid - Eid with the family!

We had a lovely Eid celebration this week, wand it felt like a busy one with lots of family and guest all congregating my my mum's! We had a fantastic meal (as always) cooked by my mum, with lots of giggling children, dressing up, photo-taking and gifts, made complete with some sunshine!

For Eid this year I wore this gorgeous peach suit from Pakistani label Sapphire Pakistan, which my husband picked up from Pakistan a couple of months ago. I absolutely loved the colours when I first saw it, and thought the work on it was really decent quality. I'm a fan of Sapphire Pakistan, and it was one of the places I asked my husband to stop at while in Pakistan - I only wish I had bought more of their pieces! I also loved that it came with a lovely silky dupatta, which had a pretty print on it, and both the dupatta and the suit were embellished with pearls. What I particularly liked was how well stitched the outfit was, and the fact that the pearls were sewn on properly - no half-hanging-by-the-thread pearls or damaged seams!

I also thought I'd make an effort this year wear some decent jewellery too (in past Eids I've worn minimal jewellery pieces!). So on one hand I wore some pretty glass bangles with pearls all over from Pakistan, which came from my mum, while on the other hand I wore a 'haath panja (a hand harness) piece which was sent to me by my mother in law. I loved how these looked, and they went wonderfully against my outfit.

As usual, the kids in the family bought the outfit game and rocked it - I loved all of what they wore. There was a lovely mix too, two wore pretty ghararas, one of my nieces wore an Afghan-style dress from Pakistan, and two wore party dresses! And of course, they all wore the cutest shoes!

Here's a peek at some of the food we had - this is only one table (we had another one full of more food!) and which we fully enjoyed. Even though it was straight after a month of fasting in Ramadan and we were stuffed, we ate well and enjoyed it!

My sisters and I have created a tradition of gifts over the years, if not always for each other, then we try to get them for the kids of the family. It's well worth it when we see how excited they get, and gives them something to look forward to as well! This year I received an abundance of chocolate and makeup. One quirky present we all liked was pretty mugs for each of us with our initial on it, which was a nice idea.

Eid was a fun day for us, full of silly jokes, games and of course sweet treats. We usually try to spend the next day doing Eid too but some of us had work the next day, and a lot of us wanted to catch up on sleep, getting energy back and get into routine again after all the madness!

Pantone Colour of 2019: Living Coral

This year’s colour of the year is a vibrant one, and an interesting pick - Living Coral. I’ve worn this colour before but not very often (like this outfit and this kurta!) and have had a few Western dresses in coral before as well. I remember wearing a bright coral shift dress to work years ago and matching it to an equally bright coral lipstick, which I got a few giggles from at work, so don’t think it’s something I’d attempt anytime soon again! I’ve even dabbled with it in terms of lipsticks and blushes, but I’m a little conservative with my colours and tend to gravitate towards deep, rich colours, neutrals or or softer colours which are slightly more forgiving!

I had a look at some examples of 'living coral' which could pop up this year in fashion and beauty, and am liking what I see - even though it's a bright colour it's serene and girly, and doesn't feel too garish. I'll be keeping an eye out in the shops to see if anything catches my eye (probably for the summer!) but I'm liking these pieces below.

I also had a look at what kind of coral pieces there are out there in the Asian fashion world – there’s a whole treasure trove of them! I love that it's such an abundant colour - Asian weddings and events tend to be lively and colourful, so this is quite an ideal colour, and I found plenty of wedding themes, outfits and decor in this this colour.

I am intrigued about this colour – its definitely a fun colour and I can imagine it will be quite popular in the summer, as well as for wedding events. It’s also quite a girly colour and something I can imagine appeals to a lot of people (unless you’re not a fan of bright colours!) I’ll be looking forward to seeing if this colour pops up this year in, as well as what other trends, colours and styles become popular.

Whats your opinion on this colour? Would you wear it?

Happy New Year!...2019

Happy New Year everyone! 2018 was an interesting year, with lots of things for me to post about (boy do I need to play the catch up game!) - so watch this space!

I’m looking forward to a few things already this year, and it will be interesting to the trends, outfits and events the year brings!

Wishing you all a great year (let the good times roll!)

Love, Curly Fries
xxx

Happy Independence Day Pakistan & India 2018

Happy Independence Day people! It's been 71 years since the creation and independence of Pakistan and India, and I love that the way we celebrate is no less joyful, and still all the more passionate. I love seeing the celebrations on the street, the dancing and music, and the gorgeous outfits that everyone pulls out for this celebration.

Although I am Pakistani, I strongly believe that my brothers and sister's celebration of Indian independence is equally a worthy celebration, and love seeing how exciting and jubilant it can get!

So regardless of where you are from, Happy Independence day everyone! Enjoy the day! :)

Love,
Curly Fries
xxx

Our Eid...Day #2

I'm sure you know by now that when my family does Eid, we tend to make the most of it! On the second day of Eid we had lunch at my sister's and my family went to my aunt's for dinner, which was a relaxed evening of fun.

My outfit for the second day was a metallic green and gold outfit by a Pakistani label called Sequence, which my best friend bought as a gift for me on her last visit to Pakistan. I love the cut of this outfit - the top is a A-line angrakha-style top, which came with shimmery gold salwar-style bottoms that went perfectly. I paired this with metallic gold heels and a gold and cream clutch, which went perfectly!

I loved the decor my sister had set up - colourful pastels, which was finished off by a beautiful throw on the table to bring the colours together. She always puts together a different, pretty theme for Eid as well as Ramadan and I loved the colours for this year.

Food was a fun affair, with plenty of dishes of course - if you're from an Asian family like mine you'll know that it's not a dinner unless theres lots of different dishes and desserts!

The babies went colourful for the second day of Eid, with flouncy party dresses that they looked seriously cute in!

I wish I had more photos to show you of our Eid weekend, but honestly we always manage to not take enough because we're too busy yakking away and enjoying the good food!

Hope you all had a good weekend!

xx

Our Eid...Day #1

We had a lovely long weekend celebrating Eid this weekend, with plenty of opportunity to overstuff ourselves with food! It was nice to spend the day dressed up, especially with the weather being nice and sunny, and everyone being free for the weekend.

This is what I wore on Eid, which was a pretty mint-coloured kurta with silky pants. My sisters and I didn't get time to order anything online so had a look around the shops, and I ended up going with this outfit that my husband actually pointed out on a second visit to the shops! You can't tell properly but this is a shimmery gold tone to the fabric for a two-tone effect. I loved the colour palette of this kurta, lilacs, gold, silver and mint which for perfect for the warm weather.

I bought this outfit from a small shop in Ilford Lane, East London called Laaj London, which is a fairly new shop (Facebook page here and Instagram page here), where they had a range of different colours. The kurta was quite reasonably priced and fit perfectly, and I thought it was a pretty decent find among the madness of Eid shopping!

We started off Eid with lunch at my mum's house, which is always a tradition for us, as it's the one place myself and all of my siblings descend to get together, enjoy our mum's food and get all of the kids together. Unfortunately I have absolutely no pictures of the food, as we were pretty hungry and I forgot to take any! But just assume the food looked as amazing as it tasted!

We then decided to do something a little different for the evening, with a barbecue hosted by my brother and sister-in-law at their house. My sister-in-law had hired a bouncy castle for the children (which was fully enjoyed by all of us!), and we spent the evening chilling out with family and enjoying the warm evening.

If you know my family, you'll know that the toddlers in my family always steal the show - with credits for their dresses to my mum! The toddlers all wore matching floral dresses (the one in the middle had the dress too, but she wore a lilac dress to match all of her other cousins!)

This year I joined in with an online Secret Eid, which was really fun - there were over 40 participants, and it was fun to see the gifts everyone got! I opened my Secret Eid on Eid day and loved what i received - candles, an engraved personalised bookmark, travel mug, book light, chocolates and a gorgeous box that it all came in.

I also received some beautiful presents from my sisters, including these gorgeous purple heels, and a whole treasure trove of makeup, chocolate and jewellery from my eldest sister.

We finished off the day with a seriously chocolatey cake made by one of my sisters, which was as chocolatey and rich as it looks!

It was a lovely way to spend our Eid, and one which was special because all of the family which got together, which can be rare for all of us! The only thing I wish we had photos of was the outfits for the ladies in the family - we were too busy chasing after the kids and stuffing our faces!

Eid Mubarak!....2018/1439

Wishing you all a wonderful Eid, and hoped you had a lovely Eid celebration!

Hope you enjoyed the long weekend with lots of food, beautiful outfits, laughter with friends and family and lots of blessed memories.

I'll be posting about my weekend soon, so watch this space!

Love,
Curly Fries xx

Pantone Colour of 2018: Ultra-Violet Purple

So this year's colour of the year, as declared by Pantone is Ultra-Violet - rich, bright purple (which reminds me of a Paco Rabanne perfume with the same name, I must admit!)

The colour is an unusually bright one given the last few years - but has been described by Pantone as important - "Complex and contemplative, Ultra Violet suggests the mysteries of the cosmos, the intrigue of what lies ahead, and the discoveries beyond where we are now. The vast and limitless night sky is symbolic of what is possible and continues to inspire the desire to pursue a world beyond our own. "

So that's a pretty deep, rich meaning behind that one, right?

I must admit, when I heard about this colour, I was undecided. I've always loved certain shades of purple - deep, rich aubergines, soft lilacs or mauvey shades. I'm not as keen on Cadbury purples like this one. I think I've also been put off by wearing purple too many times in the past, and am just more selective about this colour, not to mention the fact that it feels a little dated to me now compared to the softer shades I've seen a lot recently (not to mention having a purple coat in university which made my friends call me Barney!)

But I may be proved wrong yet - I'm waiting to see this hit the catwalks and shops and I'm sure I'll like a lot of what I see - here's just a few of what I've seen online that I'm liking:

When I think of the colours of the years, I always think of how this can be incorporated into Asian fashion and wedding themes. I must say that having seen a lot of purples before, I'm sure Ultra Violet will work fine with Asian bridals and formals. I also do think that this shade is flattering on brown tones, so it's definitely a good colour to work with. Here's a few ideas I saw online, I actually really like how creative some of the ideas are out there:

It will be interesting to check in on the fashion pages every now and then and see if this colour has taken anyone's fancy. Having said that though, last year's colour, greenery, didn't make as much of an appearance as I thought so it seems that it's really up to the designers and consumer's tastes as to what will make the trends!

What do you think of this year's colour of the year?

Happy New Year!...2018

I know, I know, I'm super late to the New Year message! But hey, it's still January and we're still in a dieting-joining-the-gym-phase so let's pretend I'm not three weeks late!

I've been meaning to post a whole load of things in the last few weeks but decided to take a break - not for any lack of things to post about! So watch this space, I have plenty of things to share with you all, so bear with me while I slowly but surely try to get back into regular-posting mode!

So here's wishing you all a beautiful 2018 - I'm in a floral mood so hopefully the year will start off with blossoms, pinks and pretty things!

Love, Curly Fries xx

Our Eid...Day #2

We spent the second day of our Eid at my mum's house - no family celebration is complete without all of us converging at my mum's house and eating her food! Some of the family members weren't able to come on the Friday because they couldn't get time off work, so it was nice to see them all on the weekend.

For the second day of Eid I was going to go for a simple printed kurta but ended up buying something very different last minute! I wore this beautiful cream brocade maxi jacket from a Malaysian brand called Aatiya London, which I saw a few months ago but only bought recently because it went on sale. The jacket came with a matching cream skirt, but I thought the skirt was too much for Eid (it felt a little bridal!) so went for a plain silk cream camisole and trousers to match instead.

As always, the food at my mum's was delicious and there was lots of it, finished off with some kheer that my mum made along with some chocolate cake!

My nieces all got plenty of party dresses this Eid, and of course showed us up as usual in their pretty dresses and party shows - perfect for the warm weather!

I do have to apologise to you guys - I don't have any good pictures of the family outfits at all! We were all too busy wandering around eating, playing games and hanging out in the kitchen, and just didn't take proper photos! (Don't worry, I'll make an effort to next time!)

I'm pretty sure you'll be able to see more pictures of our Eid on my sister's blogs here and here (when they write up their posts!) - we all had fun with the family and enjoyed a long weekend of food and a much-needed rest from work!

How was your Eid? What did you wear?