Eid Outfit Inspos!

It's that time of the year - the struggle to look for a decent Eid outfit! I've been browsing around online as well as looking in the shops for a decent piece (or three!) to catch my eye. I thought I'd post a few of the pretty pieces I've seen online as inspiration, even if I don't end up going with them.

#1 - This lovely embroidered Eid collection by Nida Azwer

I do like Nida Azwer and her formals (I even have a couple of outfits by this brand!), the outfits are pretty, wearable and strictly non-fussy. This collection dropped last month, and I loved the pretty pastel tones, gorgeous worked dupattas and simple cuts of the all of the outfits. The outfits range from £60-90 for the simple printed kurtas, to £200-400 for the worked formal pieces. I have to say though, as much as I love this range, it does feel a bit much to shell out a couple of hundred for what is essentially a simple-ish range.

#2 - Nishat Lawn UK Kurtas

Nishat Lawn is an excellent quality lawn brand which has finally hit the UK this month, and which I'm loving right now. The company sells a range of ready-to- wear outfits and kurtas, as well as unstitched material, and something for the kids and men to wear as well.

I've already got my eye on a few kurtas, if not for Eid then for summer wear, as the pricing is really reasonable and perfect for the summer - most of the kurtas start from around £25 and even the luxury wear is very reasonable at around £45-65 per outfit.

#3 - Elan's 'Nuit de fête' collection

For a little more luxe in our lives, Elan comes to the rescue. The new collection just released today (and half of it is already sold out, so don't hold your breaths!) - but some of it is just darn pretty.

Shimmering fabrics, bead fringing and something a little Parisian about some of these outfits which really makes them look chic. But again, this is a pretty pricey collection, ranging from £250-600, which may be a bit too much for some of us mere mortals, even if we do manage to get hold on any available pieces! Here's just a couple of their pieces, you can see the rest of the collection here and the advert for the collection here.

#4 - Agha Noor at Westfield City, Stratford

Agha Noor finally has opened up a shop for us on East London, with a glossy, sleek shop in Westfield City, Stratford. I made a visit a couple of weeks ago to look at their pieces and liked what I saw - a lot of summery embroidered pieces which are light, girly and easy to wear. Unfortunately I haven't been back to look this week so I'm not sure if they have had any new deliveries of outfits yet, but it's worth a look! Outfits range from about £28 for kurtas, while the full suits are from £50-80.

#5 - Hali H Eid Collection

Hali H is a company I quite like because their outfits look amazing in person, and I have personally had a really good experience with this company! Although I ordered online via Instagram, they have a physical store in Tooting, London so you can check out their latest collections as they come in. Here's a few which caught my eye, they have pretty kameez suits as well as heavier lenghas and ghararas in lovely colours.

I will be posting some more outfit inspiration soon so don't worry if these aren't what you're looking for!

I've been looking online at a few websites, as well as the growing number of Instagram companies which sell outfits, so will be doing a separate post on those soon. I've seen a number of sites selling designer wear, and would love to explore affordable outfits soon so will be posting a few ideas soon!

Have you bought your outfit yet? What do you think of these?

OUTFIT OF THE DAY: The Elan Silk Replica by Dhanak Fashions

Remember this outfit? I finally got a chance to wear it for a dinner recently on a warm weekend, and was glad that it was ideal for a summery look. This is the outfit - it's a rich, colourful suit made from a soft cool cotton which was perfect for the warm weather.

Here's how I accessorised - I generally don't wear a lot of jewellery, and in summer I wear even less, so I just opted for some plain heels and a pretty embellished clutch bag given to me when I got married. The outfit is pretty colourful so white accessories were the best option to go with this!

This is the outfit on me - I loved how comfortable this felt, and how easy to wear. The colours were pretty flattering, and I got a lot of compliments while I was wearing this.

My favourite thing about the outfit is probably how rich the dupatta is, which makes  anice statement piece (I can even imagine wearing the dupatta by itself with a plain suit).

Outfit - Dhanak Fashion

Heels - Boohoo

Clutch Bag - Green Street

Hijab - Inayah Collection

I'm looking forward to making the most of my summery outfits this year - one of the things I find a hassle about the warm weather is wearing modest clothes without having to layer. Lawn outfits have becomes very fashionable in the last few years, and they're perfect for the weather too, which is such a relief when I want something stylish and comfortable.

I loved wearing this outfit, and though it was great value for money, especially considering how many other outfits and replicas there are out there which are not as great and cost a lot more. I'll be keeping an eye out for more affordable outfits and will post my finds, hopefully I'll have a pretty wardrobe to post about this summer!

Hina Rasim's Eid Extravanganza at The Landmark Hotel

You may have seen my previous posts over the last couple of years of Pakistani designer clothes vendor Hina Rasim's Eid Exhibitions (you can see my posts here and here), so I was looking forward to seeing the latest designs at her 5th-year anniversary which was held last weekend.

The event was held at the beautiful Landmark Hotel (which is a beautiful venue in itself, highly recommend a visit if you are around the area!) in the hotel's Drawing Room. As with the previous exhibitions, the room was beautifully decorated with flowers, candles and gorgeous bridal outfits.

There were quite a few different Pakistani designer outfits on display, which each designer on a rack - there were a lot of big names such as Suffuse by Sana Yasir, Elan and Farah Talib Aziz (as well as a lot more!).

There was also a good mix of heavy formals and casual kurtas, and fusion pieces which I liked. By the time my friends and I got to the venue, some of the collections had already sold out, so it was an idea of how busy it was!

These pieces below especially caught my friends' and my eye  - the first is Shehla Chatoor, which was a kimono piece with beautifully intricate work, the second is a Dr Haroon outfit which looked perfect for a traditional mehndi outfit, and the last one was a really pretty peplum piece by Elan Official, which was covered in pearls and embroidery for a pretty, summery look. These pieces all ranged from £950 - £1500, so not cheap but pretty much what you expect for a designer piece.

I didn't take too many pictures of the outfits this time round, mainly because I was requested to keep it minimal to protect the designers and their pieces, but here are a few of the snaps from Hina Rasim official instastory which I'm sure she won't mind me sharing!

I really liked this gorgeous wrap by Nida Azwar, which was covered all over in gold gota pieces, and came with a black plain jumpsuit to wear inside. I'm not sure I'd wear the jumpsuit (maybe in white?) but I loved the look of these jacket. Unfortunately it was outside my budget at £850, but it's nice to dream, eh?

The exhibition also showcased jewellery by Tanaya Couture, whose pieces I have come across before and looked amazing up close. These were pretty popular because of the bridal necklaces, and to be honest a few of them caught my eye too!

There was also another exhibitor, which were sunglasses by JiaElle - embellished and blingy statement pieces which were quite popular. I quite liked some of the sparkly pieces with stones on the front, but didn't get any - these ranged from about £60 upwards.

I think we all loved the flowers and decor by Essential Wedding Couture - it all looked very grand and beautifully done, and made amazing wedding decor inspiration.

I always like going to exhibitions which sell Indian and Pakistani designer outfits, because even though I don't always end up buying something, it's great to see the outfits up-close and judge for myself the quality. We don't always get to see whether an outfit is really what it appears from the catwalk or promotional photos, and I have been surprised in the past (or pleasantly surprised!) when a designer's collection looks different from my expectations in the past - which just goes to show that pictures can be misleading!

I'll be keeping an eye out for more exhibitions as Eid comes up, and will post more as I attend - it's a pity that some of the prices for Pakistani designer pieces are going up, but I'm on a hunt for affordable brands and will post when I do find them!

COPYCAT DESIGNS & DRESSES #14: The Elan Silk Collection Replica

I haven't done one of these in ages, have I? I'm guessing because I haven't bought many outfits in a while, let alone replicas, and there's so many vendors out there booming across Facebook, Instagram and various online forums that I wouldn't know where to start these days! I've also tended to lean less towards replicas these days - partly because half the time a copy of a designer outfit (especially a heavy one) costs the same or more as the actual designer piece sometimes, and also partly because I hate bad copies of outfits which I end up not liking, especially when I compare it to the original.

I also think that there are enough reasonably priced outfits out there which are unique and not copies, which look amazing, and always look to support smaller businesses and affordable prices.

Having said that, sometimes I do get the urge to splash out on a designer outfit which catches my eye - unless I can't get hold of it, of course! One of outfits I really wanted to buy last year was a piece from the Elan Silk Collection, which was released a few days before Eid and was impossible to get - online orders were terrible or kept selling out, and I only saw an actual piece in real-life in a local shop about a month ago - way after Eid!

Nevertheless, I've always loved the designer below, which I've been keeping an eye out for - I love the colour of the outfit and the stylish print, which I think is perfect for warm summer days.

I've seen a lot of replicas of this collection all over the internet and all over the stores, and some of them were pretty crappy or just not worth price. My sister and I went outfit shopping about a week ago, and I stumbled across a copy that I loved - it was a mostly printed cotton outfit with some embroidery at the bottom and colourful pants and dupatta - and looked pretty much the same as the original to me.

This is my version, bought from local store Dhanak Fashion, at a bargain price of just £30! There were a few other designs in the store (such as Maria B replicas too) but none of them really appealed to me as much as this.

Here's a close up of the kameez - I love that the printed details doesn't look 'off' like some outfits do, or look badly made. Although the original outfit collection is made of silk, and this is made of cotton, it's a very nice, soft cotton which feels lovely on and is still ideal for warm weather. I also love that the back had a great design to it as well - not exactly the same as a original but it works for me.

This is the hem of the outfit, which also had some embroidery. The original doesn't really have any embroidery but this doesn't look odd but it blends it well and just adds a touch of embellishment that I like.

So this is the suit I got from Dhanak Fashions - I love that pants look the same and the dupatta too. I'm also glad that there's no lace inserts or tulip salwars for this outfits - I love lace pieces but it's not always modest for my preference, and I'm not a huge fan of tulip salwars for every outfit.

I'm sure I'll get an opportunity to wear this very soon, and will post when I do! It's pretty rare these days for me to find a cheap outfit which isn't cheap quality - these days my sisters and I find that the good outfits are never below £80-100 for even a casual piece, and the designers are always more. I'm looking forward to summer time when I'll get to pull this out, and I'm sure that the colours will look great.

Some people have said in the past that it's not fair on the designers to have replicas in the fashion industry, and I do agree with this where it hurts their business, or where credit for their work is stolen. However I also think it's not fair on customers to have to pay a high amount to get a designer outfit they like - which is why the replica market has been created in the first place. Replicas will always be a contentious issue - however I am very careful about who I approach if I was to get one, and would always recommend to readers to check who they are buying from before they pay.

All in all, I did think I got a good bargain with this outfit though - what do you think of it?

Hina Rasim's Luxury Shopping Event at The Dorchester

I was lucky enough to be able to a ticket to Hina Rasim's Luxury Shopping Event last week, featuring several designer collections which were also available to buy. After attending her last exhibition last year, I was pretty keen to attend because of all of the gorgeous outfits available which aren't necessarily accessible in London for a lot of buyers.

This event was more upscale, and was held at the gorgeous Dorchester Hotel in ones of the ball rooms, which was also beautifully decorated by Dream Occasions UK, who are wedding and event planners/decorators, and did an amazing job with the flowers, lanterns and candle decor.

There were several designers' outfits and collections being showcased, I wasn't able to get prices of all of them but I did find out about a few - I'll list below the ones I know about but you can also contact Hina herself for more information on prices.

Elan
The most prominent collection was Elan's latest collections, the Le Bijou Collection and the Garden of Evening Mists collection. This was also the only collection I didn't ask the prices for because I knew they would be out of my range - these were mostly bridal pieces but each were pretty gorgeous.

There was also a rail of Elan formals which were very pretty, such as these outfits below. I wasn't too keen on the orange and blue outfit, but I did like the spring green kurta with delicate work all over, which cost about £400 (I think!).

Sania Maskatiya
Being a big Sania Maskatiya fan, this was the first collection I went for, and which there was a good range of. There were a few pieces I recognised from the catwalk, such as the pink dress below, which were also very heavy and probably the most expensive from the collection.

The prices for the heavier SM formals ranged from £600-700 upwards to about £1300.00 for the heavy, fullworked outfits.

Ayesha Farook Hashwani - AFH
This was a new designer being added to Hina's collections, featuring light wraps and capes to heavier embroidered formals and maxi dresses - most of these were £150 for the basic wraps and went up to £300-500 for the heavier formals.

Shela Chatoor
These were mostly embroidered kameezes and formals, but in pretty spring colours and floral patterns. Most of these were around £500ish but the heavier pieces were slightly more.

Rozina Munib
I remembered Rozina's collection from last year and was glad to see there were a lot of new styles in her latest collection. I didn't get to take many pictures but I liked this oufit because of the colours, which I thick was about £300-400

There were several other designer collections as well, but I didn't get to take pictures of them all, mostly because the hall was so busy and I didn't want to get in the way too much! I wanted to write about outfits by other designers like Farah Talib Aziz, Saira Shakira and Maison de Lace, both of whom had lovely designs but a few of my photos got deleted, so I can't post these!

One last outfit I loved was this velvet cape which I think was by Saira Shakira but I can't remember at all - I thought this was a really elegant piece which looked very regal. I'm loving the whole cape trend right now (and have even bought one of my own!) so this is right up my street!

UPDATE: This outfit is actually by Ayesha Farooq Hashwani, I wasn't able to get the price but you can contact Hina Rasim for orders.

Tanaya Couture
Again like last year, Tanaya Couture were displaying their beautiful jewellery but in a separate room this time, and there were some really lovely pieces available which really caught my eye. A lot of these were beautiful statement pieces, which would also make amazing bridal pieces, and I think the prices for these were pretty reasonable considering they were one-off pieces and had beautiful gems and work to them.

Again, I can't remember a lot of prices because each piece was individually priced, but the earrings were around £50ish, necklaces were from £150 upwards for pendants (depending on how heavy) and heavier bridal necklaces were about £300-400 and upwards.

I took a lot of pictures of necklaces so you can see what caught my eye!

I also really loved these earrings, each which would really complete an outfit and each had beautiful stone and pearl details.

Tanaya Couture also had furs and shawls available to buy, which were quite popular seeing as it's the cold spring season!

Because the event was on Valentines Day, there were also some cupcakes provided, which were the perfect treat to end a nice day, and of course a nice way to indulge!

Even though I didn't end up buying anything, I did see a lot of outfits which I will be considering for future events, because the designs and the workmanship look so great. Althought it was a very busy event, it was a fun one and I got to speak a few other shoppers who were buying outfits.

Did you manage to attend this event? What do you think of the outfits?