OUTFIT OF THE DAY: The Mint, Pearls & Gota Dress

Now that spring is here in full force, and it's slowly getting warmer, my wardrobe is rejoicing - I'm finally getting to pull out some of my prettier, lighter outfits. I recently got the chance to wear this outfit below, a mint-coloured dress with gota work (gold pieces of cloth sew onto the fabric_, pearls and metal work all over - sounds like a heavy outfit but it wasn't!

I bought this outfit a few years ago before I was married from Pakistan via a Facebook group (which is no longer active, sorry guys!) for a very reasonably price, and then forgot I had it. I managed to find it again last year after some wardrobe-clearing, and put it aside for the warmer weather.

This is the outfit below, I love this shade of mint and feel like I don't get to wear it enough - it's perfect for spring season and feels pretty girly on. I also like the fact that this outfit is nice and floaty, which felt great on! I really like the gota-work on the outfit, which gives the outfit a shimmery-look, without making it feel heavy. It's a really traditional, old-school style of work but I think it's also pretty classic, and it works well with the pearls on this outfit.

This is what I wore with the outfit, I slightly over-loaded it a little with the gold, but I do like the end effect. I wore my wedding necklace for a more blingy look, and a plain gold clutch and sparkly heels - can't go wrong gold accessories!

This is me wearing the outfit, which felt very girly and floaty on - I really like the colour, although it took me while to find a matching scarf! I also like the length of this outfit on me - even though it is a longer shape, it worked with the cut of the outfit.

Outfit - Facebook group

Necklace - Pakistan via KaprayShapray designer

Clutch bag - DKNY

Shoes - Call It Spring

Hijab - Queens Market

I'm looking forward to wearing some of my older pieces for summer again, especially as some of them have a pretty classic look to them so don't go out of style. I loved wearing this outfit because of how ideal it was for the warm weather, and it feels like I don't have enough outfits in this colour. I'm sure I'll get a chance to wear this again soon - maybe with bright red lips this time?

Pantone Colour of 2017: Greenery

Pantone has announced the 2017 colour of the year - greenery, It's a lovely, spring colour which I'm quite liking, although I'm still thinking about whether it's something I can incorpotate in my wardrobe. At the moment my colours range from whites, nudes and pastel pinks or deep blues, red and greys, with a touch of random bright colours!

There's also a range of 'fashionable' shades in the colour report here (and see some examples on the catwalk here) which I think will be interesting!

I've had a quick look for this colour on the catwalk, and it's surprising how many colour shades it goes with - I love the combinations I found below.

I also like that these can be mixed with bright colours like yellow and blue for a vivid look, or softer shades like blush pink, greys and white.

I'm wondering how this colour could translated into Asian fashion (is it possible that this will catch on in Asian bridals and formal wear? It will be interesting to see!). I had a quick search for something along the lines for this colour to see how it could be used, and thought it looked lovely on a lot of bridals, and even mehndi decor. I couldn't get that close to the 'greenery' shade but I found some greens which were close enough to spring green - here are just a few I found:

I'll be looking forward to seeing the colours develop in the high street and on the catwalk through the year, and also whether it filters into Asian fashion too - greenery Eid outfits, anyone?

Eid Mubarak!

Wishing everyone a beautiful Eid Mubarak, with lots of food, beautiful outfits, laughter with friends and family and lots of blessed memories.

Love, Curly Fries xxx

OUTFIT OF THE DAY: The Teal & Cream Gul Ahmed outfit

I haven't been wearing as many Pakistani outfits in the last month or so because it's been pretty cold,  and we haven't had that many special events like weddings. Whenever we have had events, I've ended up wearing pretty maxi skirts and dresses which I can dress up, or comfy outfits for most of the events and functions I have attended.

I do have a few warmer outfits which I've been able to pull out though, like this outfit by Gul Ahmed, which is made of a thick cotton fabric which is almost like khaddar, a thicker cotton material. I mainly bought this outfit because I loved the intricate cream embroidery on it, and the beautiful pashmina which went with it which gave it a slight contrast.
I also loved the button detail on it, which makes it feel a little smarter.

The outfit came with plain cream churidar pants, but I opted to wear this outfit with a Khaadi trouser which you can buy as seperates - I thought the lace detailing at the cuff went better with this outfit.

This is me wearing the outfit, I'm sure you can tell how comfortable it was! It was also warm enough for me to wear in the winter weather, although I did jazz it up with some high heels! I loved the deep blue of the pashmina with this outfit,it added some more colour and prints to the outfit, even if you can't see the beautiful quality of the pashmina material.

Outfit - Gul Ahmed

Trousers - Khaadi

Clutch - New Look

Shoes - Kurt Geiger

Although the latest trends in Pakistani fashion leans towards shorter hemlines and tapered (or even flowy!) trousers, I think that this outfit still looks pretty classic, and the trousers go pretty well with it. As much as I love following the latest trends, I do also still love my long kameezes, especially since they are so flattering on the figure, and I think I'll get plenty of wear from this outfit yet!

THE WEDDING POST: Mehndi Memories!

Can you believe that it's been a year since my wedding?! I really can't, it seems like only a few weeks ago that I got married and moved away from my parents, and yet I'm so settled and comfortable in my married life that weirdly enough, it feels like I've always been married!

So this time last year, on this day, I had my mehndi night. which was surprisingly an emotional day but a lovely one, surrounded by friends and family. There's a lot of things which I stressed about at the time but on that day, walking in under a curtain of flowers and looking at all of my friends, a lot of that stress and anxiety melted away (to the music of Ali Zafar's Jhoom, if anyone wanted to know!)

I thought I'd do a series of memories posts this week - what I remember from my events, including my mehndi day, the good, the bad and the funny, especially as it's amazing what sticks out in your mind afterwards!

So here's a few random things I remember from my mehndi night, in no particular order, although I'll try not to complain too much! I do remember wanting to do a hundred and one things and stressing about it, and I'm only mentioning them now because a year later looking back, I really don't know why I worried as much as I did.

Getting ready
I'm lucky enough to know a lot of make-up artists and henna artists, so naturally I got my sister-in-law to spend do my makeup, which I loved. We even managed to spend a little free time in the the day where she took me out for brunch before we got ready, which helped relax me a lot. She got the look even better than I thought, I wanted simple and glowy and she managed both without making my face look too heavy or busy, and I loved the result.

It made me happy that I was able to save so much money by booking a makeup artist for my main wedding day, as it can really add up with the more functions you have. I was also glad that it looked the way I wanted without having to compromise - I've met so many women who have opted to do their own makeup or ask a friend to do it, for one or more of their wedding functions and they've looked great, so I'd definitely encourage that options for brides who are thinking about it.

My hair and the mess at the end of the day!

My jasmine flowers (which were such a headache to buy, because I wanted fresh ones!) came loose half-way through the mehndi and basically looked a mess by the end of the day - you can see them unravelling in pictures below, and the before/after of the flowers! This isn't to criticise the hair-stylist at all - I got my hair and dupatta setting done by Shamalah Hairstylist and LOVED what she did, the flowers themselves just wilted and were bound to fall down after a lot of dancing and moving around! The hair looks not so bad in the second picture, but by the time I got home the flowers had dried and my hair was all over the place!

Also, if any Londoners wants to know where I got the flowers, Vallis in East Ham, East London do them at an amazing price of £1 per string meter and they smell beautiful! A tip for any brides using flowers though, keeping them in the fridge really helped me in keeping them fresh overnight.

Even worse, when I got home, it took me ages to undo my hair and get my hair sorted out. It was actually more painful than my wedding hair was because there was a lot more extensions and back-combing involved, and worse for me because I didn't realise it would be this difficult! 

Non-attendees

A few of my friends didn’t turn up to the mehndi, which I was a little upset about at the time, although I did get over it 15 minutes into the mehndi, once the dancing started! I only mentioned this because it's inevitable that someone can't make it, or something can happen which can be really annoying - try not to let it get to you too much. A friend of mine who got married around the same time I did told me that she was pretty upset that a some of her friends and family didn't make it to her mehndi, enough that when she went home she was upset and even cried a little. You're bound to be emotional but don't let these be the last and defining moments of your Big Days, the last thing you would want to remember about your events is being upset for the wrong reasons.

It's also easy to get annoyed at the little things like these, when it's so much better to appreciate people who DID turn up and make the effort, which can really make a difference on the night! It's fair to say all of the right people turned up and it was really warming to see that they made the effort, not to mention all of the hard work from my mum, sisters and sister-in-law!

Asian Timings

I got to my mehndi venue really early, and was a bit annoyed that I turned up before the guests, particularly as it meant my brother, who was my chauffeur for the night, and I had to wait because I didn't want to talk into an empty hall. Thankfully, my photographer was already at the venue, and used this time for a quiet photo-shoot which I loved – some of my favourite pictures are from this shoot. I was also glad to be punctual because it meant I had some quiet time to myself beforehand.

Sweets and Favours

I barely saw the beautiful sweet table my sisters made and set up. I sure as heck didn’t get to eat anything from it. At least I had lots of photos of it afterwards! Similarly I had spent a lot of time with my sisters making up favour bags, sweet cones and decor boxes in a peacock print theme, which kind of got lost in the hall decor, but admittedly on the day, it didn't matter as much to me anyway.

Ghagray

We’d bought lots of jasmine strings to make into bracelets (ghagray) for some of the guests, and some of them got forgotten. Two of my friends ended up putting dolly-mixture sweet bracelets on my wrists to make up for it because we forgot to get my best friends to put the flowers on my wrist! I don't know why I look so serious in the photo below because I remember laughing about it all!

Food!
Our food got served late, which was very frustrating, as the caterers had been calling me all afternoon while I was getting ready to ask me about venue access and set-up. I actually got up from my stage at one point during a break when the guests managed to eat, to go into the kitchens and tell off the caterers. They learned their lesson and served the food on time on the wedding day though, so at least I told them off effectively!

Dancing the night away!
We managed to get some of the older ladies, the mums and aunties, up for a Beyonce dance which was fun, and it was even better when my sisters and friends joined in too. One of my friends is an amazing (and enthusiastic!) dancer so she stole the show with her moves and got me to join in as well, although I'll admit I was a lot more embarassed!

My niece and I doing twirls!

It feels pretty strange to look through some of these now and see myself all dressed up, especially because I looked pretty calm in a lot of photos and I know I was quite nervous!
A friend of mine got married a few days ago and told me she felt the same - I think it was that point after months of stressing that she walked in and decided to just enjoy herself rather than look for things that had gone wrong.

I know there were a lot of things which were missing, didn't look the way I thought or just general things I thought were needed - looking back I now know that as much as we brides love the little details. the beautiful decor, the amazing dances, it's more important to enjoy the night and being with your close ones. Above all, just sit back, relax and focus on looking good!

COPYCAT DESIGNS & DRESSES #13: The Green Anarkali Dress by Sonas Couture

I thought I'd post about this dress, which I ordered a long time ago (about 7 or 8 years now!), that I ordered through a friend from her contact in India.

Green and gold are my favourite colour combinations when it comes to Asian clothes, although weirdly enough I don't have many clothes in these colours (my wardrobe just feels like its full of blue dresses right now!)

I originally ordered this dress a few years ago, and found that it was too heavy to wear to my friends' weddings, which is when I wanted to wear it - back then I wore a lot less heavier outfits that I do now and it just felt too dressy for a guest to wear! I then decided to save it for my engagement, should I have one, although in the end I didn't have an official engagement so I never wore it, To be honest, even if I had an engagement, I would probably have gone with something else, perhaps because I felt like I outgrew the style of this outfit.

My opinions of this dress also varied over the year - when I first ordered it I was astounded at how long it was and didn't like it, and packed it away. A few years later I pulled it out (when the fashion of hemlines were long!) and wished it was long - it was too short for me! Eventually I didn't wear it at all and actually ended up selling it online, I didn't think it suited me and thought there was no point in it taking up wardrobe space.

For anyone who wants to know about this outfit and where I ordered it from, I don't have specific details as a friend of mine ordered it from India. I do know that the tailors are called Hafeez and that they were based around Delhi area.

So this is the original design that I sent to India, which I think is from Sonas Couture but I'm not 100% sure, although I do remember this being a popular design which was copied by a lot of online sellers.

Below is the dress that I got, which was actually a pretty decent copy, although one of the reasons I got it so cheap was the work was a lot more cheaper, being mostly french knot threadwork, beading and sequins. The colours were pretty spot on though and the shape of the dress was good, although the bust area wasn't perfect but it looked better on.

Here's a few close ups of the dress - it was pretty full of work and really heavy because there were motifs and a heavy hemline on the front and back. It was also pretty tightly knit, in all the years I had the dress the work didn't really get messed up, surprisingly enough. It also helped that the dress itself was made from georgette rather than the usual chiffon material sellers often use, which meant the fabric was a little sturdy.

I haven't got a picture of myself wearing this outfit because I only tried it on a couple of times, and while it didn't look quite as good as it did on the model in the picture above, it was really flattering. It was pretty slimming on as well, although I do remember wishing I could get it made longer!

THE GOOD: The price - at the time of buying this outfit, I bought another 4 and paid £250 for all of them, so this worked out about £60-70 because it was the heaviest outfit. I may have gotten a discount because there were so many outfits, but there would be no way I'd ever get a dress like this for this price!

THE BAD: The bust, I really wasn't a fan of it. I didn't get a lot of choice at the time of ordering in terms of making alterations, and because it was done through a friend who had to shout down details over the phone to India, I didn't want to confuse or complicate things so I didn't make any changes at all. I don't really tend to go for outfits which emphasise the bust area too much, it did fit pretty well and I always like to make sure something is tailored to my body properly, but I didn't think this was a an amazing shape on me because I'm more straight than curvy in terms of body shapes!

THE UGLY: Squeezing into the outfit a few years after I bought it, and realising I wasn't a size 6 anymore!

OVERALL: I got a pretty decent deal with this outfit, and although I didn't end up wearing it, it was pretty beautiful to me when I got it. I loved (and still love) this colour combination and would still wear them as a formal even now. I remember looking into getting a jamwar or brocade fabric skirt or sharara made for this outfit, so that I would give a really flowy look to the outfit but in the end I didn't because I decided not to keep the outfit.

It's nice to look back at outfits I've had in my wardrobe and see how far fashion has come, and also the idea of ordering from India and Pakistan. Nowadays I do a lot more online shopping and I have more of an experienced eye when looking in the shops and online, although I don't think I did too badly with this one!

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!

OUTFIT OF THE DAY: The Karma Summer Mehndi Outfit

I've posted about my experience with Karma, when ordering an outfit, which I bought for a close family wedding, and thought I'd show how it looked when I got to wear it for the actual big day.

The outfit itself was pretty dressy, and I loved that the splashes of hot pink and rich aqua brightened up the outfit, which made it a lot easier to accessorise. The outfit itself came with hot pink churidar pants, which I chose rather than embellished pants because they would be easier to move around in, but on the actual day I decided to go for a dressier look and added a silk champagne coloured skirt (from Zara, of all places!) to go for a lengha look.

I was given this cream and gold clutch bag below from my in-laws, and it was perfect with this outfit, but the bangles I got mixed from bangle magicians Bees, and the rings I picked out from my jewellery box, which I thought went really well with my outfit. I also had some hot pink shoes to go with my outfit as well to give it a funkier look than the usual gold sparkly heels!

I went for a hot pink lipstick to finish off this look, and kept my eyemakeup simple rather than striking, mainly because I didn't want to over-do it (although there may have been a lot of gold highligher involved!)

This is how the outfit looked on me, the lengha really made the outfit look flowy and was really flattering on my figure, and really made the pink and green accents pop! I've also included a shot of my arm-candy as well to show how well the jewellery went with the outfit, which didn't feel overly-blingy at all.

Outfit - Karma

Bangles - Bees

Double ring - Bees

Kundan ring - Indian Hanger

Court Shoes - Kurt Geiger

Clutch bag - Green Street (no idea which shop!)

I loved how elegant this outfit look, and I got a lot of compliments from family and friends at the wedding. My sister and I had been asked to do some of the photography for the event (more of this, later!) and I wanted to make-sure that I could move around quickly (it can be hard work to rush around and make sure you capture all the important moments!) and this was pretty comfortable, the outfit didn't hinder my movements at all and the most I had to do was keep handing my clutch bag to my mum to look after!

The biggest bonus was the quality of the material and the work, aside from a couple of stones which came look (because they were glued on rather than stitched on), there were no fabric pulls at all, and the outfit stayed in immaculate condition.

I love how pretty this outfit look, and it's definitely a classic one from me. While the outfit wasn't cheap, I can see the difference in quality between this outfit and a cheaper-costing one, and this would certainly last me longer!

Make-It-Yourself-Fashion: DIY Your Own Shirt-Dress

I've mentioned before that I love the latest trend of shirt-dresses, and the fact that this seems to be a trend in quite a few stores on the high street.

Although I love the fact that most of these shirts have long sleeves or are modest enough to be layered without looking awkward, I've found that there isn't enough variety out there. I've seen a lot of plain dresses and a few floral ones, but I couldn't see anything which was colourful or a little different, so I got the idea of making my own shirt dress. I've been veering towards making my own designs anyway, since I've been looking for something more unique, and thought I'd experiment a little with what I find.

I've grown up being comfortable with home-made outfits - my mum is an excellent tailor and having a sewing machine in the house was normal in our neighbourhood (a lot of our aunts used to sew as well or work for local warehouses and factories from home). It's strange to see how times have changed; when we were younger we used to get our mums to sew our salwar kameezes from fabrics bought from a local shop or market, usually with minimal work, and either wore the plainer ones at home as casual outfits, or the fancier ones for special events. These days no one does this, 'ready-'made' outfits, which was more of a luxury back then, is now the norm - it's not worth buying nice fabric if you have to spend extra to get it made as well!

Lucky for me, my mum's pretty experienced when it comes to making clothes, although as she's gotten older she sews less and either uses a local tailor, or buys us ready-made outfits from the shop or from Pakistan. Having said that, she'll still turn her hand at making the odd abayah or dress.

I'm always wandering around local shops and markets, Green Street's famous Queens Market has an amazing stall with beautiful fabrics, there's another good market my mum recommends in Romford, and there's always odd fabric shops dotted around in local areas.

I wanted something floral, so had a look around different places to get an idea of prints - these are just some of the ones I found that I loved.

These are some of the fabrics I ended up buying, you can see they're all floral prints in different colours and styles, I wanted light cotton and polyester fabrics which would be ideal for warmer weather, especially because it can be difficult to know how to dress modestly and still wear light outfits when it gets hot.

I decided to make the light green floral one on the left first  - can you believe this fabric only cost me £3?!

I gave the fabric to my mum, who in all honesty, made the outfit for me. I wanted to make the majority of it, but I didn't do much in the end (mostly because she made the whole thing in a day and didn't want to wait for me!)

She made it in a straight-shirt style, the front being higher than the bottom, with buttons along the front and full sleeves. She didn't add a collar to this one, mainly because I hate wearing collars with a scarf (one of the reasons I hardly wear smart shirts!), and also so the top wouldn't be too bulky. The actual fabric is very light and sheer as well, so the material was not structured enough to be shaped into a collar. I did love the buttons on this though, they're big and chunky, and look pretty striking against the fabric. Again, these buttons were from my mum's collection of buttons!

I was really happy that my mum made this in time for me to take it on holiday with me to Greece - it was just perfect for the weather because it was so light. The shirt itself was quite sheer so I still had to wear a top under it, but it didn't feel too layered and I think it worked quite well.

This is me wearing it on holiday, it was a pretty good fit (which sounds obvious, seeing as it was tailored for me!) and was loose enough to feel breezy and comfortable.

EVALUATION: Although I didn't make this shirt-dress myself, I was really happy with how it came out. I didn't need much fabric (I bought 3 metres to be on the safe side, and probably only used about 2 metres). The actual structure of this shirt was very simple - it's literally three pieces for the body, and two sleeves. I've already worn it about 4 times since I made it last month, and it's perfect modest-wear for me - long and loose.

I also like the fact that this was so cheap, and you won't find this anywhere else! Having said that, I know how easy it is to not bother with making outfits from fabric - I still have printed fabrics that I've bought and never got made from laziness or just the fact that getting it tailored is costly.

I'll be trying another outfit soon to make, and will definitely post results of the next one.

What do you think of making your own outfit - would you try it?

My Online Shopping Experience: Karma Atelier

I've been in love with Pakistani designers Karma for a good few years now, their colourful designs, and their gorgeous designs, so I thought a formal from them would be amazing when a close family wedding came on the horizon.

I've read good reviews before on this forum, and a few people I know have ordered from Karma before, so I was pretty optimistic about placing an order.

I had emailed Karma a couple of times before when making bridal enquiries when doing my wedding preps, so I emailed one of the staff Huma again, who was really helpful in answering questions as before, and explained the ordering process to me.

This is the design I opted for, from an older collection in 2011, but which is still pretty popular. It's called Summer Mehndi, and is a really pretty, girly outfit, with jamawar printed fabric, which I was quoted 65,000 rupees for (but which I reduced the kaam for slightly and also opting for plain silk pants instead of a worked skirt). I didn't want a custom-made outfit as this would cost too much, and I wanted something which looked more classic and worked for a lot of events.

The email process itself didn't take long, mainly because I left the rest of the outfit up to the designers, and waited for it to be made. I gave my measurements from a size chart which was emailed to me, some colour samples, and eventually paid for the outfit via Western Union.

The good thing about Karma is that they are willing to mix and match their designs - you can take colours or designs you like from other outfits to create something you like. I have a friend who is currently ordering her bridals from Karma who said the same thing, she took bits from different outfits to create a slightly altered design more to her liking.

I received a preview of the outfit before it was sent out to me, and loved the colours mixed together. The original design in blue and green were a little bright for me, so I went for a cream colour with pink and teal piping, for a softer look.

I can say, after receiving the outfit, that pictures really don't do justice to the quality of this outfit. The work on this outfit is sublime - it's intricate, detailed and quite defined, with lots of dabka (metal) work, kundan stones and tiny beading.

The is the outfit when I received it, which was packed neatly in a suit-bag, which looked much lovelier in person. I love the feel of the fabric, which is a thick printed silk and is lined inside on both sides.

The shape of this kameez is extremely flattering, with it's slight flare at the bottom, and the hem sits wonderfully. And unlike a lot of my other designer outfits, it actually has a zip! The pants were also made of a really good quality silk material, which I loved, and even the dupatta had really lovely piping.

All in all I'm really happy with my outfit, and the fact that it looks much nicer in person that I thought. While the outfit wasn't cheap, I can see the quality of the work, and it's lovely to finally have a Karma outfit  which looks quite classic and very flattering.

I'll be wearing this soon so I'll be sure to show how I styled it - I already have several ideas to make the piping colours pop, and I can imagine it with a bright pink lipstick already!