FRIDAY FASHION LINKS...!

I'm always on the look out for more blogs to read - especially in the age of social media where it's a lot about pictures and less about articles! Here's a few I've found

1. Siddy Says 
This is quite a varied website, covering topics from fashion and beauty to lifestyle, TV and art. It is quite focussed on Pakistani fashion on the Style section, but what I like most is the Stories page, which is a mixed bag of everything from different writers.

2. Zara Zi
A blog that's all things modesty, pastels and afternoon tea! I follow her Instagram account as well which gets updates more often, but it's a nice pinky account that I quite like.

3. Pinkvilla
If you don't know about Pinkvilla then you will do soon enough - it's chock full of Bollywood gossip, fashion trends, weddings and celeb topics. I've currently been surfing it for the #DeepVeer wedding posts but I also like reading it for the latest news in Bollywood land.

Let me know what you've been reading lately, and whether you already read any of these!

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

Sukhman & Hernoor - A Floral Boutique

It's great when your favourite bloggers and fashion influences put their hard work towards something beautiful and create something that we can all have. Two of my favourite influencers, Sukhman and Hernoor have put their amazing tastes and creativity to use, and have launched a beautiful collection of outfits through their new brand, Sukhman & Hernoor. Each item of their collection is carefully designed, with hand-selected fabrics and gorgeous cuts, and is a beautiful fusion of Indian and British tastes to suit everyone.

"Sukhman & Hernoor offers a range of ready-made apparel designed by the Grewal Twins with a spirit of understated simplicity and elegance.

Their dual identity as British Indians, their affinity for travelling, and the diversity of cultures in their home city of London all play their respective roles when it comes to taking the sister's style ideas to the design drawing board.

Each fabric is hand-selected by Sukhman & Hernoor and all garments are exclusively designed and made with care and precision in London, UK."

One of the things I really like about this brand is how much care has gone into designing and creating the outfits in the collections - you can see how much love and work has gone into it, and for me, it makes such a difference to have a unique outfit than just an ordinary mass-produced outfit. Each of the outfits from this brand have their own story - perfect for special occasions.

Here are two outfits I've seen which are love - both are beautiful outfits which I loved as soon as I saw them.

Firstly is the Gulbargh collection's Rose Garden Dress, which is beautiful floral print maxi dress. If you know me, you will know I love my maxi dresses, and I love floral ones even more - so this is right up my street.

One of the things I love about this dress is how elegant yet simple it looks - it's all about the cut and the luxuriousness of the fabric - I can imagine this being perfect for a summer wedding, or a registry outfit to make for an elegant look.

Secondly is the Gulbargh's collection the Rose Garden Sharara, which harks back to the vintage years, and also reminds me a little of the 'Pakeezah' style years in old-era India, which you just can't go wrong with. As with the previous dress, the beautiful floral and roses print looks lovely - perfect for a daytime summer wedding!

BRB, trying to convince my husband to hand over his debit card.

The brand also did a collaboration with jewellery company Sahib Jewels recently, which was a beautiful photoshoot of gorgeous jewellery to set off their beautiful floral collection. I really like that the pictures below show how well the jewellery and the outfits work, and make a classic look which can be dressed up or down for a beautiful look. I also love how the outfits and jewellery speak for themselves, and look seriously glamorous.

I'll be looking forward to seeing what this brand grows into, especially when two seriously talented people like Sukhman and Hernoor are at the forefront! I love that this is something which is so culturally relatable for me - not just Punjabi, or Asian, but also as something which reminds me of our roots and our fusion tastes - both British and Asian. I also really love that these outfits are pretty modest, which is always a worry for me - but in this case I can easily see myself in these!

Social Media links

Instagram page - SukhmanHernoor
Facebook page - Sukhman & Hernoor
Email - mail@sukhmanhernoor

FRIDAY FASHION LINKS...!

I'm not always able to blog, especially when full time work and random bursts of social events happen all in one go! So here's a few bloggers whose blogs I follow, all of whom have a style I love.

1. Zahra Rose Alazaibi
Apart from her very cool outfits, Zahra also posts about skin products, makeup, her travels to various parts of the world and yummy food recipes. She's a gorgeous part-Italian, part-Libyan blogger, and I love how she manages to put her finger on the pulse and write about the latest stuff.

2. Grewal Twins
These two are among my favourite bloggers (so I can't believe I didn't mention them before!). They're both friends of mine, and both have a very and both of whom are also both friends of mine, whose work I admire a lot, and who put a lot of effort into their photography, music, poetry and tons more.

Recently they stirred up a storm with a viral post about Sikh wedding ceremonies, and how they combated the sexist prejudice in this by having their mum perform the (traditionally-male) wedding rituals. I love that they have such a beautiful, meaningful story behind this, as well as so many more of their traditions and parts of their lives.

They also do a lot of photo series with a lot of cultural and historical significance behind them, and I love the stories behind each of them, which have a lot of designing, styling and curating behind it all!

3. Saira Hayat Khan
A Canadian-Pakistani blogger, this is a gorgeous blogger who writes about her life, fashion, motherhood and health. One of the things I really like about Saira is how down-to-earth and quirky she is, yet unbelievably stylish and beautiful.

On the Catwalk, On the Celeb...Shilpa Shetty in Ridhi Mehra

I haven't seen Shilpa in the news for a while but recently she's been cropping up again at the catwalks and fashion shows, and is looking good while she's doing it!

I thought I'd post a quick outfit I saw on the Bollywood star that I liked by Ridhi Mehra (makes a change from the constant Sonam-Priyanka-Deepika outfits I keep seeing, as much as I enjoy looking at them!) - let me know what you think of the outfit!

On the catwalk:
I LOVE the oxblood red colour of this outfit, and though it looked very chic on the catwalk - flowy, stylish and very fusion in style, a great balance of westernised jumpsuits and dressy asian wear. The only thing I didn't love about this outfit was the deep V-neck which seemed a little too low, and brings the effortless look of the outfit down a bit- apart from that, I love it, it reminds me of something you'd see on an Italian catwalk, particularly the cinched-in belt added in which gives it a lovely, smart look.

On the celeb:
I think what I like most about this outfit was that it looks a lot more playful on Shipa, and also more girly. She worked the V-neck pretty well here (probably because it's not so low and also looks more chic), and I also love that she accessorised with pretty gold earrings (by Valliyan) and and pretty gold stack bangles (by Prerto) for a minimal but elegant look. For some reason the outfit looks more fuschia in these pictures, but it still works well and I love that she's managed to make it a great dressed-up evening look.

I'm not sure which look I prefer more - the catwalk one is much more stylish and Westernised, but on Shilpa she carried the outfit wonderfully and looks a lot more spunky which I quite like!

So here's a random story -  did I ever tell you (readers) about the time I (kind of) met Shilpa Shetty?

It was while I was working part-time in Knightsbridge at university (I won't say when but it was nearly a decade ago!) a little while after the actress appeared in Big Brother, so she was staying around London for a little while to shop.
My job was to be a 'host' (basically a greeter) for the day at Monsoon in Knightsbridge to greet customers and show them around. In breezes in a tall, pretty brown woman with oversized sunglasses, who walked past way too fast, before I could say 'Hi! Welcome to Monsoon!' in my fake cheery voice.
So while I looked around in a baffled way about why someone had walked past so quickly, another person (later found out this was Shilpa's PR Team) stopped to tell me not to worry and leave the customer alone. I crept up to the main cash till to speak to my colleagues, and amid furious whispers we all realised the beautiful Shilpa was in our store. Unfortunately our managers also caught us whispering and warned us not to approach the actress, ask for photos or autographs (this was before the explosion of selfies, really) and basically treat her like a normal customer.

Shilpa tried on a few dresses, bought a pretty yellow number and then left, and that was the end of it -  none of us got any pictures. It was still pretty cool for the teenager I was at the time though!

Este Couture presents Nitin Katikeya and Amrapali Jewels

I recently went to an exhibition held by Este Couture, a boutique which carry several Indian and Pakistani labels, selling both formals and bridals for those who want something a little different. The exhibition was being held for Indian designer Nitin Kartikeya, who was showcasing his lately collection which features both Indian and fusion designs.

Nitin Kartikeya recently debuted at Amazon India Fashion Week last year, so I was interested to see what was on offer and the details in his outfits.

I thought some of the dresses had some really interest cuts and designs to them, I thought these made great party dresses for more Western functions or events such as receptions or English weddings or even something for younger girls like the prom or graduation parties.

There was also a beautiful collection of formal tops which could be worn alone, with trousers or with jeans but which were beautifully embellished. I spoke to the designer himself for a little while and he said these were his favourite pieces too because of the beautiful level of detail on each one!

You can see the various embellishment techniques and materials used in the outfits below - french knots, beading, metal work, pearls and net overlay, which looked lovely together.

I also liked these lovely maxi dresses by the designer, which I though would appeal to a lot of potential buyers because of the beautiful skirts and the embellished bodices, which were very wearable (sorry about the terrible picture quality below!)

I thought this was a really interesting collection, which was great to see fresh off the catwalk. I also really liked the fact that these outfits are accessible for those of us in the UK - often we see outfits on the catwalk which we can't always buy!

I was also really glad to see Amparali Jewellery being showcased and which were available to buy, especially as the only place for sale I have seen them are on Pernia's Pop-up Shop, so it was nice to see them up close and to appreciate how beautiful they were.

\These are a few of my favourite pieces from the exhibition, all of which make ideal statetment pieces. Although they weren't cheap, they were each beautifully made and very different from a lot of the jewellery I've seen on the high street!

I thought these were all gorgeous pieces, which would really glam up any outfit, and I loved the details behind each piece. I really wanted to buy a bangle or bracelet but ended up not getting anything, partly because it was a bit above my price range and partly because I was waiting for payday! The good thing about Este Couture is that they're fairly local to Londoners, so I can easily go to their store and browse for more things if I want them.

It was a fun experience at the exhibition, and I was glad to speak to Nitin Kartikey about his excitement over his collection, which was really great too!

GLAMOROUS ACCESSORIES: Zevar Jewellery at the British Museum Shop

I read recently about jewellery brand Zever Jewellery being selected by the British Museum to be sold in their official museum store, and thought it was great news.

Zevar comes from the Urdu word, which means “ornament “, and the brand itself emphasises "traditional Indian designs that are hand-made with silver and semi-precious stones", which can certainly be seen in their range of beautiful products.

The company's’s founder and creative director Shivani S. Mohinta is a Londoner, and her brand is a tribute to her home country – India, along with it’s beautiful flora, fauna, forts and palaces. Shivani works closely with a select group of artisans based in remote Indian villages to create her pieces

Zevar’s handcrafted silver jewellery adorned with semi-precious stones such as turquoise, carnelian, zirconia, marcasite and quartz, and their collections so far showcases various traditional techniques of engraving, filigree and setting that are unique to Indian jewellery. The jewellery is apparently inspired by the vibrant colours that are used in Indian folk art, colourful Indian textiles and prints, and hand painted tiles and pottery - I can certainly see this in the beautiful colours and shapes used in the jewellery.

I can see that there is a story behind each piece, and I like that there is a focus colour or stone in each one, rather than a mix of too many colours or pieces - making each piece look much more iconic and classical.

Photo credits - Shahid Malik

PR - Enigme Internationale

I'll be keeping an eye out for these during my next visit to the British Museum, but from the website alone, I love the workmanship and designs of the jewellery, and I think it's great that an Asian-lead brand has made it into the Western retail space.

You can also buy the jewellery online at from their official website, as well as leading online retailers such as Asos, Shopcade and Independent Boutique.

What do you think of these?

On the Catwalk, On a Celebrity: Raveena Tandon in Mantra by Shalini James

I'm a big fan of Raveena Tandon and I always keep an eye out for her on the random channels and photoshoots, partly because I'm a fan of her from the 90s films, and partly because I love her dress-sense. She's always very well put-together, and a lot of her outfits are very modest and mature, which I love because she still looks the same gorgeous self that she has from the 90s era and only seems to look classier with age.

The Bollywood heroine was spotted in a Mantra by Shalini James outfit yesterday, promoting a jewellery brand in a gorgeous printed anarkali.

On the catwalk:
Like a lot of the brand's designs, this is a beautiful printed dress - I really love the fusion of gypsy-chic and boho with traditional Indian trends. I love that the outfits from this brand are made from rich fabrics, beautiful deep colours with subtle accents, which make for beautiful outfits which look classic.This outfit is pretty lovely on the model because it looks so flowy, and it works well with her height without looking baggy or boring on her. The only criticism I would have is that the look is very plain - although this was probably a deliberate effect from the designer to take away attention from the model such as accessories, and focus on the dress.

 Image source

On the celeb:
I loved the way this outfit looked on Raveena Tandon, it's perfect for a wedding without looking too overdressed. I also love that the jewellery doesn't clash but rather adds to the rich-look of the material and the outfit, making it look very traditional and classic, not to mention Raveena's updo and smokey eyes which give a little more of a dramatic effect.

Image source

Honestly. I loved the outfits on the catwalk and the celebrity, but I think Raveena pulls it off a little better because of how well the outfit is put together with accessories and doesn't look too overly-dressed.

What do you think of this look?

BOLLYWOOD ISHTYLE: Bajirao Mastani's Dazzling Mughal Dresses

Next week sees the awaited release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's latest luxury epic, 'Bajirao Mastani', featuring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Priyanka Chopra, which I'm looking forward to after his last feature, Ram-Leela (with the same trio!)

As always with SLB films, the outfits, jewellery, sets and dances look as amazing as expected, and there's plenty of anticipation for the two main actresses and how they'll play the two Queens in the movie. Set in the 1700s in the Maratha empire, the costumes, which designed by Indian designer Anju Modi, look amazing, and you can really see the designer's creativity.

While I'm not sure what to expect for the storyline of the film itself, I LOVE the costumes and style - there's a range of styles from lenghas, pishwas and nine-yard saris, complete with the luxurious jewellery and details.

One of the first outfits I've seen if from Deepika's song Deewani Mastani, where she is trying to impress the king with his first wife in audience - I loved the take on this outfit which looks elegant yet feminine - especially the turban cap she's wearing which is draped with jewellery.

(This song is apparently the director's tribute to classic movie Mughal-e-Azam's timeless song 'Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya', particularly in the way he emulated the mirrored tiles in the ceiling to show the dancing and swirling of the heroine!)

I love the jewellery she's wearing as well, it could be seen as some as too much jewellery but I think it works - it's balanced out with very simple makeup and hair and a a flowy outfit which balances it out, and it also adds a lot of elegance to the look.

The outfit itself is a 'pishwas' style outfit - a long flowy jacket and dress which is less like an anarkali and more fitted yet flowy - complete with sharara bottoms (two-legged flowy pants) which flow nicely with her dance. I think the colours were lovely too, although it does blend a little too much with the background details rather than standing out.

The other main song I've seen is the duet dance Pinga between the two actresses, which has been compared to Devdas' famous 'Dola re Dola', both which have iconic dance moves between the two actresses in the films. In this song, the women are wearing a traditionally-draped Marathan nine-yard sari, complete with jewellery and flowers in their hair, which looks very well done.

I have to admit though, I was a little less impressed with these outfits - while the style is lovely and suits them, they don't stand out that much and the colours are too similar to each other, there's no iconic styles to them which differentiate them or make them stand out.

I also though that the updo suited Priyanka's face than it suited Deepika, but again the jewellery works well with it and I love the contrast of green bangles added in.

I wasn't able to find many more pictures of the outfits in this film apart from the official images, but I'm sure we'll be able to expect a lot of beautiful pieces once the film is released - below are some of the ones I did manage to find!

I really liked this outfit which I also saw in the trailer worn by Deepika - there's something very regal about it, which also reminds me of the old-style, 'Begum' outfits of the past, which Deepika pulls of well. The outfit is mainly draped shawls and scarves but it looks great and not fussy at all.

Another few outfits I found worn by Deepika are below - again these are soft colours paired with luxurious jewellery and some seriously beautiful embroidery on the outfits - it's all about the detail here and you can see how carefully each look has been put together. I really like how Deepika's face is kept natural - no garish bright lipsticks or colours, just natural glow complimented with gold and pearl jewellery.

Similarly, Priyanka's character is just as ornate, but perhaps a little more sober and mature - she is meant to be the first Queen after all so her outfits are a little less ornate and playful than Deepika's, but the detail is still all there. With her outfits you can see the rich fabrics, the less heavy jewellery which balances her look and makes her look more Queen than bride (in Deepika's case).

I'm liking what I'm seeing so far from this movie, and I'm sure I'll find more - I'll reserve my comments about the actual film until I've seen it, but I'm sure that Bhansali's done an amazing job as always. My favourite outfit so far have been the one from Deepika's song Deewani Mastani purely because it's a funky take on a traditional outfits, but I do love a lot of the saris I've seen as well.

Are you looking forward to this film? Which outfits to you like?