A Silky Purple Abaya by Hafina Official

I was recently gifted a gorgeous silky open abaya from modest clothes company Hafina Official, which does beautiful dresses, co-ords and abayas in gorgeous, vibrant colours. The abaya I received was a beautiful silky abaya in a rich purple shade, with white piping and lace embellishment on the hem and sleeves.

This is the abaya - doesn't it look gorgeous? I love how silky the abaya feels and looks, and it looks quite easy to style open or closed. I love my deep, rich colours and this is a gorgeous shade of purple which you can't go wrong with.

This is how the abaya looks on me, it's quite flowy and long, which I love. I can imagine this will be perfect for the summer months when I don't want to layer too much with heavy outfits, as it is quite modest and still feels quite loose and cool.

I also wanted to show a close up of the sleeves, which I love. I really think that the lace adds a gorgeous delicate touch to it which makes it look quite girly without being too heavy or OTT.

I love how easy this outfit was to style andwear - I can imagine wearing it with a plain dress to dress up an outfit, or using it as a summer staple, which I'm looking forward to! I love that there's a good range of colourful abayas out there, which means there's something to suit everyone's tastes, and also doesn't necessarily mean that it's just aimed for people who wear hijab, but just want something modest.

Hafina Offical has a pretty range of dresses, abayas and co-ords so the website is worth checking out. Let me know what you think of this piece!

Website and Shop - Hafina Offical

Instagram page - Hafina Offical

BOLLYWOOD ISHTYLE: Priyanka Chopra & Nick Jonas

What a year it's been for celebrity weddings! And one which has rounded off the year for us is the beautiful Priyanka Chopra's wedding to beau Nick Jonas. It's a sweet mix of Western traditions and Eastern cultures, and I liked how the couple celebrated with a Hindu ceremony (in which Priyank awore a deep red Sabysachi lengha) and a Christian ceremony in which the bride wore couture designer Ralph Lauren.

I like both dresses, although the Ralph Lauren dress is probably more dramatic and impressive with a 70-foot veil!

I'll be posting more about this couple's wedding events very soon - what did you think of the outfits?

KAPRAY SHAPRAY: 5 Kurtas I have Fallen in Love With This Summer

The summer heatwave has hit London in full blast for the past weeks - so you know what means? Pulling out the kurtas! I've been meaning to get a few new pieces for summer which are casual kurta that I can mix and match, so have been browsing to see what catches my eye. Unfortunately I have been a little out of touch with the latest collections in the Asian Fashion World, so some of these below might not be part of the lastest releases!

1. Sana Safinaz Yellow Kurta

This is from the Ready To Wear Dresses Collection 2018, which is part of the silk kurtas collection. Unfortunately this has sold out, I've been looking for this online but so far no luck! I'll be keeping an eye out for more of this collection as I really like how cool and comfortable it looks.

2. The floral outfit by Zaha Online

This collection is a new one by Zaha Online, which was released on 1st August  acclaimed fashion designer Khadijah Shah - I love the prints and the feminine feel to the whole look, although the company is Pakistan-based so I'm not sure how good the shipping is to the UK!

3. These lace overlay Agha Noor Kurtas
I recently visited the Agha Noor store in Westfield Stratford, and had a quick browse (during my lunch hour at work!). I loved the collection I saw - light pastel colours, embroidered lace and and pretty cuts which are perfect for the summer. I really liked these two below which were on display - the lilac kurta was a really pretty pearl embellished piece, while the pink kurta on the right has a lovely asymmetric hem that I really liked. Both of these are around £55.00 which I thought was really reasonable, and would look great paired with plain white trousers!

4. These embroidered kurtas from Amelia Boutique
I came across this company on Instagram a few weeks ago and loved the pieces I saw - they're beautifully embroiderered and look great for formal occasions. I haven't found out the prices for these yet (I do have a few bookmarked though!) but will be contacting the company soon.

5. The Sania Maskatiya Eid Collection
I've always been a fan of this brand, although it is a bit pricey for me - that doesn't mean I can't ogle at their designs though! This is part of Sania Maskatiya's Eid collection, which I really liked as they looked pretty classic but very wearable. These kurtas are longer than the usual and are also available as 3-piece suits, with prices ranging from £129.00 up to £600 for the heavier formals.

I'll be keeping an eye out for more outfits and kurtas, especially with Eid coming up, and will try to post my finds! If you have any companies you can recommend, do let me know so I can look these up too!

OUTFIT OF THE DAY: The Hali H Mauve Lace Kameez

I haven’t done one of these for a while, so I thought I’d post about an outfit I wore in the winter. The outfit I wore was from a gharara outfit I've worn before, from London retailers Hali H London. I’ve mentioned before how much I loved this outfit, as well as how great the service was from this company, so was happy to wear the outfit again. This time, I was aiming for a different look, so wore the kameez, which was a loose, flared lace top with plain white trousers and heels – ideal for a dressed down look at a dawat or a fun daytime event.

This is the outfit – I love the lace detailing of the outfit, and I decided to go for a light, comfy look with this piece. I love dusky colours, and you just can't go wrong with a gorgeous shade like this.

Here what I wore with it, I kept the colours pretty similar, with a pretty purple clutch that came in handy from given to me from my sister! I love pairing simple tops with white trouser, it’s a fairly solid look that can’t go wrong and works with a lot of colours and styles. Looking at the outfit now, I wish I had added a long silver necklace, but I don’t own much jewellery and I remember thinking that the scarf may cover the neckline area anyway.

So this is me wearing it – I really liked how pretty and girly this looked without being too twee. It also makes a nice change from the bulky lenghas, ghararas and shararas I have seen everyone wearing, which looks great but can sometimes feel a bit too much (or in my case, takes more work to walk around in!) I wore this with a light coloured pink hijab which went perfectly, and felt very light-weight and versatile.

Outfit top - Hali H

Trousers - River Island

Shoes - New Look

Clutch Bag - Accessorize

Hijab scarf - Inayah Collection

I loved wearing this outfit simply because it was light, comfortable and it’s in such an appealing colour. I’m a big fan of mixing up and re-using outfits, and it also lets me add my own touch to the look as well. I got a lot of compliments for this outfit, and I can see that a lot of women are liking the how effortless it looks.

I can't wait for summer time where I'll be able to pull out some light outfits and play around with colours and styles - so far it feels like I've been hibernating in my pyjamas!

My Online Shopping Experience: Hali H

I haven't ordered a lot of outfits in the past year, partly because I've had less of a budget, and partly because I haven't had as much need to, as there's been less weddings and events to go to. I do still keep an eye out on the fashion trends though, and do love a new outfit every now and then!

Over the last couple of years, there has been a huge increase of Instagram sellers (remember when it used to be the Facebook sellers?), who have created a business online by selling replicas, designer outfits and budget-friendly outfits for people to buy. I find that Instagram has been much more successful for businesses that Facebook because it's more visual and accessible, and pretty easy for people to place and order and order and outfit.

I wanted to post about a brand that I found online recently whose service I loved, and who I ordered a outfit from for a wedding we had recently. The brand is Hali.H, a UK vendor on Instagram who sell their own designs, which are pretty, trendy and quite wearable. I have seen their designs before, and was also recommended to them by a friend who had ordered and who had a good experience with them. The brand is actually not just Instagram-based - they have a website as well as a London-based stored which is in Tooting so London customers can easily go there and try on things before they buy.

So after being recommended to Hali Ldn, I messaged the company via the Instagram messaging system and asked the vendor to show me their latest stuff, as I wanted to see what they had as well as what was on their page. The vendor showed me a few things from their collections, as well as a few things which were on display in the store, like these pretty outfits below - I loved the colours of all of these and couldn't decide what I wanted!

Before I had a chance to pick, I saw a new design from Hali Ldn which had just come in, which was on the company's Instagram page - this pretty, mauve outfit with a gharara. Ghararas have become pretty fashionable and popular in the last few months, and I've been in two minds about them - I've never thought I suited them in the past, and I always get confused by shararas and ghararas! (Although now I know the difference, shararas are looser, flowy two-legged pants, and ghararas are very similar but have a band around the knee and more 'ghair' or excess material which flows out from the knee).

The vendor also showed me the other colours in this same style - a pretty lilac and golden-beige, both of which I loved. I almost picked the lilac but just loved the mauve so went for that. The seller was very quick to respond to my messages, and extremely thoughtful about a lot of things, like adding lining to sleeves of the outfit, as well as checking the measurements would fit me properly. I'm very conscious of outfits fitting me properly as well as outfits which are too sheer or short, and it was really sweet of the seller to consider this in regards to my order.

I paid for the outfit via bank transfer, and the seller confirmed that she had posted out the following morning. I was a little worried that I wouldn't get the outfit on time because the wedding I wanted it for was only a couple of days away, but the outfit literally arrived the day after.

This is the outfit I received - isn't the colour beautiful? I'm a big fan of dusky pinks and purples, and this is right up my street, a gorgeous colour for a formal - perfect for a wedding! The outfit is a 4-piece one - with the kameez coming with a full-sleeved slip for underneath, the pants and a beautifully embroidered dupatta.

I loved the detail of this outfit - the beautiful jamawar used for the gharara pants, the embroidery on the kameez and the beautiful pearl and embroidery detail on the border and hemline. I have had bad experience before with bad finishing, and even bad stitching, and in this case it wasn't an issue at all - there was nothing out of place or badly made, and I thought the quality of this was great.

I was really happy with how fast I got this outfit, and how lovely it looked - we've all had that experience of ordering an outfit which ended up looking nothing like the pictures! One of things which keeps me going back to the same sellers and designers that I've been happy with is the customer service I get, as well as the quality of the outfits - and in this case it was above and beyond my expectations. Ordering on Instagram has made a lot of people's lives easier (especially those who aren't near a lot of shops selling Asian outfits, like I am) and it's really nice to see a brand which takes their customers seriously, and gives not only beautiful outfits but customer care - from quick delivery, careful packaging and being on top of their messages.

I'll be posting the outfit as I wore it at the wedding soon (which I loved wearing!) so watch this space!

Our Eid...Day #1

Our Eid this weekend was a nice long weekend (just the way we like it!) so my family and I took full advantage by celebrating on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, getting dresses up and having dinners with family.

This is what I wore this Eid - a frilly sleeved short kameez with white culottes and a simple, summery hijab with bangles - simple, comfortable and very fun to wear! My sisters and I did our usual trek around the local shops and didn't see a lot of affordable outfits, so I decided to look online and see what was available. I've noticed that a lot of the local shops have increased their prices, or otherwise started stocking designer labels in order to compete with the online businesses which can afford to lower their prices, but unfortunately while I would like to support the high street, I can't always afford to!

I bought this outfit below from a local vendor in east London call Aisha's Boutique, who does online orders, and gets outfits made in Pakistan without raising the price too extravagantly. I placed my order with the vendor about 10 days before Eid, gave my measurements, colour samples and rough design of what I wanted based on a photo of an outfit I liked, and it arrived pretty quickly! The price was also extremely reasonable, at £50.00 for the kameez and trousers, including stitching and shipping - bargain!

I do have to admit that I didn't end up wearing the original pants on the day and picked culottes instead - the pants I did get were a chikan-style flared pants, which I didn't love so didn't wear.

We did our first day of Eid at my eldest sisters house, with a delicious lunch being cooked by her. One of the things my sister always does every year is have a decor theme to set the mood, and this year it was blues and greens, with beautiful Islamic tile backgrounds that we all loved.

As usual, we were all too busy eating to take many photos of the food, but here's a peep! I also loved my sister's home-made mojito which was a perfect refresher!

I didn't also get many chance to take pictures of my family's outfits, but here's some my sister took off my sister and sister-in-law - I loved the vibrant colours and how pretty the work was on both of these.

As usual my nieces looked like princesses in their dresses, and here they are standing with a tiny cousin of mine that they all love to play with!

Another thing my sister never forgets is treats - for the adults and the kids! We all have a terrible sweet-tooth, and it just isn't Eid without some sweets! My sister also received some seriously cool sweets/mithai from British fusion-food company Barfia, which had a very cool mix of Indian-and-British flavours, like red-velvet Ladoo and candy-floss mithai!

We had a really fun lunch with the family, and as always it's lovely to have a laugh with them, as well as get all dressed up and enjoy the day. It was a really nice start to the weekend, and the only thing I wish I could show you but didn't get a photo of, was that my husband finally listened to me and matched his t-shirt to me!

DESIGNER MODE: Amber Gohar

Amber Gohar is a designer whose work I've followed for the past couple of years, after discovering her on Facebook and Instagram - I like her pieces because they seem comfortable, stylish and easy to wear.

I've seen most of her outfits being worn by real customers, which I like because it shows how it actually looks on, and I love how effortlessly chic the pieces look.

The designer has a range of styles for her pieces - her latest outfits has incorporated frilly sleebs and trousers which seems to be quite popular, and perfect for summer - like the pieces below.

A lot of the outfits I've seen are a range of colours, with either separates for a mix-and-match style like many other designers are starting to adopts as well, or full suits which are perfect for occasion-wear. I really like how most of the outfits aren't too busy or heavy, and look easy to wear.

One of the first pieces which caught my eye from this designer was the cape outfits below, which I loved, and I'm sure I'm not the only one! The outfits are focused on summery colours and lacey material, with minimal work for a more simple look.

There's also a lot of embroidered pieces which I really like, that look really stylish - I can imagine wearing most of these, and I love all of the colours.

The brand also does heavier formal pieces too - I can see that they have a similar style to their lighter pieces with a focus on embellished kameezes, straight trousers and a East-meets-West fusion look.

I also like that the designer and her daughters are often spotted in their own design (and that Amber Gohar's daughter Mishal Asad has her own designer collection, Cross Stitch,which I also love!)

I've mentioned before that I had my eye on one of Amber Gohar's pieces as a potential Eid outfit, and althought I didn't end up buying the outfit, I'll be keeping an eye out for more of her designs. Her latest collection is the 'Wonderful White' collection, which is a series of cotten white seperates, which is perfect for summer.

Amber Gohar is available to buy in London via vender Hina Rasim, through website LibasUSA and also directly from the designer herself.