My Eid - Chand Raat

My chaand raat was a fairly quieter one to previous years, in that I didn't get a chance visit the local shops and stalls which set up for the night. We were invited to dinner at my eldest sister's house though, which is always a fun way to start our celebrations, especially as she is a great cook and it's nice to be around excited children!

Here's what I wore - a comfy, loose Nishat Linen kurta (link here, although I have no idea what shipping is like!) I was lucky enough to get a bunch of kurtas and outfits from Pakistan this year, as both my husband and my mum made a trip to Pakistan so I'm quite well equipped for the year! More on my haul later, but this was one of the outfits my husband bought back for me. It was loose, super comfy and perfect for the warm weather. I wasn't sure whether to wear black pants or white, but I opted for white because I liked how they looked, and they look quite summery. I also paired these with wooden bangles from Pakistan (via Mum) and an embroidered velvet clutch (also from Pakistan, via hubby!)

The food was yummy and plentiful - lots of curries, rice, salads, chaats and roast chicken, finished off with several desserts and tea to wash it all down!

I didn't get many photos of the guests or my sisters, but the little girls happily posed away for me in their super cute pink gharara outfits from Pakistan (while I kept pulling up their trousers before they tripped!) My sister also made and handed out Eid sweet packets for everyone after dinner, which was happily munched by us all, although I think all of us were quite full at this point!

She also gave the girls in the family a gorgeous personalised box each with pretty presents inside, which I thought was a lovely touch - mine was the pink box of course!

Every Eid I promise myself I'll put henna on, and most times I forget, or am too tired and just go to bed! This time around I made myself stay up and used a cone to apply some mehndi (especially as I had about 4 mehndi cones sitting in the fridge!) - not professional but I like what I finished up with!

Did you do anything on Chand Raat? Did you get any mehndi done?

PFW 19 - Pakistan Fashion Week London 2019

I was lucky enough to attend Pakistan Fashion Week London 19 a few weeks ago, and managed to see a few of the latest collections from upcoming designers as well as a few of the established Pakistani labels. Some of the outfits were stunning and it was a pleasure to see the designs up close.

I wasn't able to stay for the whole show, but luckily I've managed to get a few photographs from the official photographer of the show, Shahid Malik, so see below for your viewing pleasure...!

Adil Ali
This was a fairly colourful collection, using a traditional rich palette of reds, greens, gold and royal blue for the outfits. I have to be honest, I was a little underwhelmed with these, as I nothing stood out for me, although the blue drape dress was quite stylish.

Agha Noor
This was a pretty yellow and orange collection (which reminded me of marigold flowers) and I though this was a really nice summer collection which was light and simple. I'm lucky enough to have an Agha Noor store not too far from me so will definitely check these out when they come in!

Ananya
This was a collection which reminded me of the vintage, old era style outfits - big ghararas, short kameezes, shawls mixed with dupattas. I did like some of these but personally couldn't see myself wearing any of them, and also though the cream/nude designs were nicer than the other ones.

Ayesha Imran
I've seen this designer's collections from previous shows, and this one was very similar - very bridal focussed, with heavy work, rich reds, rusts and creams and a full on look. I didn't really love the bridals as the designs didn't stand out for me, but I did like their formals - although they may be a little heavy for some wedding guests!

Diva by Sana Rashid
I loved the concept of this collection - pastel, florals and flowers in baskets. I have to say, I much preferred the formal kameez pieces as they looked sleeker and more flattering, over the skirts and maxi dresses which looked a little fussy.

Fatima Saifuddin
This is a new designer, and I liked that she had a range of styles - maxi dresses, lenghas, jackets and jumpsuits. The collection is less about heavy work and more about rich fabrics, rich colours and flowy designs, which I quite liked. I can also see myself in the jacket below (or the purple dress) and love that the material and the cut of the outfits look quite flattering.

Gogi by Hassan Riaz
I had a quick look at this designer's collection at the exhibition before the show, and I liked the interesting cuts and work on his designs. Some of the pieces are a little too adventurous for me, but I do like how creative some of these are!

Haris Shakeel
This is a designer who has been around for some time, and I remember liking some of the bridals he has made a few years back. I do like the collection below, but I feel like he played it safe a little - the cuts and colours are quire traditional. Having said that, I love the yellow dress and would love to pull something like that off!

Komal Nasir
This is a collection which focussed mainly on shawls - which was a very colourful, rich collection. I love beautiful shawls and these were seriously pretty, and I like how this collection highlights that you can have a simple outfit and dress it up with a worked shawl.

LGBTQI Segment Designer Fahad Hussayn
This was a unique part of the show, and a first for a Pakistani fashion show - a catwalk collection by Fahad Hussayn modelled entirely by LGBT and transgender models. I thought these were pretty funky, and really colourful, which suits the models quite well!

Naika
One thing I don't see enough in Pakistani fashion shows is sarees, and this was a collection which was only sarees. I thought the floral prints were nicer than the heavier ones, although that's probably because I prefer a good floral saree!

Purple Haze by Rubina Azmat
I thought this was a decent collection of formals, I really liked some of the cape ideas and can imagine them being quite popular for Eid or weddings. It also mixed rich fabrics wells with the work so it doesn't feel overloaded.

Rana Noman
This collection focussed on golds, creams and whites and was all about opulent bridals and rich work. I did like these but a couple of the designs looked similar to each other - but I can imagine these would look great for a nikkah event or a reception.

Sanam Boutique
This collection didn't appeal to me at all, the bridal's were not anything amazing at all and the formals were ok but not that creative. I don't think this is a collection which I would look at if I went to the store, as there's probably other designers who would appeal to me more.

Sonia Mahajan

I liked this collection, it was colouful and pretty and  thought some of these would make really nice mehndi bridal or formal outfits. I also liked that there is a good mix of flowy dresses and skirts with rich kaam and art work on shawls, which looks feminine and flattering.

Voile by Sabeen Arshad
This was a collection I liked, the colours were pretty, the cuts were flowy and modest and I thought they were quite wearable. This is another designer whose pieces I managed to check out at the exhibition, and the work up close looked pretty beautiful

Wajahat Sharoz
This collection was quite a subtle but glitzy one, using subtle colours for a rich pieces. Their bridals were a little simple for my taste, but I liked their formals which had a nice luxurious feel to them.

Yatashi
I think out of all of the collections in the show, this one had the most which had pieces that were wearable and would be easy to look for online. I can't imagine these are very expensive, and I liked the colour palattes used - perfect Eid inspo!

Zarsha by Ahsan Waris
I thought this was an intersting collection - it had that old style Mughal glamour to it but I thought osme of the pieces looked quite nice. I liked how flow and dressy some of the cuts were, and they would make great pieces for a wedding.

Zoe by Zoha Khan
This is another collection which I didn't think was that great - the pieces look slightly generic and I can't imagine that there would be slightly better versions of these elsewhere, although the cream gharara was quite pretty and would look nice for a summer wedding.

What did you think of these collection? Which one was your favourite?

Credits: 

Show Produced & Directed by Adnan Ansari  

Choreography by Hira Shah 

Styled by Saima Kiran 

Choreography Hira Shah  

Model coordination by Muneer Muhammad   

Photography by Shahid Malik @iamshahidmalik 

Media partners ARY 

Brand Director Hajra Lalljee 

PR Enigme International

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

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

OUTFIT OF THE DAY: The Mauve Hali H Gharara Outfit

I've already posted before about this beautiful mauve gharara outfit I got from fashion brand Hali H, which I was really happy with. I thought I'd show what the outfit actually looked like when it was on, because it's one thing seeing it on the hanger (or on my bed), and another seeing it worn! Ghararas are trending all over the place recently, and I love how they are being styled at the moment, so really wanted to try one for myself, and this fit the bill perfectly.

This is the outfit, which was a 4-piece ensemble, consisting of a beautifully embroidered short kameez, a matching full-sleeved slip for underneath, a silky jamawar gharara pants and a matching duaptta. I wore this to a wedding of a close family friend, and the outfit was perfect - dressy enough without being super heavy, comfortable and right on trend.

This is how I wore the outfit, I didn't go too much on the accessories side (although I did go for purple eyeshadow!) - I went for pretty silver bangles rather than any other jewellery, and opted for khusay, rather than my usual heels. I do love my heels but I just felt that with this outfit, the khusay completed the look perfectly, and let me walk around in the gharara a lot more comfortably.

This is how the outfit looked on me, which looked very flowy and girly. It took me a while to get the hang of the pants and not trip on them, but I really loved how gorgeous they looked, and how elegant. I have always loved wearing lengha outfits and this felt the same - very dressy, elegant and perfect for the occasion.

Outfit - Hali H

Khussay - Green Street
Rayon Hijab - Inayah Collection

Clutch bag - Dune London

Bangles - Bees

One of the things that I liked about this outfit is that it is such a throwback to earlier generations - my husband loved the colour of this outfit, although he said he couldn't believe how old-school and vintage this outfit looked, and kept remarking that it looked like something from our parents' generation. I couldn't wait to show this to my mum when I got this outfit because I knew it would be something she would love - and indeed when she saw it on the day of the wedding, she laughed and said she couldn't believe this was in fashion now.

My sisters and I have often found that it has become more difficult to find outfits which are both reasonably priced and good quality - often you get one or or the other! One of the things I really liked about this outfit was that it really does tick all the boxes - trendy yet classic, beautiful colour, comfortable, easy to style and looked great on. I'm already thinking of how else I can wear the outfit (I'm imaging the top with plain, tapered trousers maybe) and the fact that I can dress this up or down.

What do you think of this outfit - would you wear a gharara?

DESIGNER MODE: Baroque Official Pakistan

Baroque Official Pakistan is a label I've discovered in the last year, and whose collections I've been loving (and isn't the name lovely too?). One of the things I really like about their outfits is how pretty yet wearable their collection looks, and it seems pretty reasonably priced.

I've been checking out their latest collection - Chantelle Collection - which is full of pastel kameezes, embroidered designs and lovely floral designs which has been pretty popular so far. The collection goes live this Saturday, but is available to pre-order too.

I haven't seen a lot of their heavier designs, as they seem primarily focused on casual wear, lawn, digital prints and embroidered formal pieces, but most of their heavier embroidered pieces are nice enough for special occasions and weddings, which I love.

As with other brands, Baroque has a pretty, floral printed lawn collection as well, as I like how muted the colours are rather than flaring bright colours, with pretty florals which make these perfect for casual wear as well as dressing up.

I've got my eye on a few pieces from this brand (although in two minds about whether to order or not!), and think this kind of stuff is perfect for events like Eid or parties. I also like the fact that most of their pieces range from about £50 to £80 for a decent formal, which is probably about what it costs (or more!) in London.

Have you bought from Baroque before? What do you think of this collection?

Baroque Links:
Website (they ship worldwide)
Barque Instagram page
Baroque Facebook page

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.