#STYLE ICON: Queen Rania

I thought I'd do a series of posts of real women who I see as style icons, and who inspire me through their amazing outfits and style. It's always great

I've always been a fan of Jordanian royalty, Queen Rania - she's a wonderful dresser, a beautiful woman, and has always managed to maintain modesty wear with elegance. I also really like the fact that she's not just royalty, but has worked hard to establish educational initiatives, women's rights and community empowerment in her country (and apparently she's Victoria Beckham's style icon too!)

Here are a few of my favourite ensembles worn by the queen from the last year or so which has caught my eye. A lot of these are outfits at formal events, but I love how well put-together these are, and elegant they look.

I also liked these two outfits below - one traditional and one more Western. I like how classic both of these are, and can imagine them both being worn for a variety of events.

I also really liked these two smarter outfits, which would make perfect smart-wear for work, and could easily be modified with a longer shirt or a smart jacket on top as well.

Queen Rania is quite well-known for her outfits over the years, and has a few iconic looks from her earlier years which I love. Here are a few of my favourites she's been seen wearing in the past which I've loved, again most of these are evening dresses, but I love how elegant they all look.

I also really liked these two outfits below, the one on the left if by Elie Saab (although I'm not sure who the embroidered pink one is by on the right). One of the things I really like about the Queen's dress sense is that a lot of her outfits have been seen on the catwalk and look more revealing, but have been subtly altered when worn by Queen Rania so that her shoulders and chest are more covered and gives a a more modest look.

I also love the fact that the Queen has worn her coronation outfit more than one - re-wearing outfits and still looking great!

I could post hundreds more of Queen Rania's outfits, but I'll let you search for them yourself soy ou can see her style as well. I'll be posting more of my style inspirations in the future - let me know what you thought of this one!

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?

Happy Diwali from Sukhman Grewal Photography...

...to all of you who are celebrating tonight,

A good friend of mine is an astonishing photographer, she's always managed to capture something which I will always fall in love with, my favourite of her series of photographs is her trip to India (although she has travelled to other countries and has beautiful images to show for it).

Soni of Sukhman Grewal Photography, along with her twin sister Noorie, has put together a beautiful depiction of a Mughal-era Queen, as part of a re-imagining of Bandi Chorr Divas, (which is also celebrated on the same day as Diwali by Sikhs), remembering the release of 52 Kings from imprisonment by the Mughal Emperor, Jahangir on the day of Diwali.

My absolutely favourite image of the series is this depiction of the Queen waiting for her husband with a diya in her hand - photographed by Noorie and modelled by Soni, the picture's captured the essence of the times perfectly. My sister managed to sum it up well, the reason it looks so good is because of the amount of realistic detail which has gone into it, not to mention the fact that it echoes an era which our mothers belonged to, short kameezes, long plaits and vintage jewellery! It's enough to make me want to raid my mum's cupboard and buy myself a few borla tikkas and vintage-style bangles!

Be sure to look through the rest of Soni's images, they are a real treat and each show a beautiful journey.

Have a beautiful evening, everyone x

Image belongs to Sukhman Grewal Photography

Princess Hafizah of Brunei's Sparkly Wedding Extravaganza

Now here's a Royal Wedding to , Princess Hafizah Sururul Bolkiah of Brunieh married last weekend in a lavish wedding, with beautiful outfits to suit the occasion - I really do think she makes such a sweet looking bride, and I love how modest she seems, and the fact that she really wears her hijab with style, right down to the tiaras and crowns!

The Princess began her wedding by wearing a pretty, feminine lilac dress to her pre-wedding ceremony called the Powdering Ceremony, which seems like the equivalent of our mehndi nights, where the her parents the King, Queen and her other family applied ceremonial paste to her hands. I love how feminine and pretty this look seemed, I'm not a fan of lilac (or pastel colours!) but here it looked really elegant and suited the bride's colouring really well.

After this came the actual wedding day itself, where the couple, dressed in golds and creams attended a ceremony ahead of their wedding. I thought this dress was really flattering on the bride, and the bouquet was simple yet accompanied the outfit beautifully. The style of the dress seemed to be a maxi skirt with a fitted jacket and a beautifully long veil, which still covered her hair but allowed for her to wear some beautiful jewellery. I also really liked the fact that she also had pinky-red lips to glam up for the occasion, and the fact that her outfit looked like a South Asian wedding lengha. Her bouquet was a pretty, sparkly gold one which looked a bit like a brooch bouquet and again, her long veil acted as her hijab which was accessorised with a crown.

I also loved what the newly-weds wore to a banquet held in their honour just two days ago - the bride wore a beautiful grey dress with diamond and emerald jewellery, making a beautiful colour combination. Again, the dress looked very similar to a lengha, accessorised with pretty make-up and an elegant looking clutch bag.

Images taken from here and here

I think this Royal Wedding was a really sweet one, the couple looked really modest and happy, and I love the fact that the Princess was a hijabi bride, complete with tiara and all! My favourite outfit is probably the grey one with the emerald jewellery, simply because I love the colour combination and it looks so sparkly, but the bride looked beautiful throughout!

Bollywood Moments...

That-ghostly-Queen-coming-to-have-vengeance-on-a-blonde-Salman-Khan-moment...