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!

Hina Rasim's Eid Extravanganza at The Landmark Hotel

You may have seen my previous posts over the last couple of years of Pakistani designer clothes vendor Hina Rasim's Eid Exhibitions (you can see my posts here and here), so I was looking forward to seeing the latest designs at her 5th-year anniversary which was held last weekend.

The event was held at the beautiful Landmark Hotel (which is a beautiful venue in itself, highly recommend a visit if you are around the area!) in the hotel's Drawing Room. As with the previous exhibitions, the room was beautifully decorated with flowers, candles and gorgeous bridal outfits.

There were quite a few different Pakistani designer outfits on display, which each designer on a rack - there were a lot of big names such as Suffuse by Sana Yasir, Elan and Farah Talib Aziz (as well as a lot more!).

There was also a good mix of heavy formals and casual kurtas, and fusion pieces which I liked. By the time my friends and I got to the venue, some of the collections had already sold out, so it was an idea of how busy it was!

These pieces below especially caught my friends' and my eye  - the first is Shehla Chatoor, which was a kimono piece with beautifully intricate work, the second is a Dr Haroon outfit which looked perfect for a traditional mehndi outfit, and the last one was a really pretty peplum piece by Elan Official, which was covered in pearls and embroidery for a pretty, summery look. These pieces all ranged from £950 - £1500, so not cheap but pretty much what you expect for a designer piece.

I didn't take too many pictures of the outfits this time round, mainly because I was requested to keep it minimal to protect the designers and their pieces, but here are a few of the snaps from Hina Rasim official instastory which I'm sure she won't mind me sharing!

I really liked this gorgeous wrap by Nida Azwar, which was covered all over in gold gota pieces, and came with a black plain jumpsuit to wear inside. I'm not sure I'd wear the jumpsuit (maybe in white?) but I loved the look of these jacket. Unfortunately it was outside my budget at £850, but it's nice to dream, eh?

The exhibition also showcased jewellery by Tanaya Couture, whose pieces I have come across before and looked amazing up close. These were pretty popular because of the bridal necklaces, and to be honest a few of them caught my eye too!

There was also another exhibitor, which were sunglasses by JiaElle - embellished and blingy statement pieces which were quite popular. I quite liked some of the sparkly pieces with stones on the front, but didn't get any - these ranged from about £60 upwards.

I think we all loved the flowers and decor by Essential Wedding Couture - it all looked very grand and beautifully done, and made amazing wedding decor inspiration.

I always like going to exhibitions which sell Indian and Pakistani designer outfits, because even though I don't always end up buying something, it's great to see the outfits up-close and judge for myself the quality. We don't always get to see whether an outfit is really what it appears from the catwalk or promotional photos, and I have been surprised in the past (or pleasantly surprised!) when a designer's collection looks different from my expectations in the past - which just goes to show that pictures can be misleading!

I'll be keeping an eye out for more exhibitions as Eid comes up, and will post more as I attend - it's a pity that some of the prices for Pakistani designer pieces are going up, but I'm on a hunt for affordable brands and will post when I do find them!

Hina Rasim's Luxury Shopping Event at The Dorchester

I was lucky enough to be able to a ticket to Hina Rasim's Luxury Shopping Event last week, featuring several designer collections which were also available to buy. After attending her last exhibition last year, I was pretty keen to attend because of all of the gorgeous outfits available which aren't necessarily accessible in London for a lot of buyers.

This event was more upscale, and was held at the gorgeous Dorchester Hotel in ones of the ball rooms, which was also beautifully decorated by Dream Occasions UK, who are wedding and event planners/decorators, and did an amazing job with the flowers, lanterns and candle decor.

There were several designers' outfits and collections being showcased, I wasn't able to get prices of all of them but I did find out about a few - I'll list below the ones I know about but you can also contact Hina herself for more information on prices.

Elan
The most prominent collection was Elan's latest collections, the Le Bijou Collection and the Garden of Evening Mists collection. This was also the only collection I didn't ask the prices for because I knew they would be out of my range - these were mostly bridal pieces but each were pretty gorgeous.

There was also a rail of Elan formals which were very pretty, such as these outfits below. I wasn't too keen on the orange and blue outfit, but I did like the spring green kurta with delicate work all over, which cost about £400 (I think!).

Sania Maskatiya
Being a big Sania Maskatiya fan, this was the first collection I went for, and which there was a good range of. There were a few pieces I recognised from the catwalk, such as the pink dress below, which were also very heavy and probably the most expensive from the collection.

The prices for the heavier SM formals ranged from £600-700 upwards to about £1300.00 for the heavy, fullworked outfits.

Ayesha Farook Hashwani - AFH
This was a new designer being added to Hina's collections, featuring light wraps and capes to heavier embroidered formals and maxi dresses - most of these were £150 for the basic wraps and went up to £300-500 for the heavier formals.

Shela Chatoor
These were mostly embroidered kameezes and formals, but in pretty spring colours and floral patterns. Most of these were around £500ish but the heavier pieces were slightly more.

Rozina Munib
I remembered Rozina's collection from last year and was glad to see there were a lot of new styles in her latest collection. I didn't get to take many pictures but I liked this oufit because of the colours, which I thick was about £300-400

There were several other designer collections as well, but I didn't get to take pictures of them all, mostly because the hall was so busy and I didn't want to get in the way too much! I wanted to write about outfits by other designers like Farah Talib Aziz, Saira Shakira and Maison de Lace, both of whom had lovely designs but a few of my photos got deleted, so I can't post these!

One last outfit I loved was this velvet cape which I think was by Saira Shakira but I can't remember at all - I thought this was a really elegant piece which looked very regal. I'm loving the whole cape trend right now (and have even bought one of my own!) so this is right up my street!

UPDATE: This outfit is actually by Ayesha Farooq Hashwani, I wasn't able to get the price but you can contact Hina Rasim for orders.

Tanaya Couture
Again like last year, Tanaya Couture were displaying their beautiful jewellery but in a separate room this time, and there were some really lovely pieces available which really caught my eye. A lot of these were beautiful statement pieces, which would also make amazing bridal pieces, and I think the prices for these were pretty reasonable considering they were one-off pieces and had beautiful gems and work to them.

Again, I can't remember a lot of prices because each piece was individually priced, but the earrings were around £50ish, necklaces were from £150 upwards for pendants (depending on how heavy) and heavier bridal necklaces were about £300-400 and upwards.

I took a lot of pictures of necklaces so you can see what caught my eye!

I also really loved these earrings, each which would really complete an outfit and each had beautiful stone and pearl details.

Tanaya Couture also had furs and shawls available to buy, which were quite popular seeing as it's the cold spring season!

Because the event was on Valentines Day, there were also some cupcakes provided, which were the perfect treat to end a nice day, and of course a nice way to indulge!

Even though I didn't end up buying anything, I did see a lot of outfits which I will be considering for future events, because the designs and the workmanship look so great. Althought it was a very busy event, it was a fun one and I got to speak a few other shoppers who were buying outfits.

Did you manage to attend this event? What do you think of the outfits?