Inspirations, Fashion & Blogging: JoJo Jeenius

Another sister joins the blogosphere! This time, it's my slightly elder sister who recently got married - she's decided to show us how it's done with her new blog, JoJo Jeenius. She'll be writing about her wedding experience as a bride, her cooking, her teaching job and of course, fashion! Please do visit it, there's plenty of interesting things on there and it's great that another member of the Curly Fry family is blogging!

Curly Fry's Shopping Therapy! Winter Essentials

Thought I'd tell you about some of the things I've bought recently, seeing as it's winter time and I've needed a few things. I know it's not the usual kapray shapray I post about, but thought I'd tell you about a few things I've bought this week, especially with it being the winter season, and with it our changes of wardrobes!

I bought this Zara coat as I needed a new coat and have been looking for something which I'd find warm and which I also would fall in love with. I set out to buy this coat, and ended up with this one below. I'm pretty happy with what I ended up with, it's stylish, funky and most importantly...covers my bum too.

Coat can be found at Zara

I also was in dire need of a bag (my last bag fell apart and the one I've been using since is too small to be useful for anything except holding my phone), so I bought this River Island satchel bag. I've been liking the satchel bag look recently and find this really practical, and though I'd go for something funky. My sister does not like it at (she particularly despises the pony hair part), which is probably a good sign :D

Bag from River Island

Have you bought anything new lately? If not anything new, anything on your wish list?

COPYCAT DESIGNS & DRESSES #9: The Petrol Blue Dress by Imbias

It's been a while since I did one of these! I thought I'd blog about one of my sister's outfits (all three of my sisters have fabulous outfits and I thought it'd make a change from my wardrobe!). In the months before my sister got married (just a couple of months ago now!), my mum went to Pakistan to visit family and also get our outfits made. We gave her images to make it easier for her to get our outfits made, and gave her colour samples and measurements.

All of us sisters loved the designs by Imbias, particularly this rich, petrol blue coloured long kameez with the work on the collar and chest. The suit my mum came back with as originally meant to be altered to be an abayah for my eldest sister, but the tailors got mixed up (probably couldn't understand our handwriting!) and made it in the measurements of my other sister, so she ended up with it! This is what the original designs looked like:

This is the dress my sister ended up with, the look of it was more or less the same as the original except this one was made from a chiffon material and the lined, whereas the original design looks like it is made of a less transparent material, like a rich cotton. The outfit my sister got was the same shape, with plain trousers and a banarsi print hem instead of the hanging beads in the original design.

The wok on the dress mainly consisted of dabka and naqska work (they're both metal work), a few sequins, some diamante stones and some pearly beads. Because there was a lot of work on the chest area, and this is where the main focus was, my mum tried to make sure that the embellishment used was solid and wouldn't damage easily. She also asked them to add a small motif at the top of the arms, and on the end of the sleeves. The dupatta was a plain one, with the same banarsi print edging as the bottom of the dress.

THE GOOD: I can't say too much about the pros and cons of this dress, as I didn't wear it, but it did look nice on! My sister said it was quite comfortable, and it's certainly a very elegant dress which didn't need much more dressing up because it was already quite dressy and sparkly. Personally, I thought the collar of the outfit was quite flattering and looked quite pretty on (it almost looks like you're wearing a choker necklace too!)

THE BAD: The work on the chest was a bit full on - it would be interesting to see whether it would look nice with less work to make it less top-heavy. Otherwise, I don't think there were any real issues with the outfit.

THE UGLY: I think I remember my sister saying the collar was a bit uncomfortable (especially when you're not used to high collars!)

OVERALL: I think this is a really lovely outfit - I've seen a replica of this which costs more in a local shop, and the quality of the work was quite shoddy. The work on this outfit was quite solid and well-made, and we all liked what we are. Granted, that the original costs £200.00 which is not a tremendous amount for an original design in today's market - but we got a good price for this outfit (I think it was almost half the price? I forget) and it got a lot of compliments when worn. I also like the fact that the gold and silver/pearl work looks nice together, so it's easy to pick out either colours with accessories and make up. And it did look nice on my sister as she's extremely skinny and petite, so it looked quite flattering on her! :)

QUIRKY FASHION: Louis Vuitton's Sari Dress

Some of you may have already seen this, as it's a couple of years old so I'm not sure whether the concept of this is as novel as it used to be. Designer brand Louis Vuitton created a series of dresses to coincide with Diwali and this was one of the dresses that was the result.

I'm liking the wackiness of this 'sari-dress', while I'm not sure how practical it is (I don't like how it looks here, for example), and I'm not sure whether it can really desever the term 'sari' anywhere in it, I do like the beautiful rich colours of the fabrics uses. I'm not a big Louis Vuitton fan (I've been over-exposed to fake LV bags which has put me off a little), but this dress does actually appeal to me, simply because it of the beautiful prints and the mix of colours. I'd probably take the the belt off it, though.

Something to wear with a smart, black jacket, maybe?

Image from here

On the Catwalk, On a Celebrity: Dita von Teese in Green Sabyasachi

I'm sure you know by know what a big fan I am of the beautiful designs of Sabyasachi, his designs are just beautiful, luxurious and elegant, and I love how the designer's Facebook page tries to reach out to different branches, like showing the public in Sabyaschi, as well as celebs, photo-shoots and catwalk shows.

I would have loved to have done a series on real people wearing designer clothes, but I don't like posting pictures of people whose images may be on the Internet without their consent. So here's something more a bit more safer, designer outfits on the ramp versus the outfits on famous celebrities! (not that I'm saying celebrities aren't entitled to their privacy, but it's just easier to get official pictures of them!)

I'm loving that more Western celebrities are embracing South Asian designs, such as the models and actors dressed in Manish Malhotra at Naomi Campbell's birthday party, and looking fab with it too. So when I saw this Sabyasachi design in a Dita von Teese photo shoot, I was quite pleased with how well she carries it off, it looks elegant, flattering and has a hint of the 'old style' era about it.

On the Catwalk
This is the dress on the catwalk and in the photo shoots, looking beautiful glamorous and green, I love how it has that Spanish sort of feel, and that the embroidery on it looks so intricate.

On the Celeb
And this is Dita von Teese wearing the outfit, looking graceful and feminine. I like how it's less crowded here, she's not wearing the heavy necklace piece from the catwalk so it looks less busy, and the skirt looks fuller (it looks like it's made of a more chiffony material here, the ones in catwalk images look a bit more silky, but that could just be picture quality!) Nevertheless, I think this dress is really flattering with Dita's classic pale skin-black eyeliner-red lips look, and I like how she's not wearing any accessories because the dress is enough of a statement piece. I love this dress, it looks great on Dita von Teese, and I love that she doesn't look tall and stick-thin in it, but that she still carries it off marvellously.

Images from Sabyasachi Facebook page

BOLLYWOOD ISHTYLE: Kareena's Vivid Bangles in 'Halkat Jawani'

I watched Kareena's latest film 'Heroine' recently, which was well-acted by the beautiful actress (although it reminded me slightly of Fashion, and also made me wonder just how much of Heroine was similar to Kareena's own life) - but nevertheless, it was quite an entertaining film.

One thing I loved about the costumes worn by Kareen (which were designed by popular Bollywood choice, Manish Malhotra) was how her dresses in the song 'Halkat Jawani' were paired with vividly colourful, contrasting bangles which looked simple yet very eye-catching.

The first outfit Kareena wore was this orange lengha, which was accessorised with bright metallic gold bangles, (I have very similar bangles from Green Street!), which I liked because they flashed prettily and stood out because they went with the bright orange of her outfit.

The next outfit is this black and hot pink sari, which I loved because of the rich colours, which was set off with with bright blue bangles. I love how the bangles look great with the outfit, without needing to match or compliment them, and how simple the accessories look yet still managing to stand out.

Lastly is this bright, lime green dress which is contrasted with beautiful hot pink bangles, which again don't necessarily match the outfit but still look great with it. I also like the fact that the dress seems to have 'gota' style work which gives the dress a pretty shimmery look.

All images taken from 'Heroine' and belong to respective directors/producers

I really like the idea of matching bright coloured bangles to an outfit to give a contrasting look, and the fact that they are simple makes it easier to put together. This is a really easy look to replicate - I can imagine it would look great for a mehndi night, and the best thing is, these types of bangles are easy to find!

OUTFIT Of The Day: Red and Navy Velvet Anarkali

I went to a wedding recently and finally managed to make good use of an outfit I ordered a few months ago, but never got a chance to wear. Navy and red is a colour combination which I've been seeing a lot in recent months, and I think it is a very flattering combination, classy, easy to wear and easy to dress up.

I wore this dress which I got made by a designer from the Paklinks forums, an outfit which I was quite pleased with due to the high level of quality and the excellent stitching. I accessorised with navy heels, silver bangles and a simple silver clutch (and then glammed up with red lips!), as I think the work on the dress was quite sparkly.

Dress - Paklinks forums

Clutch bag - Oasis

Shoes - Kurt Geiger

Bangles - Shringar, Green Street

And here's me wearing the dress (excuse the awkward pose, I think my sister was on the side watching me and making fun!), which I chose to wear with a simple, plain dark blue hijab.

I think that this dress was quite a flattering shape, although in hindsight, I would have preferred a longer dress, the length that it actually was made it very easy to walk around in, and very comfortable too. As much as I LOVE wearing maxi dresses and long anarkalis, the one hassle about them is making sure that you don't trip on your own folds - and sometimes it can be a nice change to wear something which isn't as long but still looks pretty. I think that this look went quite well together, the silver work enhances the colours of the dress and didn't look too blingy, and it was certainly a very easy look to put together.

COLOUR COMBINATION LOVES: Fawn and Coral Pink at ‘Mijwan Sonnets in Fabric’ fashion show

I love this theme of beige/fawn coupled with a feminine coral pink, as seen in this Manish Malhotra dominated fashion show from just a couple of months ago. It's not often that I see a show where I love everything on the catwalk, but this is definitely one of them - every one of these pieces are pretty, feminine and gorgeous, and each one has something about it which makes me love it.

What I love about this colour combination is how easy it is to match make-up to, coral pink is a colour which I find very flattering Asian skin tones, and it certainly looks amazing on these celebrities here too!

While some of these pieces may not be practical in the real world (i.e. too heavy or slightly revealing), I think the designs of some of these are just beautiful, and the colour combination is just perfect.

 

 

Images from here and here

MAKE-UP REVIEW: Pretty Lip Pots

I do like pretty pieces of make-up, like these lip-pots I picked up which had been sculpted into flowers, by cosmetics company Chic Flowers. Perfect for everyday wear, although I'm not sure I'd wear the deep-red one all of the time!

MAKE-IT-YOURSELF-FASHION: T-Shirt Scarves!

Here's a good way to recycle your t-shirts...into scarves! Courtesy of the fab Erica Domesek at P.S. - I made this, using just a t-shirt and some scissors. And this site is AMAZING, check out her other ideas, not to mention her spectacular (like this alternative to re-using your old t-shirts!)

Image belongs to P.S. I made this...