KAPRAY SHAPRAY: Raveena Tandon in Green Manish Malhotra

I'm leaning towards simple cuts, maxi dresses and simpler, rich designs these days, so I'm really liking this rich silk green maxi dress worn by the lovely Raveena Tandon (who was one of my favourite actresses back in the 90s!), which is designed by the popular Bollywood designer Manish Malhotra.

I love the cut of the dress on Raveena, and the fact that it's modest and very hijab-friendly, as well as the deep blue velvet border - and I've been eying it up for a potential replica. I've been looking at simple, richly-coloured maxi dresses recently for a family event (I'm also loving this one!) and have not been able to decide what to go for. I've seen a replica of the dress below which looks nice, but I'm undecided on the rich green colour - what do you think of it? Have you got any other suggestions for simple, long-sleeved maxi dresses?

OUTFIT OF THE DAY: Cream & Colourful Chinyere

I've mentioned before what a busy few weeks we've been having, and thought I'd finally post some of the outfits I've been wearing, particularly as some of them are new ones which I've bought over the summer! So first is this lovely Chinyere design (one of my favourite brands!) which I fell in love with at first sight - it's simple, summery and very light and comfy, very ideal for a mehndi night or a dholki night (I can also see myself wearing this to a summer party as well!)

This is the actual outfit, which was a simple-cut long kurta-style kameez, which was fairly light and floaty, with some lovely embroidery and beadwork. My favourite part of this is the hem, with its colourful patchwork-style pieces.

Here's how I styled it, which I decided to keep simple because it would be more comfortable, and would let the colours stand out more rather than being too over-accessorised. I decided to wear some colourful bangles and one of my blingy rings, and kept it at that (plus a pop of hot pink lipstick and a simple side-braid!) The outfit also did not come with trousers or leggings, so I bought some off-white leggings to go with it, which I loved because they added something trendy to the look.

Outfit - Chinyere

Leggings - Henna-Mehndi

Bangles - Lahore, Pakistan

Ring - Green Street

Clutch Bag - Barratts

And here's me wearing the outfit, complete with pinky accessories (and polka-dot phone cover) and all!

I loved wearing this outfit, it was easy to wear, very comfortable and a change from the deeper colours I'm used to. I've been leaning towards lighter colours these days (mints, corals, peaches) and I'm really loving off-white and gold right now too, particularly as I haven't worn it much in the past. I love the designs that Chinyere has and I'm always on the lookout for more of their designs - they look chic and elegant without needing to be dressed up too much, and are always colourful!

MEHNDI NIGHTS: Rainbow Mehndi Bangles

Having been to a few mehndi events now in the past couple of weeks, I've seen a lot of bright colours, beautiful jewellery, sparkling bangles and amazing styling. One theme at a mehndi was bright, mixed colours (with matching, colourful bangles and shoes, of course!)

Amazing jewellers Bees gave this beautiful way to style colourful bangles together, which I'm loving because of how simple the look is, and how cost-effective the bangles are - perfect for a bride on a budget, particularly for a mehndi event! I actually saw these thinner gold bangles in the store last week (while buying some other bangles, pics soon!) and was tempted to buy them, but thought I'd wait until I knew how to style them - now I have a good idea how!

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FEROZA POST: Our New Brooches!

We've added a new collection at Feroza Online, some beautiful flower brooches! Here's a few of the brooches we have in stock, which we think would look great on jacket lapels or as hijab accessories, or even as decor on a beautiful outfit to a wedding.

We've added brooches in several colours to suit different tastes (and outfits!), and we hope you love them as much as we do - personally, I'm loving the silver and pearl one because I can imagine wearing it with a coral pink and silver outfit :)

Please also do let us know what you think of these, we're looking to add some new collections very soon and would love feedback.

Our Shop: http://feroza.myshopify.com/ 
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/ummsalihah/feroza/

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KAPRAY SHAPRAY: Sonam's Vintage Look in Masaba

I thought this was sweet and simple, Sonam in the ever-popular Masaba, which is a striking black-and-white sari with some really pretty flower earrings, and of course, beautiful red lips!

Although admittedly, this sari appeals to me not only because of its retro look, but also because the sari print
 is eerily similar to a kameez suit my mum made for myself and my sister in the 90s - although ours looked less stylish than this sari, we still like to think we pulled it off!

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Wedding Season is here...

...and we've all been busy with dholki nights, attending mehndi events and of course weddings! My sisters and I have had a couple of mehndi parties and weddings already, so we have been wearing out our wardrobes and make-up bags! I'll be posting some better pictures soon, but here's a look at some of the outfits and bangles I've been wearing this past week, plus some our bangles!

COLOUR COMBINATIONS LOVES: Navy, Ochre & Maroon

I've been looking through my wardrobe (both western clothes and Asian!) and have been looking for inspiration for colours, styles and pieces to put together in a different way. I'm in maxi-skirt-mode at the moment, and these are a few of the skirts I've been putting together to see what colours suit each other. I loved these dull colours, the maroon, mustardy-yellow and darker blue, which gives an almost retro look.

It gave me the idea that this could be translated into Asian dresses, like a maxi dress in rusty reds with mustard and navy piping or embroidery, or a navy skirt and jacket piece with maroon and mustard work - I'm sure it's been done already, but it's still worth looking at for your next outfit! (I'm already matching yellow, red and blue bangles to these colours already!)

What do you think of this colour combination?

BOLLYWOOD ISHTYLE: Deepika's Vibrant Sarees in Chennai Express

I saw (and enjoyed!) Chennai Express recently and loved Deepika's role in the film, including not least, her beautifully colourful skirts and saris. Although I wasn't too sure how realistic her outfits were (especially as I'm not an expert when it comes to saris!) and I wasn't sure about the depiction of South Indian culture and fashion, I did really love the bright colours and simple styles uses for the saris and lengha/skirts (or perhaps lengha-saris) which were worn by Deepika's character.

There are several outfits in this move worn by Deepika (I think designed by Manish Malhotra, but I may be wrong!), all of which are colourful and look similar throughout the film, but I like this style as it looks consistent and creates a theme. Although some may find this a bit repetitive, I thought it worked, and it certainly makes for great colour inspiration!

First is this yellow, orange and green number worn by Deepika, which is a beautiful skirt draped with her green dupatta - this same draping is used for most of Deepika's skirts and saris in this film, but it's quite flattering. I love the colours in this outfit, bright but great for something like a mehndi outfit!

I also liked this pretty sky blue, hot pink and orange outfit, which is very similar in shape to the outfit above, but it's still a pretty outfit and again, these colours would look great for a mehndi outfit.

I've seen navy and pink paired together a few times with Asian outfit, and it works nicely here - I also love the fact that with each of Deepika's outfits, she accessorises with pretty earrings and bright, colourful bangles which look very striking. As with the other outfits, the draping of the dupatta is the same so that it looks more sari-like.

This was a more of an icy, light blue colour, which looks quite interesting with the yellow piping - I'm not sure whether I like this colour combination or not, but I do love Deepika's wavy hair with this outfit.

This is another outfit which caught my eye, a pink skirt with a white blouse, which gives different shades of pink and orange - of course, accessorised with red bangles.

 

I also liked this royal blue sari, which is a very flattering, rich colour and had a similar look with the banarsi edging with a hot pink sari. Again, the jasmine in her hair made a nice touch, with the simple jewellery and striking bangles.

Being a Bollywood film, there was of course, also a bridal outfit, which in this case was a red and orange brocade sari, which looked quite traditional with Deepika's jewellery and the flowers in her hair. I liked that they kept her make-up quite neutral, and the outfit itself seemed quite faithful to South Indian traditions (although I could be wrong here!)

 

Lastly, I also loved this sari, which was quirky yet really appealed to me, mostly because of the bright colour and the chequered sari. There's something about this sari which reminds me slightly of modern designers such as Masaba, where the focus is on bright colours and prints and less work or embroidery, I also really liked the coral blouse which is matched to Deepika's lipstick, which looks great on her and which adds a really pretty pop of colour.

 

All images belong to directors/producers of Chennai Express

There were a few more outfits in this film which I haven't included, which looked quite similar to the ones above (but in various different colours), and which Deepika pulled off beautifully. I found the costumes of this film a great colour inspiration - certainly I can imagine a lot of these outfits and colours as mehndi outfits or even wedding ones.

I wouldn't mind having a simple lengha-sari inspirred by one of these outfits, in a bright colour and similarly-flowey skirt, although I would probably add a fuller blouse, and perhaps three-quarter length sleeves. Overall though, I think Deepika looked great in this film, the styling was done well, and her hair and make-up are simple but effective.

KAPRAY SHAPRAY: Sonaksi for Gintanjali Jewels for IIJW 2013

One of the outfits which really stood out for me out of the various designer pieces on the catwalks was this beautiful navy and indigo maxi dress worn by the lovely Sonaksi Sinha while showcasing jewellery for Gintanjali Group. Although the focus is more on the jewellery, I loved the outfit more, which was a beautiful cut and very hijab friendly! Indigo and navy/midnight blue are very flattering colours and with the flare of this dress, looks really elegant - this is certainly on my wish list for replicas!

I've tried to find out who designed the dress but wasn't able to - any ideas who it's by? Let me know!

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Our Eid Outfits...!

We had a really nice Eid this year (not to mention some amazing presents!), which was nice after a month of quiet contemplation and planning. We were also all looking forward to Eid as it would be a nice opportunity to spend with all of the family together, and also because it was both of my baby nieces' first and second Eid celebrations!

I decided to go a little bit sparkly this Eid, with a dusky pink outfit, which is a colour I haven't really worn a lot of before. I originally intended to wear a simpler, royal blue outfit, but fell in love with this one instead! Here is my outfit:

And this is me wearing it, although I'm not sure how flattering it looks! I loved the fit of this kameez though, it was long but simply cut, and the work on it was very pretty, with lots of diamantes, sequins and dabka (metal work). I also loved the fact that I didn't need to dress it up much with accessories, so wore simple jewellery and shoes, which felt a lot more comfortable.

And here are some of my sister's outfits, (which were all as different as we are to each other!), although I loved all of their outfits. One of my sisters wore a beautiful navy and grey Threads & Motif outfit with a beautifully embroidered red border (see first pic), while another sister wore a lovely green suit with mukesh work (hammered metal work) all over, bought over from Pakistan, and the last sister wore a pretty off-white anarkali with embroidered roses all over, which I loved because of how feminine it looked. And of course, the baby girls in the family had the best wardrobe out of all of us!

A lot of the girls in the family also had some beautiful mehndi done (I love this first image of my eldest sister getting her mehndi done by my sister-in-law!), which was great because we don't always make the time to put it on!

We also had some lovely sweets and desserts throughout the day (we loved these Eid biscuits made by my sister especially), which we spent the day indulging in, and feeding to our guests. Here's some of them:

So, we had a good Eid, with plenty of yummy food and amazing presents - although I think we're all pretty wiped out from it all now! Next, roll on wedding season!