I Wear: The Harvest Honour

So I caught up with delightful ‘D’ at Phoenix Mills a few weeks back. It was one of those rare, sunny days in this lousy weather that we’ve been having for the past 3 months. I noticed it also coincided with the harvest season (albeit on the Western calendar). My mood already upbeat at the prospect of seeing D, I decided to pull out one of my summer staples. In the pursuit of all things practical & powerful, I’d left behind the feminine world of dresses but I rediscovered it a year ago.

I bought this neon green tote at Rhysetta, Oberoi Mall on this jaunt with E. I actually wanted to buy an egg-yolk yellow one to match these sandals but E wore me down by calling me ‘a dirty fellow’. So green it was and I’m happy to say I’ve never regretted it. It’s just as eye-catching and fun but also goes well with a more feminine look, such as the one I had on that day.

This chunky geometrical blue wooden bangle from FabIndia, you’ve already seen in my boho artist avatar, in a jumble with a few other green ones. I wore it by itself and my trusty silver ring for an accessory. No surprises with the shoes. For a look such as that, it would have to be my trusty yellow Catwalk pair.

And here’s the dress in all its summer finery!

I Wear:

• White floral print cotton dress: FabIndia ~Rs.750
• Neon green tote: Rhysetta ~Rs.1200
• Yellow loafers: Catwalk ~1200
• Blue wooden bangle: FabIndia
• Silver ring: Silver shop, Khoka market, Vileparle West

*Cross-posted to Divadom.

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If you liked this post, also see:

This girl in yellow shoes in The Boheme At Kala Ghoda, Brown Girl In The Rain & Streetsmart Colour.
Another dress in Day & Night Dress.
The man-bag that offsets my own in Man About Town.
What D wore that day in Biscuit Babe.

I Wear: Streetsmart Colour

It’s no big secret that I love bright colours. Drama is my middle name and my personal style spells it out in BOLD CAPITAL LETTERS. The weather (among other things) tends to impact my mood and you can usually tell with reasonable accuracy, how I’m feeling inside by the colour of the sky. So the dull greys and browns of a Mumbai monsoon play such havoc on my humour, that I need plenty of cheerful colour to give me a reason to smile.

My usual preference of course, is for natural fabrics because of how comfortable they are. Synthetic fabrics like nylon, polyester etc are scratchy on the skin and unaccountably warm to wear. On the upside, they don’t crease or fade and they dry quickly. Perfect for a Mumbai monsoon! Like any good Mumbaiker, I have a stash of monsoonwear that’s been accumulating for years since it will probably never tear or wear out. Most of these pieces exit my wardrobe only because they’ve driven me crazy to the point of distraction by how durable they are. There is of course, also the fact that they always seem to fit better than any of the natural fabrics because of their stretchiness and their firmness in holding shape. Still, the lack of comfort keeps them from becoming a bigger part of my wardrobe. As it is, the only synthetic fabric pieces I own have loose necklines or are flowy rather than fitted to allow for some ventilation.

On this rather rainy (and *sigh* depressing) weekend, I had to step out for chores, general out-of-house-mood-lifting-walk and other things. I suited up as follows:

First of all, a bright fuchsia peasant top with puffed sleeves, an embroidered yoke, a tie-up at the throat and bunched-up waist. I like this one because it’s relatively airy, especially when I knot the tie loosely. The ends of the tie are really long and hang down to the waist even after knotting, thus saving me from little-schoolgirl-type (ick!) bows. It is a feminine style but the bold colour saves it from erring into diabetic.

I wore these with a pair of trusty blue denim capris. I know denim is hardly practical for this weather (it takes sooo long to dry!) but I needed something that wouldn’t show splashes and in which I could park my butt on less-than-fancy places too. The pair is actually at that odd length (which Neha calls pseud for some reason) but I rolled them up as far as they’d go, which was my knees. Much better, methinx. Less BTM (behenji-turns-mod), more practical girl-next-door.

And now the piece de resistance (*ahem* note use of pseud French words)! This glittery zari pouch is from another of my many Connaught Place rambles. Back when I bought it, I knew it was too small to carry as a handbag but I fell in love with the bright embroidery anyway. These past few years, it has been home to my deck of Arabian Nights tarot cards. (I thought the colours made it mighty appropriate). But on this dreary day, I needed something more than fuchsia to pull me out of the monsoon funk so I picked out this pouch and strung it cross-ways. The handle is a thin black thread and the bag is small square that just about fits in a mobile phone, a small wallet and a handkerchief. What else do I need?

If this wasn’t enough colour, I decided to push it OTT with my trusty yellow darlings. And to give my mood a pair of literal wings, my new pair of silver bird earrings, a gift from mum:

So here’s my look! I didn’t exactly turn heads in my bright ensemble but I felt a helluva lot better! (With the poor visibility afforded by these rains, I’m probably safer from being run over because of these blinding colours!)

I Wear:

• Fuchsia pink top: Lokhandwala market
• Blue denim capris: Levis
• Yellow moccasins: Catwalk
• Zari pouch: Connaught Place, New Delhi
• Silver bird earrings: FabIndia

* Cross-posted to Divadom.

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If you liked them cheery yellow shoes, also see them walk in Brown Girl In The Rain and The Boheme At Kala Ghoda.

I Wear: Brown Girl In The Rain

This delightful young lady was in town recently. Not surprisingly, she had a hajaar things to do but she did manage to squeeze in a coffee date with me. Rather unfortunately, this happened to be last Monday when the skies opened up and poured out the kind of rains that this city sees at least a couple of times every monsoon (never mind that the sanitation department, safety authorities, public transport controllers and emergency services still haven’t figured out a way to deal with it). I also had a movie date in town a little later but I was meeting her in High Street Phoenix before that.

Frantic scrabble through wardrobe to find something that would be:

1. Suitable to meet self-possessed, smart, younger former-colleague-turned-friend from hip London
2. Not stick out like sore thumb in ‘oh, those ‘burbies’ (accompanied by sneer) townside mall
3. Dry easily without creasing, sticking to body or in general, making instant sauna for person wearing
4. Be warm enough when inside the over air-conditioned movie theater
5. Be comfortable to walk about in dirty puddle-infested roads in case of public transport breakdown

Here’s what I came up with:

A plaid skirt with a waterproof lining which I used to wear to work with a fully buttoned up shirt. Very power dressing in that avatar, very meh for streetwear on account of its beige-brown colour. I cracked that severe demeanor with a navy blue stretch denim tee-shirt/blouse that I’ve had for years and years and is still lovely (also worn here).

I have a sensitive throat that catches every cold virus floating about so I draped a long silk scarf that’s been lying hidden in my closet on account of its (again!) brown colour. My handbag would have to be the handy (pun, sorry!) red Baggit (also worn here) because of its waterproof nature, its just-right size and generally because I needed a dash of my favorite colour to carry me through a brown ensemble. Even with all that, though, my outfit felt too dreary and sober. In (what I thought was) a radical move, I junked my sandals for this sunny yellow pair of moccasins (also worn here).No other accessories except my handy steel watch and these very ladylike (and hence not used often by me) rose earrings. As an afterthought, I added a string of turquoise beads around my wrist like a bracelet, which is what I think saved this outfit. The blue and the yellow both match the swirls on my scarf.

As it turned out, I got to the mall before she did, hopping from home to autorickshaw to taxi. I made it in dry, then had my shoes soaked in the water flowing out of the mall, got soaked by the rain dripping off (well, pouring off) the roof and eventually squished my way in. Happily, I was almost dry in 20 minutes. And after coffee, I went through the ordeal again to get to town for the movie. Again, the outfit dried and kept me snug as a bug and happily watching Harry Potter’s last ride through our screens.

I Wear:

• Navy blue stretch denim top: Now non-existent shop on Hill Road, Bandra West, Mumbai
• Beige-brown plaid skirt: Van Heusen
• Brown silk scarf with blue & yellow swirls: Cottage Emporium, Connaught Place, New Delhi
• Yellow moccasins: Catwalk
• Red tote: Baggit
• Enamel rose earrings: counter on third floor, Mega Mall, Oshiwara, Mumbai
• Turquoise beads: Roadside stall, Elephanta caves, Mumbai

* Cross-posted to Divadom. The photographs were shot by Sveccha, my crazy date.

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See more on the usage of scarves in Scarfing It Up.
Meet my Native American with my red Baggit in Flourishing Feathers.
Walk my yellow Catwalk moccasins into The Boheme At Kala Ghoda.
See another place that navy and brown make magic at Coffee And Sunshine.

I Wear: The Boheme At Kala Ghoda

The Kala Ghoda Art Festival is an event I look forward to all year. In the past few years, I’ve been covering the event for the Official Kala Ghoda Gazette. This year I had the privilege of conducting (in part) a workshop with my session on blogging.

It’s been a year and half since I stood up to make a presentation but the old b-school instincts started to kick in. One of my magic mantras for knocking knees and stammers (the bane of all public-speaking phobics) is to dress well. When I look good, I feel good and it gives me confidence.

This being an art event, I had a much wider palate to play with than usual. So I completely disregarded the safer colours in my wardrobe and decided to go splash with the most artistic, bohemian apparel I could think of.

I started with my yellow shoes, a pick from the post-New Year sale at Catwalk. Yellow is my colour for the season, the new red or black or pink or whatever. It has all the pizzazz of red but with the innocence of white and a glee all its own. I fell in love with this pair the minute I tried them on, because of how they looked but also how they felt – comfortable and happy.

Jeans were the obvious match for those shoes, the more basic blue, the more faded and discrete, the better. These are my favorite straight-fit basic blue Levis.

I considered wearing a tee-shirt in the same colour as the shoes but decided against it as it would divide focus between the top and bottom halves. So I wore a white chikan FabIndia kurti instead. This piece is versatile enough to team up with trousers for a formal meeting or match with jeans for a laid-back look. I funked it up with a chunky necklace from FabIndia.

Anything worth doing is worth overdoing, says Bigby Wolf and that’s my mantra too. Subtle is not my style and when I’m going for boheme, there’s no restraint. In this ensemble, I couldn’t possibly leave my favorite blue-and-yellow Chettinad checkered dupatta (also from FabIndia) at home. I slung it over my neck and tossed one end over a shoulder. I figured if it got cooler in the evening, it could double up as a shawl.

It would be a pity to falter on the bag with such a colourful ensemble. So I brought out the cloth drawstring bag that a friend brought me back from her vacation in Coorg. It’s grass green jute stamped with gold block prints and has a bright yellow drawstring and shoulder straps. Green wooden bangles from FabIndia completed my look.

Too colourful? Take a look:

I wear:

• Yellow moccasins: Catwalk
• Blue straight-fit jeans: Levis
• White chikan kurti: FabIndia
• Blue & yellow chettinad checks dupatta: FabIndia
• Chunky retro wooden necklace on thread chain: FabIndia
• Green and blue wooden bangles: FabIndia
• Green jute bag with gold block print & yellow straps: street bazaar, Coorg

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If I look good, the credit goes to E Vestigio who shot all the pictures featured in this post.

Update: Blurring the face may detract from the quality of the picture and subsequently the post. But trolling & harassment are causing the only option to be no posts at all. I think all of you will agree with me that this is a reasonable solution. I don’t wish to discuss this further so please do not start any conversations on this issue, on this blog.

*Cross-posted at Divadom.

I Style! – Happy Feet

Welcome to another episode of I Style!

It has been awhile since the last viewing and that’s because I haven’t spotted too many interesting people lately. The weather was probably playing havoc on people’s spirits and mine were flagging as well until someone decided to brighten up my day!

Richie walked past me on a grey afternoon while I was staring morosely at the watery sunlight. In his olive tee-shirt and jeans he might have been just another good-looking young man. Until my gaze drifted down to his shoes. Drifted down I say but really I ought to say, ‘snatched away by his shoes’.

Well, look at them! Don’t they grab your attention instantly? Red shoes I’ve seen, blingey sandals but what’s all that compared to a sunshine yellow on anotherwise dull day? For carrying off that daring yellow so well, for giving us something lively to look at and for brightening up my day, Riche makes it to I Style!

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

* Cross-posted to Divadom.