Payal Singhal's Collection at Lakme Fashion Week Summer Resort 2017

Payal Singhal is an Indian designer who has been creating beautiful styles for many years. Her trademark style usually involves separates that can easily be worn in a variety of traditional and contemporary settings

She of course participated in Lakme Fashion Week's Summer Resort 2017 edition and her collection once again did not disappoint. In fact while the same themes follow in her collections, the detailing and the styling keep getting a notch better each season!

I love these separates for example, they are so stylish and so unique in their colour scheme.

 

Payal Singhal's traditional styles are also very unique and unlike the usual stuff that Indian designers create. The detailing is very tastefully executed and usually includes embroidery that is fairly universal and not just the type that works on traditional Indian clothes. Colours also tend to be different - ranging from the very feminine peach and pinks to the greys. Grey coloured traditional Indian clothes? Who'd have thunk it !

 

 

 

She did have some trend driven styles at Lakme, like these styles featuring capes. They were hit and miss though - not a fan of some of the styles

 

Some other styles from the designer's show

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got a fav? Mine's the last style in mint - looks so sexy !

Highlights from Bollywood's Big Fat Indian Wedding - Neil Nitin Mukesh and Rukmini Sahay

If there is one thing that Indians love, it is Bollywood. A close second might in fact be grand weddings. And if you bring the two together for a Big Fat Indian Wedding Bollywood style, it's usually the perfect setting for magic.

Neil Nitin Mukesh is the third generation from a film family and at the wedding, star power was on full display. The bride looked absolutely gorgeous and the couple seemed to be absolutely loving every moment of their grand celebration

The wedding took place in Udaipur (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udaipur) including at the Radisson Blu (https://www.radissonblu.com/en/resort-udaipur). The pictures look absolutely amazing and it'll be fairly easy to assume that it was an extravagant and lavish affair.

The groom broke into tears at the wedding while speaking of his bride and said "Rukmini is just what we had dreamt for… She is just every bit of what we had dreamt for Neil. I hope they have a very happy life. I do want to see many grandchildren."

Both the bride and groom look dressed up in all their finery, but what has impressed us is the simplicity of their outfits and their nod to the traditional. A lot of brides have experimented in their looks for the big day by including styles that are very modern or different, but Rukmani kept it very traditional. Right from her lehenga and jewellery to her traditional style maang-tikka, it all came together beautifully.

And the actual ceremony seems to be full of pomp and style. As you would expect of an Indian wedding, there are plenty of events each with a different theme and style. Fireworks and flowers were on extravagant display throughout and Rajasthan provided the perfect backdrop for the royal wedding.

 

Pictures tell a thousand words and if these pictures are anything to go by, we can safely say that we are super jealous of the people that did get to attend this extravagant and gorgeous Indian wedding.
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Favourite Bollywood Celebrity Lehengas from 2016

A lot of bollywood celebs got married in 2016 and of course as usual, the weddings were grand affairs that included famous folks from all walks of life. Regular readers of the blog are going to remember that I absolutely love celeb weddings and everything associated with them - there is so much glamour that it's hard not to be impressed.

These are the brides that I really liked from 2016. Some more pictures for each of them below and some thoughts around why I really liked their outfits.

Bipasha Basu - the Bride in Traditional Red

Bipasha looked absolutely stunning in a very traditional style of lehenga. She also put on a massive choker necklace to complete her traditional look. The look is absolutely stunning, but I think she could have gone easy on the necklace because that choker is likely to have been over 3 kgs!

Asin

She looked rather lovely, but I think the looks was a little subtle for my taste. Since she was the bride, I expected a little more glam and colour - but instead she selected a neutral tone saree. Elegant, but not quite for me.

Lisa Haydon

Lisa Haydon looks stunning no matter what she wears. Her wedding outfit in white made her a vision to behold. She looked absolutely amazing and so elegant. I want to steal her entire look.

Urmila

The Rangeela star looked stunning as ever - and she still looks so so so young. Her outfit was my favourite - a very traditional style lehenga that featured beautiful details. There is very little more that a girl can ask for, really.

Some traditional lehengas that I am absolutely loving (from strandofsilk.com)

Pictures from strandofsilk.com

My Pick of the Most Unusual Looks from Amazon India Fashion Week

Fashion weeks are always full of so many contrasts - on one hand are the beautiful and inspiring clothes, and then on the other are the mundane and the wtf clothes. This post is about the latter type of clothes.

Designers should express their creativity on the ramp through their clothes, but sometimes this takes a turn for the ultra unusual and these styles are in my opinion, very unusual. Unusual because of the strange cuts, colours or just the putting together of the outfit. Ramp pieces are not meant to be worn as they are, as they express the creativity, and subsequently the more commercial styles become available, but even for ramp pieces - these styles are unusual in my opinion.

I asked a friend of mine who is a non-fashion person and speaks hindi to put the captions. He translated for me and it sounded quite funny!

Mujhe topi aur kurta pehna diya zabardasti

Aise patloon to sirf jail mein pehente hai na?

Plastic ki Bag ke jaise dress pehene ki hamesh ichha thi meri

Baby ko frill pasand hai, lekin yeh to hadh ho gayi

Mummy, thoda gila kar diya, change kar loon?

Mere aas paas nahi aana

Charas? Ganja? Kuch to hoga?

Yeh shiny shiny material bahut chubhta hai

Rishte mein to hum tumhare baap lagte hai

Mukje black aur colours randomly join kar ke jacket bahut pasand hai. Daadi ko bhi

Mummy, aapko nahi samjhe ga, yeh fashion hai

Haan, maine kiya khoon. Is jacket mein.

Kahan dekhoon, kya karoon, itne colours aur lines ki dimaag hi nahi kaam karta hai

? = necklace ks shape. @ wala kahan gaya?

Pictures from strandofsilk.com

Favourite Recent Looks from Kareena Kapoor

Kareena Kapoor is usually on trend and stylishly dressed. So I thought I would pick out some styles from the actress that are uber stylish and look so good!

This is from one of her recent appearances for an event in Calcutta (Kolkata). She is wearing a very stylish 2 piece outfit. The top is a tunic that also has a cape style top part and the bottoms are either a skirt of relaxed fitted pants.

The embroidery on the cape is very trademark of the designer - in golden zardosi on a black base fabric. Does the mommy to be not look stunning?

At another recent appearance, Kareena wore a very stylish long olive coloured Tunic. Why do I like this? because it is simple and she kept the look so stylish. She just added a necklace and a clutch to complete the look. I am not sure of the designer.

I am starting to appreciate maternity fashion a little more, and am thinking that it can be done very stylishly if one looks at the inspirations from Kareena. I can honestly say, rock on girl!

Bollywood Stars who Nailed the Navratri Look

You gotta love bollywood stars and the elaborate shows that the directors put up in movies. And one of the most colourful ones tends to be around the Gujarati festival of Navratri. What is Navratri you ask? And how to nail your look for the festival? Read on!

Navratri, as defined by wikipedia, "is a festival dedicated to the worship of the Hindu deity Durga. The word Navaratrimeans 'nine nights' in Sanskrit, nava meaning nine and ratri meaning nights. During these nine nights and ten days, nine forms of Devi are worshipped. The tenth day is commonly referred to as Vijayadashami or "Dussehra" (also spelled Dasera). Navaratri is an important major festival and is celebrated all over India and Nepal. Diwali the festival of lights is celebrated twenty days after Dasera."

The festival is celebrated in gusto around India, but one of the endearing traditions is the Garba, which is a lot of fun and often portrayed in Bollywood movies. This is a colourful festival that involves a lot of dancing, so naturally all of us want to look our absolute best!

How do you dress for such an event? Let us look at Bollywood for some much needed inspiration and see how some movies and stars absolutely nailed their looks.

Who can forget Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and their famous grab routine on Dhol Baaje (I list all the videos at the end of the article). I dont like Aishwarya's style, but salman in his kutch mirror work waistcoat for me absolutely nails it. The style is quirky and yet a nod to the origins of garba in Gujarat.

Deepika and Ranveer in Ram Leela's famous grab scene. I think Ranveer's look is meh, but deepika looks stunning and has nailed it! The beautifully detailed blouse and the flowing skirt are perfect for the garba season. The colours and the freedom of movement are absolutely stunning and perfect!

Nimbooda was a cult classic again from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, and Aishwarya had the perfect look. A nice vibrant colour and classic styling touches - this is perfect inspiration for a more traditional look that is going to impress. Note the jewellery and accessories - they complete the look in my opinion.

Gracy Singh in a very simple style from Lagaan. I particularly like this style because sometimes you just need to keep it simple so that you can easily dance the evening away without feeling like you are weighed down by 10 kg of accessories. The vibrant colour is important, and she absolutely nailed it.

What do you think? You Agree?

Videos for all the songs / movies listed above:

- Dholi Taro Dhol Baaje (Video Song) - Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

- Nagada Sang Dhol - Full Song - Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-leela

- Nimbooda Nimbooda (Video Song) - Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

- Radha Kaise Na Jale - Lagaan | Aamir Khan | Gracy Singh