Now that the Indian festive season is here, I am loving the colours hidden in my ‘Indian’ wardrobe. As I don’t get to wear my traditional Indian dresses too often, I eagerly wait for this time of the year.  October in India is a month of festivities full of dance, sweets and lights and we try and reproduce the same fun here with our friends.

I love the festive season which starts with the 9 day festival of Navratri and ends in Bhaidooj which is celebrated on the 5 day after Diwali. The joy of lights, sweetness of the Mithai (Indian Sweets) and the glitter of sounds of laughter of friends and family along with the beautiful colour combinations that I get to wear during this time makes it even more magnificent.

We recently celebrated the festival of Karwachauth in which married Hindu women fast from sunrise to moon rise for the longevity of their husband’s life. Just like any other woman, I love dressing up on this day and do make an effort to look my best. I usually wear a Sari on this occasion, but this year I wore a floor length anarkali which is the latest vogue in India. I must say, I have seen my friends wear it and I love the way they look. The splendour and beauty of these cannot be matched.

I do try to keep up with the fashion trends and I think (in my own eyes), I have a reasonable eye for it. After being bored of the Anarkalis which came into fashion a few years ago, I went for some straight cut suits. But on my recent visit to India, my mum-in-law took me out for suit shopping to Lajpat Nagar. She knows how much I love dressing up and my craze for shopping. I can’t admire enough her patience with me as I went from store to store looking for something which we both would look at and go ‘That’s it!’.

We hopped across a few stores and finally liked the look and feel of one of them, so we decided to give it a try too. The customer assistant (bhaiyaji as they are popularly known as, in Delhi) went through half of his stock until we saw this ‘sea green coloured floor length anarkali’. Sea green (something similar to what we call duck-egg here) has always been one of my favourite colours. But it looked more majestic with the gold thread work on it. We looked at it and we looked at each other and then I tried it on. I must say it did fit as well as it looked and after a lot of ‘mol bhav’ (negotiation), we managed to secure it at a good price, special thanks to my mum-in-laws negotiation skills.

As this was a special gift from her to me, I thought of wearing it on the occasion of Karwachauth. As it was loved by my friends and family, I am sharing my take on them.

Fabric & Styling: I am not best at checking the authenticity of the cloth material, but it was sold to us as made up of dupion (or wild) silk fabric which gets its uniqueness from the texture of the slubs running across it. The embroidery in two different shades of gold only highlighted the softness of the duck-egg colour.

Accessories: As it was already accessorized with embroidery in gold, I kept it simple by wearing Jhumka’s (hanging earrings) and bangles in gold (a combination of glass and thick bracelet bangles). I left my neck unadorned to emphasise the lines of the embroidery.

My Take on floor length anarkalis: In my opinion, it is a must-have in your wardrobe, not just one but a few from simple to heavier so you have a choice depending on the occasion you want to wear them for. Some of the positives, I can think of, are:

• • No maintenance needed (no pallu, no pleats as in a sari)
  • Easy to wear
  • As elegant as a sari
  • Can be worn with or without a dupatta (stole)
  • Right mix of tradition and modernism
  • International appeal
  • With heavy thread work or embroidery work, they can be easily worn on occasions such as weddings
  • Available in a variety of colours and colour combinations, so you can pick and choose what you prefer
  • These are trending at the moment
  • Good replacement for an evening gown
  • Sits well on the Indian curves and gives you a taller and slimmer look

 

 

Grab one soon if you don’t have it! Grab another, if you already have one 😉

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Live Well!

Rads