Bright and Bandhej-ed

All I need to feel wonderful is a bright bandhani kurta worn as a mini shift dress with a brilliant blue bandhani scarf and a hand embroidered bag with fun boots. What are your feel wonderful staples?

Shawl Shenanigans

Every winter I get completely enamoured with a shawl or few and have one of them (or many) wrapped around myself for the entire season all day every day. More often than not they are bright colours with embroidery, mirrors, tassels definitely pure wool and hand loomed to perfection. This year the two obsession includes this one from Bhuj and another Patola shawl :)

This one is Bandhani with mirror work, hand loomed as well as hand dyed worn with a brocade mini in a rain-forest. I don't think there is a more perfect way to wear things other than exploring deep in the foliage surrounded by mossy, slippery rocks, waterfalls and ferns. Hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

Bandhani for my 200th post

I love wearing cholis and saree blouses as tops with jeans and love wearing tee-shirts and sweaters as blouses with sarees. You would have seen cholis with denims here, here and here and a sweater with a saree here.

I don't see the point of wearing certain things in pairs just because that is how it has been done for decades. I believe in having fun with things and playing with silhouettes and proportions as well as putting things together in one's own way. My latest favourite is wearing a Rajasthani type long Bandhani choli with denim and I can say that I am obsessed with this top. It is made from a Gajji silk fabric, which means that it is a satin weave done on silk fabric. It's really soft and I love the deep green colour and the subtle Bandhani designs.

I have had a few things made in this fabric and they are all beyond lovely. The top is worn here with drop-crotch boy-friend jeans but trust me it looks great with shorts, skirts as well as skinnies. These leather slip-ons are from Bali and all the silver is from India, mostly designs from various tribes in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

I hope everyone's had a lovely festive season and are excited about what 2016 will bring. Have a great Sunday :)

Travel diaries: Post cards from Kutch

The vast open desert barren save for thorny bushes, the beautiful textiles and embroidery, the salt marshes located by the Arabian sea stretching along the Tropic of Cancer and the beautiful oasis with migratory birds from far away, Kutch is beautiful! Here are a few pictures that barely do the place justice.

Spring, I've missed you

Spring is here and I can't wait for my mini-garden to start blooming again, wearing lighter layers and in eight weeks going home for a visit. I have waited over a year for this visit, planning things down to the last tiniest details, dreaming about the moment I will re-unite with my family, celebrate festivals like they're meant to be celebrated, make rangolis all over the house with my sister and generally just forget the nastiness in the world.

In the meantime I am going to wear as many layers of jewellery, more block print, excessive amounts of batik, embroidered bits and bobs while frolicking on isolated coasts sunning by rock pools. What are your spring plans?