Handloom dress in a rainforest

We went away to the tropics over the festive season and I could not get enough of the rainforests and the waterfalls. Skipping barefoot over the rocks or the fallen tree trunks, swimming in the stunning natural water holes Australia has to offer and not having to worry about impending deadlines gave me time to truly revel being in the moment.

My bruised mind and soul come alive in places like this and I dressed to pretty much blend into the background. I have this tremendous love for breathable fabrics made into wonderfully crafted, flowy dresses that will survive the rigours of my adventures and won't slow me down.

I like certain silhouettes and I stick to them but I still want something different, a little detail here or a certain something there. I am also very discerning in my shopping habits and will most likely actively seek out independent women owned businesses over chains.

The dress in the photos was bought from this totally fabulous lady, Abhilasha who works with women artisans to craft absolutely wearable pieces of art for her Pune-based brand Ek Dori. I love the fact that the fabric is handloom-ed cotton and find this dress incredibly flexible. I can wear it with just about anything in my wardrobe ranging from denim shorts with the front of the dress tucked into the waist to pairing it with sarees. I have had it only for a few weeks and worn it tonnes and I have a feeling it will just get better as it ages.

Walking by a rivulet in a rainforest

The cold is well and truly here in Sydney and winter has officially begun, which is why I am looking back at pictures of wonderful weather and of wearing bare minimum clothing. Here are some photos of our road-trip during a long weekend, leisurely exploring national parks, walking by rivulets, looking for waterfalls, drinking chilled beer and wearing block print wisps as swimsuit cover-ups.

Can you tell I don't do winters well? Ah well! Planning our next sojurn to the city of lights will have to keep my mind busy and away from the thoughts of puffer jackets and thermal underwear!

Let's talk about the saree

It is no secret that I love hand-crafted clothes in natural fabrics preferably sourced ethically. What is also no secret is my love for traditional Indian clothing worn in ways that feel good to me. Sometimes that means wearing long kurtas featuring high slits with denim shorts, sometimes it means wearing gaghras with sweatshirts or sometimes it means wearing a kediyu (that pre-pubescent girls from the Bharvad tribe in Gujarat wear) with a lovely hand-loomed cotton gamchaa saree wrapped around a denim mini.

I literally cannot say or write enough about my love for a simple cotton saree and would pick cottons over most other (natural fabric) sarees any day of the week. I wear them everywhere from work to the pub while travelling or hiking or just chilling at home. In fact I am so obsessed with sarees and documenting saree wearing feminists that I have even started a whole new blog just focussed on sarees. These photos were taken for a post on that blog but the saree and the kediyu are so pretty that we got a lot of good pictures and I decided to use some of them here. If you are curious about the various aspect of this particular outfit or want to know about sarees, are a newbie trying to incorporate more sarees into your daily wear or just someone that likes to look at colourful photos taken in Sydney and elsewhere please free to check us out on Pleats N Pallu blog or instagram.