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.

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.

Sunset by the beach in Lucknowi Chikan

After a long week when one goes to the beach to watch the waves crash framed by a gorgeous sunset, you want an easy outfit. This is my go-to for the in-between months during spring or autumn.

A bright crop with boy-friend jeans and a duster of some sort. This duster has white hand embroidery on a white muslin fabric, this kind of work is called Chikankari and the North Indian city of Lucknow is the heart of Chickankari today. Anything I wear always has a touch of home in subtle or non-subtle ways especially since I've moved to a country with absolute no textile heritage!

The earliest reference to chikankari dates back to as early as the 3rd century BC when Greek traveller Megasthenes mentioned the use of flowered muslins by Indians. You have seen me wear Lucknowi Chikan here in a post last year.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Tropical holiday staple: Block print headwrap

The hand block print scarf from Jaipur worn here as a head-wrap is a trusty friend on many of my trips and I never leave home without her or one of her many sisters. You have seen me wear it here as an after swim cover-up and I use it as a versatile classic that morphs into what I need for my every day requirements.

The fabric gets softer and the colours better with every wash, the soft hand-woven cotton dries easily and makes any outfit better and I genuinely feel like it is one of those must-haves I can't do without. This floral print on has been created using natural dyes on wooden blocks with light weight Indian cotton and the sheer weave of the fabric feels light and soft to the touch. Each scarf varies from piece to piece, even the same design in the same colours, making each scarf special in it's own way.

I was wearing it as a head-wrap here to dry my hair post a dip in the sea in Koh Samui. We left the beach to scoot up a hill to get to a water-fall and walked through the tropical jungle to get to this mossy little spot full of abandoned little homes and ancient life size figures.

Along with the scarf I threw on my every day island attire of a random cotton singlet, bright embroidered bag made by the Hmong tribe, denim cut-offs and canvas slip-ons. The scarf was also a little something to keep me warm after a day full of adventures.

Hand painted Kalamkari duster

Last year a lovely friend in Pune (hey Archu!), bought this amazing hand-painted Kalamkari fabric and had this duster jacket made for me. It quickly became my most favourite thing to wear with pretty much everything.

I've worn it here with ripped light wash jeans, a Guns n' Roses tee, a vintage leather backpack and platform brogues from Jeffrey Campbell to go to a picturesque waterfall in a natural park in Sydney's north shore.

What is your favourite way to wear Kalamkaris?