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.

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?

In a kediyu by the bay

This top that I mostly wear as a dress is a classic Indian silhouette, made from hand loomed organic cotton and hand block printed with wooden blocks with natural colours.

This style that is known by various names depending on where one is, lends itself to customisation and can be as traditional or as contemporary as one wants. It is called a kediyu in Gujarat and I have worn it here with a pair of denim cut-offs, I also wear it with skinny and relaxed full-length jeans/ pants, wide legged pyjamas and skirts in varied lengths as well.

The point I am trying to make is, it doesn't ever have to be a choice between traditional and contemporary, everything can be adapted to suit one's style. I find nothing more boring than looking head-to-toe like a mannequin from a shop window, even if it the most fantastic designer's shop window.

Putting things together to suit one's own style is wonderful and WoC should never have to choose between their culture and the fact that they need to fit-in. Fitting-in is over-rated anyway!

Block print jumpsuit in winter

As has been documented here, my love for traditional Indian block print cotton and silks know no bounds.

This jumpsuit in indigo is a great way to be casual and comfortable summer or winter. Perfect for lounging at home all day,going out for brunch or drinks, a stroll in the park or by the beach and even a little hike.

I love it styled with a bralet for hot weather and with a base layer and/or a coatigan for the colder months. The smooth cotton is printed by hand using carved wooden blocks in a stamping method.

Also these indigo prints in cotton just get better with wear and are easy to throw and go. The photos on this post were taken just before spring, hence the beanie and woollies.

Like a lot of kurtas/ kurtis I find them ideal to pack for travel since they require minimal outfit planning. I sometimes wear a cotton/linen button-up over it or a vest pair them with sneakers, booties, gladiator sandals or even jootis.

The versatile block print chunni wrap

Cotton hand block-printed chunnis (or duppatta, what ever you may choose to call it) with traditional folk motifs earthy colours are one of the most versatile pieces of clothing. The soft cotton weave is large enough to be the perfect oversized scarf, vest, skirt, beach towel, shawl, sarong or throw and it only gets better looking with repeated use.

I've had this one for ages and it is a part of a kurta, salwaar set that has long since been misplaced. The chunni or dupatta is a necessary wardrobe item for a desi woman back home. Normally worn as a long scarf, draped over one or both shoulders with a kurta or kurti, it is usually a flourish of color for any outfit.

I have worn it here as a swimwear cover-up to wade about in the shallow waters of a rivulet that weaves it way through a rainforest, culminating into a spectacular escarpment water-fall. Traditional fabrics and water-falls seems to be a theme on this blog that I am in no hurry to change. I genuinely feel the most content around water-falls with loved ones. What's your happy place?

Easy breezy denim with Ikat

This is a prime example of a comfortable flu recovery outfit. Autumn is here and with it my jeans have come out to play, one of my tried and tested formulas over the colder months is; pants with bright oversize sweaters or shirts or jackets, silver jewellery from one of my travels and bright bags. This handloom-ed Ikat shirt is one of my most favourite possessions, as is the hand-woven bag from one of the Pacific Islands, this Lamani coin necklace and this vintage army jacket. Some people would say there is too much going on in terms of colours and patterns but I am a believer of more or more when it comes to hand-made goodies.

I like documenting everyday outfits in everyday locations and I am lucky enough to live in a city where clean beaches and rain-forest-y goodness are common location options. I genuinely think bright shawls, colourful bags, bush and beach walks keep me going through winter, without them I'd be lost. There is nothing that warms the soul like a walk on a secluded beach, the crisp salty air, the rock pools, the towering cliffs and spectacular views. We like to use the shorter days to ensure we spend every bit of the daylight hours outdoors on the non-rainy weekends. Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend with heaps of outdoor adventures to feed your imagination for the coming week.

Jungle Vibes

I almost blend into the foliage in this top, it was made with fabric from a blouse piece. I love the bandhani saree it came with, the parrot green colour looks stunning worn with anything but I'll probably say that about any bandhani piece, I love bandhej in every colour. I have bandhani sarees in many shades of green, love wearing the all kinds of sarees as well as blouses/ cholis together as well as separates as you've seen here, here, here, here and here.

I believe that sarees as well as their blouses make great statement as well as staple pieces, it just depends on the styling. Trust me if anyone tells you otherwise they have no idea what they're talking about. This bright orange carpet bag is what dreams are made of and I've had it for ages, but love it more everytime I bring it out to play. As usual I am wearing nothing special but tried and tested pieces that will stay with me for many many years to come, I have no desire to shop for a new wardrobe every time the season changes, I will just continue to buy hand-crafted goodness when and where I can find it.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week, I've spent the day stomping about in fern covered jungles, so I am happy. Have a great Saturday!

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 :)

Pochampally & Kutchi embroidery

Pochampally, is a group of many many villages, in Nalgonda in the South Indian state of Telangana where skillfull weavers on traditional hand operated looms make these amazing woven fabrics. They weave stunning silk sarees and cotton fabric that I constantly dream of and ensured that I picked up a bunch of this fabric during the Hyderabad leg of the trip. This top was made from some of the Pochampally ikat fabric I fell in love with, it is a simple shirt/ kurta that I can wear with denim or churidar and dupatta or even wear to work with a skirt. I love the fact that slowly I am creating a wardrobe that includes things that I consider staples; ikat, block-print, bandhani, leheriya, shibori, traditional embroidery etc.

This bag is made by the ladies of a tribal group in Kutch and was picked up in Dhordo a tiny village in the Rann of Kutch. I am currently in love and wear it with everything. All the jewellery worn in this post is silver from various silver-smiths who cater to and specialise in designs specific to certain tribes. While I was walking around the markets one day, an older gentleman was very confused as to which tribe I was from because I was wearing jewellery from three different tribal clans. The cuff that I am wearing on my left wrist is something I haven't taken off in over a year and the jumbled bunch that is my anklets stay put all through summer. I am also wearing a hooked clasp silver key ring at the waist similar to a 'chatelaine'. It is called 'Chabi ka Challa' or 'Chabi ka Guccha' in Hindi I think. The lady of a house wears one of these with all the important keys of the house. Depending on their socio-economic status these could be of 22 carat gold with precious stones or silver with semi-precious stones.

I just don't see the point of changing things that are already perfect. Instead of trying to get my hands on what's trendy every season I try to source traditional jewellery and handicraft items that will last me for years and something that will hopefully be passed down generations. I'd rather spend my money ensuring that traditional craftmanship remains profitable.

I am wearing these with Kolhapuri leather chappals that I bought from a street stall in Colaba, they are destined to be used like crazy over the summers to come. I wish one day I am able to spend extensive time in some places with a rich textile heritage and master some of these crafts, until then I am going to live in them and hope the magic of creating beauty rubs off on me.