Girl with the blue scarf

India-inspired resort wear It is so amazing — All the hype, the buzz, the energy that the days preceding the fashion week carry with it. With just a few weekdays left to hit the Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2010 to start form March 5 - 9, there is this tingling anticipatory feeling down the spine about 'God! I wonder what's in store'. And that's the reason why I turn into a sleuth-scribe of sorts. I enthusiastically go through look books (booklets which have designs of the collection with details of cuts, fabrics and mentions of initiatives such as going organic, inspirations etc with it) and special mailers which come to us about the collections that will be showcased. I sit down and make mental notes just the way a kid would want to colour the Sun in a shade different from yellow, may be in blue... Honestly, to me, the theme of Resort Wear is all about easy clothing and it's so Mumbai in its spirit of a free, evolved, raring-to-go-woman of this dream city. In...

Chronicling an era with fashion writing Aren't we glad that India has steadily moved out of the recession of 2009. We no longer harbour a fear of going bankrupt or losing our jobs. In fact, since the jolt here wasn't as bad as it was in the West, its buzz time once again. Shops opening their doors with a 'Sale' on its hoarding, designers calling out for a slashed down priced collection and real estate agents drilling down their 'made-up' discount offers. India is truly back in business. An interesting reason why recession'09 didn't hit us so hard lies in our generations-long 'saving habit'. Since over 60 per cent of our income is put aside in savings, finally that's what came to the rescue when people lost their jobs. Westeners tend to save little and spend most of their income (it's a way to enjoy life, you know!) thus when their source of income went haywire, there were no personal savings to bank on. In India, people absorbed 'less...

THE WORLD'S A SMALL PLACE IN NZ A recent trip of 14 hours+2 hours to New Zealand from Mumbai made me understand how small this world is. Sounds weird? Let me explain this 'trendy' statement. Now, what would truly delight a fashion and travel writer who's been sent to an out-of-the-country assignment? Perhaps, some mindblowing, fear embracing adventure sports. True.. to some extent. So, on Day 1, when I got to do Skydiving at NZone in Queenstown, New Zealand, I was ecstatic. I think this was truly a feat to boast about, for I dived in tandem from 15,000 ft, a first for anyone in the Tiwari clan. On the way back from the skydive post at the Queenstown airport, I met up with a group of filmy people who were shooting for a film there. And then came a pair of warm hands which closed my eyes from behind and a loving voice followed, 'Nimishaaaa', you here!' This has got to be an Indian Punjabi heartfelt voice, I thought to myself. Turning around, I was so whelmed o...