Girl with the blue scarf

Enchanted by Suneet! Recently on a sunny, chilly January day at Famous Studios in Mahalaxmi in Mumbai, there was distinctively pleasant and creative frenzy at its best. Delhi-based designer Suneet Verma was finalising his Lakme Fashion Week grand finale look with the models. And it was my priviledge to have met him here in the city in person for the first time. It was however, two years ago when Suneet's magic had started to work on my mind. At a show called 'Enchanted Forest', every dramatic detail was looked into with impeccable precision replete with a pond on the ramp with water bubbling, birds chirping and clouds lowering towards the silvery bright full moon. While I gazed with awe, supermodel Madhu Sapre made her appearance on the ramp like a princess and others followed strutting long flowy gowns. The show was fabulous. The story about it is long but the great respect for Suneet was born right there and then. And so at the meet recently, Suneet with a dimpled shy sm...

Are you ready for Fashion Blogger's verdict? The year 2009 was all about creative competition, price cuts and free blogs. Although ‘unexpected’, Mumbai fabulously lived up to these challenges Where would you have heard terms such as ‘Season-neutral’, ‘Fast Fashion’ and ‘Strategic Shift’ ? Nowhere else but in Mumbai's fashion circles. And trust BT, it made complete sense for it imbibed what the changing times demanded — voice of the new-age fashionista. Recession-stricken year of 2008 sprang up cost challenges to be dealt with in the year 2009. Every big fashion designer right from Ritu Kumar to Narendra Kumar Ahmed, Vikram Phadnis to Sabyasachi Mukherjee, was forced to cut down on their label prices. However, the positive side to the story was that this recession also brought about higher creativity within the confines of lower costs, simpler yet elegant lines, and most importantly, affordability to the buyer. Naturally, fashionistas were happy buying more and more ready-to-wea...

Discounts and our psyche! What is it about sales and discounts which sweeps us off our feet and makes us end up buying the good. Well, I ask you this because every where I glance around, I spot shops where there are combinations of 'Buy 1, get 2 Free'; 'Take Jimmy Choos for much lesser', 'Buy a fab dress for half its cost' and more flashing its way into our heads. Quite obviously, the twinkle in our eye is inarguably brighter. We get drawn towards the shop and once the good is in our hands, there's a definite sense of achievement. Small or big, is a big question. But how is it that even adults with great thinking capacity get conned into impulsive buying. These string of thoughts started when a handsome hunk and my sweetheart ended up travelling a long distance to check out a property which was offered at 20 per cent discount. Yes! he had been looking for a neat deal in real estate for sometime and nothing much seemed to have clicked. But one fine morning,...

Does your fashion sense reaffirm your attitude? The way you and I dress up, does it say anything about who we are, what we feel and think and also our positioning in society. If you are already getting sceptical about your answer then here's cue enough... To work, why do we dress up in a formal or semi-formal manner (unless if you are a creative person and so anything you'd wear would be considered fine by your boss)? At a party, why are we so fine with a little bit of cleavage and our toned legs showing and guys would walk around in unkempt looks, sporting tight jeans and a tee to emphasise their broad chest? Perhaps, clothes do make a difference. To us, clothes can be good mood elevators and to others, who see us for the first time, perceptions get defined by the way we dress up. GETTING BLOUSY: One of the most interesting observations that fashion experts have maintained to have noticed is that clothing sense greatly earmarks the attitude of a particular era. So, after world...

Admire that stray wrinkle It amazes me when I see people around looking at a picture of a model or an actress who has lived her days of glory on screen or ramp and said, ‘Gosh! she is looking so dowdy and old now.’ Ditto is the case with men. And quite naturally, we find this trend percolating into our daily lives. When we meet up with our school friends, any statement which goes like ‘You are looking so young’ is considered a compliment. I'd like to ask — Why is it that we are growing more and more intolerant of what grace our age brings to us. That wrinkle on a women’s forehead, her laughter lines, her glowing eyes, don’t they look so beautifully her age. Take a look at George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp , all of who have been nominated as the sexiest men by international polls. Don’t they enjoy a touch of ‘crow’s feat’ or a bunch of fine lines under their eyes. Don’t they look uber handsome with these fine lines. Now, imagine them without those lines. A poker plain face...

BLAZE OF GLORY Most of us would relate to the title ‘Blaze of Glory’, for it’s a popular track by singer Bon Jon Jovi (my personal favourite). But today, here, I find it an apt title for this post because it throws open a question to you and may set you thinking — Is it right to celebrate life when there’s chaos all around you? Does it seem right to party on when your neighbour’s mourning his family’s torture? Or is it all right to let go of the gory details and concentrate on what’s bright and cheery. In fact, why not invite your mourning neighbour to join the revelry by way of fashionable ways... And so, recently in the beginning of November, the terror-ridden state of Pakistan — our influential nuclear-arms-equipped neighbouring country, celebrated the Fashion Pakistan Week (yeah! Not Pakistan Fashion Week). The Week began with an opulent ceremony. The music to this was militant violence, I would say. However, some peppy music did play during the ramp walk. The event was sans ...

Mumbai to dictate a new fashion week format by thinking 'more local' March 2010 will be a turning point for Indian fashion. There's something largely experimental and hard-hitting the fashion capital of Mumbai plans to do in the near future. Let me spill the beans — Lakme Fashion Week is soon to start showcasing current fashion trends instead of forecasting a look which would hit the stores in the next 6 months. Let's make it simpler. Traditionally, around the globe, a fashion week always follows a forecast-oriented format. So, a fashion week in Summer will forecast looks for winter and a fashion week in winter would showcase the look for upcoming summer. The reason this is done is because, the designers who showcase their designs on ramp models, get enquiries from buyers. These buyers place orders of say 100 or 100 pieces of the ramp design they liked. Then begins the manufacturing process. After production, it gets packed, labelled and then shipped to the stores as p...