Ode to My Fashion

I was invited to a party at a lounge not far from my place. I was excited as anyone could be because it was a grown up party meaning no kids allowed. I panicked at first because I did not have a babysitter but a quick chat with my helper solve the issue. Anyway the party was from 4 to 8 pm. I arrived fashionably late at 4:35 to discover the place half empty. Apparently India is like my home country Senegal, people show late at events. No fuss! I chatted with the people who were there and assessed everyone's style. There was no dress code but people dressed up. It was casual chic. Girls wore figure hugging or babydoll type cocktail dresses with lace, animal prints, floral prints, sequins paired with booties or pumps or platform. The preferred length was above the knee. But some girls showed up wearing Indian Anarkali and gowns. The boys were very casual with some wearing colored denim paired with velvet jackets or crisp white shirt. It was a young crowd so the outfits were trendy,...

I hate tailors. Ok, "hate" maybe a strong word, therefore let us just say that I do not like tailors. On one hand they never quite do what you ask of them. This one will make that midi skirt a maxi skirt just because he thinks it is modest, and that one will make that dress tight just because he thinks it will be sexy enough. I mean I need a tailor, not a designer so you can keep your input to the minimum please. On the other they never respect deadlines. They will tell you come retrieve that dress on Saturday and when you show up, they have not even cut the fabric yet they are taking on new customers. They usually blame it on power cuts but I think it is just pure lazyness. With all that, you understand why I prefer to shop retail than going to a tailor. I thought things would change when I came to India. There are many tailors here and they do not ask for crazy prices. But how to decide if they are good enough. After procrastinating for many months, I decided that I nee...

It is Eid and I am sad. I am in India, miles away from my family aka parents, brothers, cousins, aunties and uncles. I got my smaller family with me and we are going to make the most of it but it is not home. Eid for me was the ultimate festival back home. All my cousins, family friends ( mostly Christians) will come to hang for the day so the house was packed. We would cook tonnes of food: french fries, mustard onion sauce with olives and barbecue mutton among other delicacies. The entire day my Mother would busy herself making the house appropriate, first barking orders to the help and aunties to clean it entirely and then bask it in incense. My Dad who is allergic would retreat to the backyard washing the mutton with my brothers and uncles. Then before the guests would arrive, my Dad would have sacrificed the sheep, cleaned it, carved it and handed it over to my Mother who would season and cook it. It was a long process and often we would eat in the late afternoon. But we did not co...

- New dress says my oldest son as I walk out of my bedroom, dressed and ready to take them to school. - No, I replied, this dress is as old as you. _ 7 years! he cries For some reasons, this is the only maternity dress I own and I bought it after giving birth to my first son. I always liked dresses like this one and after seeing the blue and brown combo at the mall in Houston, I decided to treat myself. And I really like this dress for it is comfy, automatically classes you up, and still fits after all the weight I gain. It is almost a perfect dress for due to the material, you never need to iron it. So why is it that after 7 years, this is only the 3 rd time I am wearing it? Well, it is sleeveless and plunging which means that I need to layer it with something, plus I am not a big fan of black leggings with the brown and blue combo. Nevertheless, I think that this baby deserves to be included in my Mommy routine for it has a slimming effect. Dress - Motherhood Maternity Cardigan-...

The hubby and I cleaned our wardrobe after we moved to India. Among the thing he discarded was this olive green heavy shirt with a faded collar. When I saw it in the throw away pile, I retrieved it thinking that it would make a great jacket or cover up for fall since it is big enough. I wanted to pimp it with studs but I looked everywhere and could not find it. Sequins, yes! Beads, plenty but studs...never heard of it. I was even tempted to buy a studded shirt I saw at the mall and get the studs from there but they were not enough. So I just gave up and decided to use some green glass beads I had for a while. I sew the beads on the collar and the pocket. And here is the result. What you think? Pretty cool, right? I hear it never gets too cold in Pune, so this shirt will come in handy when the temperature drops.  All you need is needle, beads, thread, scissors ( optional) Just saw one bead at the time forming a pattern  End result

Today I wanted to tell you about Zardosi Embroidery. I participated in this two day workshop at Koregaon Park. An expert in the technique tought us about it. Zardosi is a form or embroidery that involves something like a crochet needle. The fabric is laid flat on a wooded frame and held with threads. Then the expert takes the needle and pierces through the fabric on top to take out the thread that he holds underneath the fabric and makes pattern. It is so fast and small that you can make intricate designs. But what I loved the most was that you could easily use beads, sequins, mirrors with that technique. And the result is that you obtain a professional sequin design that lays flat on the fabric just like machine work. I love sequins and had been killing myself adding them to tees without having the desired effect. After the workshop I realized that I would get a better result for my DIY if I used the Zardosi technique.  However there is a small problem: it is hard. In all two day...

As a shopaholic, I am never quite at home in a new location until I find a great place to find good deals on clothing. I have been in Pune for more than 6 months now and I think I know my way around town well enough to share a few tips. So there it is: my favorite places to find a bargain in Pune. Malls For a small city like Pune, there are way too many malls (Inorbit, Central, SGS, Ishanya to name a few). I should not really complain because they did not exist a few years ago. I usually do not like malls because they are way overpriced but once (or twice like August and January) in a while, during sales times, the prices are slashed. Then the mall becomes a one stop shop for everything you need. I am very partial to Phoenix market city mall located in Vinam Nagar because it has cheap shops I like such as Max, Reliance trends, and Much More. It also has Zara and Mango if you are into high street fashion. As a mall, you can find everything under one roof for the entire family: clothe...