Ode to My Fashion

Hello there! Today I wanted to show you how I style one of my fave pants, the side stripe pants two ways. I had these pants for a while now and I cannot believe they have not made it to the blog yet.  One time I wore it back home, and my Father in law asked me if I just came back from the gym. I am still not sure if he was serious or just teasing me. Anyway, the pants are super comfy but they really can look like gym pants.  I style them like this to run errands on the week end: Denim shirt - Aeon,  Japan Pants - Max,  India Shoes - Pratunam market,  Thailand African prints bangles -  Sandaga market,  Senegal These bangles were gifted to me by a vendor in Sandaga market  after I bought a lot of stuff from his shop .  Mud on my shoes after walking under the rain   But when I wanted to look nicer for a lunch with friends, I went like that: Lace scarf - H&M Crochet shirt - D-mart Pants -...

Hello my readers!  How are you all? I am fine. It has been weeks now since I came back to Pune with the family. Coming back has not been easy. Everything was not as smooth but we are slowly settling back into our routine. I have to admit that I am a bit depressed. I am sure everyone feels the same way about going back "home" after a long vacation. But for me it is even worse because I am coming back to this gloomy Monsoon season. I have not seen the sun in days because it is always cloudy and rainy. I am not against the rain,  I understand the need for it all. Yet,  it comes with so much negative things like puddles, mud, dark days,  flood and so forth. Moreover, I cannot take my kids out to enjoy the playground or the pool. I myself have to think twice before going for a morning walk around the neighborhood. And the week ends are spent entirely inside eating or sleeping. Everything was so much better back home with the sun. In fact it was hot everyday and I reme...

Hello everyone!  I have been away from my sewing machine for weeks and I really miss it. So today I decided to go back to making clothes. I have to confess that I almost gave up after being uninspired. Thankfully I always keep pictures of all the things I plan on making always handy ( Thank you Pinterest).  I went back to it and found several pictures of skirts in Leopard print. I was torn between circle skirt and maxi pencil skirt. I dug my left over fabric from my "studio"  and found out that it was long enough for a maxi pencil skirt which would be easier to style than a short circle skirt. But at the last moment I went for a draped pencil long skirt for I am getting a tad obsessed with them (read more about it here .)  I knew that my material was not as perfect as Jersey for draping but I wanted to just try. The left over material must have been around 2 meters.  I wrapped it around my waist to see how I would drape it. I struggled with the draping a bit...

Eid is officially over. It has been a very hot and tiring day but it was worth it when the entire family sat and shared good food and laughter. In my experience the days before and after Eid are less stressful maybe because there is not much to do. In my parents house,  the day before we do prepare the food. My Dad has done the shopping weeks before and my Mom does the prepping like cutting onions and garlic,  cleaning and marinating the chicken. This year I helped out a bit. The days after, the fridge is still filled with left over food so there is no cooking done. We just relax and welcome family or friends who come to visit. For this relaxing day I opted to wear my newest dress, fresh from the tailor. My dad bought the fabric that I loved instantly because it reminded me of a Saree. The fabric is called "Voile"  back home and I am not sure it is 100% cotton but it is very light. I asked my tailor to make me a simple long sleeves dress with no ruffles and other add on...

It is officially know as Eid El Fitr but you may call it differently in your neck of the wood. Where I come from- which is Senegal- we call it Korite . For some reasons, there never seem to be a consensus on when exactly we should celebrate it. Religious leaders are always divided and their followers do not known what to do. As for my family we try to follow the consensus but this year until the late hour of Thursday we did not know whether or not we would fast or pray the following morning. We finally settled on not fasting on Friday and attend the prayers of Saturday.  Korite is major in Senegal but not as major as Eid El Kabir. That is why the level of dressing up is usually tone down. Or so I thought! Apparently it is not the case anymore. I watched a fashion show during Ramadan a few weeks back just to get a sense of what was trending in terms of traditional outfits Senegalese women would wear for Eid. I was blown away. There was a wide range of new styles, embroidery, embel...

It is Friday and it can only mean one thing for Muslim people: it is Jummah day. It is the day that all of us go to the mosque and pray. Senegal, which is a country with a majority of Muslim people is no exception. And it also means that Senegalese people tend to wear traditional attire on Friday whether they go to the Mosque or not. It is actually interesting to see people in their Friday best. People in my country do favor the traditional garb even if by now it has been updated umpteen times and looks less and less like the original one. Therefore you would see people wear it for work or running errands on the daily basis. But on Fridays they wear their best ones.  Being stuck in town on numerous Fridays during Prayer time, I did notice a kaleidoscope of colors and fabrics and prints rushing to the Mosque.  The crowd is mostly men for few women tend to attend Mosque on Friday. As a self respecting Muslim and Senegalese, I do wear traditional attire when I am home on Friday...