My last post focused on giving you tips on how to get Kangana’s look. It didn’t do that well, to be honest. So, this time, I’m just going to upload a selection of Kangana Ranaut’s finest (and most wearable) airport looks, and I want you guys to tell me your favourites.
Look 1: Don’t be afraid to play matchmaker. Pop your neutrals with yellow and be prepared for unexpected results.
Image borrowed from PinkVilla.com
Look 2: Throw on a neutral overcoat and matching heels over your favourite outfit. Go from sweet to stylish in seconds.
Image borrowed from highheelconfidential.com
Look 3: Tough love. Punch your toughest, military-inspired look with polka dots for a happy surprise.
So yesterday, a couple of us were talking about celebrities, plastic surgery and what we’d like to change about ourselves, you know, the usual, and the topic landed on Kangana Ranaut. We all agreed on how much we love her, though for different reasons, and I heard myself say, “I like her dressing sense.” Someone nodded, someone disagreed, you know the works, but since I was relatively free and the Google Search button was looking at me invitingly, I typed in, “Kangana Airport style” and sure enough a couple of images popped up – looks like others had searched for it as well. And I was astonished at how much I love the way she dresses – which is a lot I can say for celebs – Except Sonam Kapoor – I love how she dresses.
Anyway, so I pulled out 9 looks of Kangana’s that i absolutely adore and I was going to post them all, but then it struck me, “What if I do a bit of research and help people get the look?”
So, here’s the first look I have created. Hope you love it.
One of the hottest trends of Spring-summer 2017 is the tulle skirt. In fact, street-style evidence from the 4 fashion week destinations show that many fashionistas have already jumped on the bandwagon and are channeling this trend in advance.
Tulle, is essentially net and it may be made from silk, nylon or rayon. Used primarily as fabric for wedding gowns, lehengas, veils and as tutus for little girls, the latter half of 2016 notices a shift in its functionality – this once-in-a-blue-moon fabric is slowly inching its way into your everyday closet. Hurray!
I understand that you may feel like this trend is not for you. That it’s too girlish and too princess-like for your refined (and sophisticated) fashion sense. But, trust me on this – the tulle skirt is more versatile than it may seem. For starters, everybody doesn’t have to buy the rose-coloured prom version. You can buy a black mini net version and team it with a black vest or black jacket for instant edginess. If you feel black is too gothic for you, you can choose a deep red or maroon version. If you’re feeling modest, there are tulle maxi skirts too – Indians, these are surprisingly similar to our net lehengas, so you can buy one and innocently wear it with a heavy blouse to your BFF’s sangeet.
The tulle skirt is a flouncy, candy-like item that every closet will benefit from. It’s great for days when you really want to dress up different, it promises to be your “happy-dress” – Mine is a ruffled version right now.
In fact, if you want some inspiration, here are some images I pulled out from Pinterest that are sure to make you want to buy this trend right away.
Though the Bomber Jacket has scored quite a few hits, a quick glimpse at street style across the four fashion-week destinations show that even military-inspired parkas and trenches are hot favourites at the moment.
And if you do buy this trend, DO NOT be dull and wear with denims. To really work it, wear your boyish jacket over your frilliest, girliest, flounciest skirt or dress. Another way is to throw it on over a ruffled top and distressed micro-mini denim shorts.
And that’s how you’ll create maximum impact.
Shot by Diego Zuko. Image borrowed from Harper’s Bazaar – Read article here
Credit: Harper’s Bazaar | Shot by Diego Zuko
Cropped Jeans
This one’s simple. Keep your skinnies aside for a moment and pull on this trendier alternative to the mom jeans. Wear with a cropped top and a statement slip-ons to get the paparazzi rolling.
New York Fashion Week Street Style | Shot by Sandra Semburg
Edgy Ankle Boots
While, kolhapuris and strappy sandals may be your safest bet, edgy ankle boots will go a lot further in scoring you extra style points. Wear with boho minidresses or boho maxidresses depending on your boldness level and get ready for love at first ‘style’. (Stupid wordplay, I know.)
CREDIT – JONATHAN DANIEL PRYCE | IMAGE – BORROWED FROM VOGUE UK | READ VOGUE’S ARTICLE HERE
Boho Dresses
If you don’t already own these, well, what the hell were you thinking? Go all out and splurge on a couple of flowing, tasselled, printed and embroidered numbers. Wear with edgy boots to turn all the right heads.
Credit: Harper’s Bazaar | Shot by Diego Zuko | New York Fashion Week Street Style
Oversized Graphic Tees
Graphic tees may be old news but teaming it with something flirty will offer a new approach to the basic. Wear it tucked into a tulle skirt to channel Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Dior Debut or choose a floral Forever 21 mini version.
From Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Dior Debut | Credit: Vogue Russia | See source here
Super-flared pants
Even though I don’t like this trend on me, style editors and front row enthusiasts seem to pull it off impeccably. Wear with an off-shoulder top and pretty kitten heels.
From slip-dresses to slip-tops, the underwear-as-outerwear philosophy is back and like never before. Toughen up a slip top with leather pants or make a silken slip-dress street-worthy with a leather jacket.
Hope you had a relaxing weekend. Hope you didn’t party till you threw up. Hope you slept 8 hours, ate healthy and dressed up to the movies. 😉
For those of you who know me, you’d know what a stay-at-home, tea-drinking monkey I am. Hence my old-aunty-like advice. 😉
Anyway, jokes apart, I’m going to talk about a trend that’s stolen the global catwalks, local sidewalks and every other Instagram feed, including mine.
Which reminds me, here‘s a link to my Instagram account. Do follow me for regular style updates, snapshots of well-dressed people from office, and other everyday objects that I choose to elevate through an Instagram filter. 😉
Presenting: The white sneaker
Though I’m in love with this trend, and I have been trying to find the perfect pair in India, what my worry is, what is indeed the longevity of this style? Especially, since the white sneaker has been around for almost 2 years now. Which means, is it soon about to flood the local markets and become passé?
Click here to read Chai High’s article on the top 5 shoe-trends.
The white sneaker is a shoe that’s been worn with everything from summer dresses to torn jeans. It’s all-encompassing, versatile glory has captured the imaginations of bloggers, Instagram-addicts and models. Especially Gigi Hadid, who appears to be a huge fan of this trend.
Check her rocking the White Sneaker trend in the pictures below.
Found on popsugar.com | Image Source: Getty / James DevaneyFound on popsugar.com | Image Source: Getty / James DevaneyFound on popsugar.com | Image Source: Getty / James DevaneyFound on popsugar.com | Image Source: Getty / Raymond HallFound on popsugar.com | Image Source: Getty / Jacopo RauleFound on fashionclue.net | View their story here
Now, there are many variations of this trend. And everybody takes it and interprets it in their own unique manner.
While most team it with ripped jeans and cropped pants, the more experimental wear it to sportify flowing dresses.
Found on becomechic.com | Read their article here.Found on justthedesign.com | Read their article hereFound on justthedesign.com | Read their article here
If you’ve stuck long enough to make it till down here, chances are, you have the same questions I do.
I mean, yes, the white sneaker trend is incredibly versatile. And, it goes with everything from mini skirts and flowing midis to torn jeans and slacks. But, how long is it here to stay? And, indeed, is it just a lazy girl’s way to get out of dressing up?
Is it just our way to buy into a one-shoe-fits-all, cookie-cutter philosophy, so we don’t have to spend all that time planning our outfits every morning? Wedges or mules? Brogues or loafers? No, girl, go and buy the white sneakers. You don’t need no other shoe.
Smart move, I’d say. Being a tad fashion-obsessed, I still don’t know the genius behind making the Sneaker legit. But, maybe the world was a bit tired of walking-fashion-disasters everyday. So some smart mind just woke up one morning and decided to come up with a wonder shoe, that will be embraced by the “androgynous” and the “girlish” alike.
Hello. White Sneaker.
Should I sneak-er or Should I not?
Given the maddening obsession with this trend and the heightened style status of every even-slightly-interested-in-fashion person, I am incredibly tempted to hop on to the bandwagon like everybody else and buy myself a pair.
But each time, I am about to slip out my credit card and enter the fated digits towards the online purchase, something stops me.
I think, it’s just my huge “early-adopter-wannabe” ego, that says, “Shivani. Since you didn’t adopt this trend in time, now you shall wait it out, and adopt the next trend.”
Hell yeah. I wore torn denims before it became mainstream-cool.
So, now I don’t wear them no more, inspite of people telling me why I should. Guess, some things just don’t make it past my style-ego. No. Don’t say it. I know I am weird.
So here’s my question to you all. How long do you think this trend will last? Will it make it to the classics? Or will it soon be replaced by a brogue, a black sneaker or a loafer?
It’s been a while since I have posted anything here and I have been feeling so so so guilty. Been caught up in packing my house, working at work (yes. FINALLY), and watching Game of Thrones. Woohoo!
How have you all been? Anyone else planning to shift house? Any packing tips you’d like to give me? Cause I am going positively insane trying to wrap things up, stealing and begging for cardboard boxes from anyone who’d listen, and washing my face a zillion times. Thanks to the year-long layers of collected dust on my bags. *sigh*
Last to last weekend, I attended (or rather volunteered) at an exhibition. Both Saturday and Sunday. My friend Pallavi Dhyani is the founder of THREE, a darling label of anti-fits, innovative cuts, cottons, linens, whites and stripes, and she needed someone to mind the stall with her. Now this exhibition was quite an interesting one. Firstly, the venue was unlike the usual hall or ground. It was held in the backyard of a colonial style bungalow; an area in Bandra, Mumbai called The Vintage Garden.
So on the 23rd and 24th of April, I walked into the Vintage Garden for the first time. A sweltering hot day, with just some half-hearted floor fans for respite, I began helping Pallavi sell her gorgeous clothes.
Here’s a glimpse.
A muted palette of light greys, whites, off-whites and stripes met soft cottons, linens and cotton-linens, in a collection that instantly brought your temperature down by a couple of degrees. One look, and you’d feel easy-breezy, summery and happy, even as the sun scorched its angry rays, trying to get you to furrow your brow.
That’s Pallavi, the mastermind behind THREE. She’s wearing a light grey semi-sheer shirt layered over a navy and white stripes slip dress – an outfit from her creation. In fact, everyone who passed by our stall, wanted to wear what Pallavi was wearing.
I mean, what better brand ambassador than the designer, herself, right?
A THREE wrap jacket
Potential clients of THREE.
A THREE wrap jacket
Her clothes are a delightful mix of wrap jackets, thin-enough-to-be-sheer cotton shirts, long dresses with slits, button-down skirts with attached pants and more.
Pallavi wears a comfy overall on the second day of the exhibition. Once again, everybody wanted to wear what she was wearing.
Neighbouring stall owner and artist Ratna Gupta wore a THREE playsuit. It wasn’t long before the jailer stripes-meets-daddy’s shirt vibe had engulfed everybody present.
Manasi Kadne, a jewellery designer wore this THREE slit-dress with her self-designed geometric jewellery. You can follow her super-fun jewellery brand here.
The fabrics are so comfortable to wear and so loose and flowing, that the sweltering Mumbai weather doesn’t just ask for THREE, it DEMANDS it.
I mean, look how actor, TV host and anchor, Kubra Sait pulls of her THREE creation. This slip dress can be wore with shorts underneath (like Kubra) or even layered under THREE‘s semi-sheer button-downs.
The vibe of the place was so happy. There was music, jokes and a lot of mutual admiration with people buying each other’s creations.
It’s Saturday today and 7:58 in the morning here in Mumbai. I woke up at 6:30. To run. Yeah right. 😉 Didn’t so much as lift my finger to plug in my Macbook to watch some Suits. And meanwhile took Vogue’s advice on who to follow on Instagram. From Kazakhstan.
(In case you want to follow me on Instagram, click here.)
And after my routine bout of self-pity, a habit I just can’t seem to shake off, even after repeated reading of “Spiritual” texts and “self-help” guides and quotes that people share on Facebook, and a mug of chai (of course), I am now starting on doing something productive.
Anyway, so again, since we are on Chai High, which is supposed to be my blog on fashion and anti-fashion, I’ve put together a few fashion (and anti-fashion) selfies I’d clicked over the past few months. You can read more about my article on how to be stylish effortlessly, here.
Mirror Selfie #1
So, on this day, I was wearing a white knee-length dress with a saree blouse and gold Kolhapuri slippers. To see the complete look, click here.
If you like my look, you can follow me on Instagram, here.
Mirror Selfie 2
My mom bought me this dress from Bangkok. It’s crafted in this slinky material that flatters your body beautifully.
I chose to add more texture to this outfit by wrapping an Indian printed dupatta around my neck and slinging on a gold, hot pink and green bag. I matched my slippers to the bag.
What do you think about this look?
Here’s a close-up of the very kitsch slippers I wore with my dress.
If you like my look, you can follow me on Instagram, here.
Mirror Selfie 3
This one was at night when I was feeling a little low (and gothic in my head). Hence the darkness. However, the dress in light couldn’t be happier. It’s a blue printed Forever 21 maxi dress. Perfect for the beach and light summer evenings.
Mirror Selfie 4
What I wore to work two days back. It’s a basic blue pair of boyfriend jeans from United Colors of Benetton and a white sleeveless long shirt that I’ve worn tucked in. I teamed it up with brown leather brogues from a shop called Shoe Biz on Linking Road, Mumbai.
Mirror Selfie 5
Again, from my Goth phase, this is what I wore to bed and to my early morning cup of tea.
I was trying to mimic the illustration on my cupboard door. haha! 😀
Mirror Selfie 6
This selfie marked the end of my Goth phase. Read more here, on my Instagram account.
Well, I hope you liked my looks and my phases in this series of mirror selfies. Stay tuned for more.
I am going to burn my jeans, my bra and every pokey, itchy article of clothing I find. It’s hot. It’s so hot in Bombay that you feel like you’re about to explode. In fact, yesterday I had a breakdown. It was so hot that I died at least once. I went home early because my stomach was queasy, my head was wheezy and my legs were like jelly. But going home didn’t make it any better.
I had no book to read, no show to watch (smartly, I’d left my macbook at work) and no drawing to sketch (again left it at work). So I became a ticking time-bomb. I lay down, sat up, walked around and repeated the process for a good two hours. As the air-conditioning tried its best to keep up, panting and fainting and ultimately giving up. Which lead to the fans having a field day, running round and round, rustling the curtains and anything that would fly.
And me, a jittery mess, fluctuated between restlessness and tiredness.
It was so damn hot both outside and inside. My stomach was burning, my cheeks were flushing and the air was thick with the smell of fish, open drains and frustrated humans on their way home from work. The sound of incessantly honking auto-rickshaws and cars didn’t make it any better.
The phone rang. Ooh I have a date. What do I wear? I hopped, skipped and jumped to my cupboard in the balcony, and the evening babble greeted me. Honk, Honk, Peep Peep… Argh, I was so excited to dress up. So many new clothes to wear. But damn the weather!
So I rummaged through my balcony-cupboard inhaling hot air, the internal bomb just a few seconds from detonation. And my sweaty fingers grasped a pair of cut-offs and a thin white tee in urgent need for ironing, pulled it from under more layers of clothes and toppled everything in the process. And it was so hot, and the clothes were on me, and I was already burning from within, so i stuffed the falling piles of clothing back into the cupboard and shut the door angrily on it and rushed indoors to change. I was breathing fast, my face and organs were steaming and I changed into my date outfit. Darn, the ends of the bra were poking and turning the hot, sweaty me even hotter and sweatier. And the denim in the shorts was feeling alien. Man! Since when do you feel hot even in shorts?
So I went back to my fiery cupboard in the balcony and pulled out a thin, low cut cotton dress and wore it, removing my bra. And oh my God! It felt better, but was it too revealing?
My phone started vibrating, and I got even more hyper. Shit, he’s here! And I am still not ready. I ran, back into the balcony and looked at the tumbling bits of clothing in my cupboard and the weather, in the mood for vengeance, threw balls of fire in my face, as it grinned cheekily at my state.
I looked at myself in the mirror and sighed. I checked out my hair. Disobedient hair. Refuses to curl. Refuses to straighten. Hangs haughtily around my shoulder every strand in a different direction silently revolting. And my face had little dots, threatening to burst into full-bodied zits, in the heat. Argh. I was definitely losing it.
I rushed back in and picked up the phone. “Hey! Oh, you’re here. Coming Coming!”
And then changed back into the white tee and shorts, picked up a sweatshirt (In case we’re watching a movie) and a dupatta (I don’t know why) and stumbled downstairs, clad in an unfortunate combination.
I cursed the weather for a good 15 minutes and I would have cursed it for the next 5 hours, but I got myself some yummy frozen yoghurt with strawberries on my date, and that changed it all.
Anyway, the whole point of this story was, gah, we need more designers making white, cotton flowing, loose dresses, thin enough to feel cool and thick enough to let us go bra-less.
Signing off now. Need to get myself a cool glass of water.
2. Naina | Read the full article on Naina’s style 
3. Reema
4. Azra
5. Vedant
6. Sangeeta
9. Rebecca
