Bucket hat

Bucket hats offer a stylish yet casual flair to your everyday attire. Not only worn for sun protection, bucket hats have transitioned into a fashion accessory to class up even your most casual t-shirt and jeans. These women's hats are a hot fashion item.With creative patterns and adornments, today bucket hats have a style of their own, known for its wide, droopy brim.

Old is gold

I was searching for some documents few days back,
but finally ended up finding few of my earlier drawings.
They just took me back to my schooldays,
when i had just started using camlin water colours,
and black sketch pen for outlining,
They are just 12 years old! made during summer vacation
of 1997.

Mai Mumbai

Lakme Fashion Week, and trade event in India have presented one of the most unique fashion events – ‘Mai Mumbai’ Fashion for Relief Charity Show at Lakme Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2009 on March 28th. The event was held to raise awareness and funds for Citizens for Justice and Peace, in a show of solidarity against the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Many of the stars that included top international and national fashion models, Bollywood stars, athletes and prominent social and business leaders, walked the ramp in aid of Naomi Campbell's 'Mai Mumbai' in association with Hotelier Vikram Chatwal.

Here is a glimpse of my favourites at the show:


Naomi Campbell's Fashion for Relief:
Naomi, walks the Indian ramp for the first time in a fund-raiser show at the Lakme Fashion Week 2009.Here she displays a sari by designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee


Naomi in a creation by designer Manish Malhotra


Model and actress, Malaika Arora Khan walks the runway


Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal and his wife, former model Meher

Kathak

I had an opportunity to attend a kathak dance program during my
visit to Pune last month.This was for the first that i happened to
watch the live performance of Kathak.It was just mindblowing!

Overall, that musical evening did leave a lasting impression on my
mind wanting to know more about its origin,forms,their costumes
and more.This is what i finally found out.

Kathak is one of the most popular classical dance forms of North
India which is also called the Natwari dance. The word kathak
means"to tell a story"..It indicates the existence of a community
of story-tellers through enacting the various parts of the story.
In its present form Kathak was developed and given patronage in
the court of Nawabs of Awadh.Kathak has been promoted
through three main gharanas- Lucknow, Jaipur, and Banaras.

Kathak dances are performed straight-legged and the ankle bells
worn by the dancers are skillfully controlled. In Kathak dance the
emphasis is more on footwork as against hasta mudras or hand
formations in Baratnatyam dance.
Kathak dance can be performed by both men and women.
A Kathak dancer is not required strictly to stick to fixed steps and
stages in.He or she can change the sequence of steps to suit his or
her skill and style of dancing.Modern exponents of Kathak dance
are Birju Maharaj and Uma Sharma.

Female costume

More commonly, the costume is a lehenga-choli combination, with an optional odhni or veil. The lehenga is loose ankle-length skirt, and the choli is a tight fitting blouse, usually short-sleeved. Both can be highly ornately embroidered or decorated. The lehenga is sometimes adapted to a special dance variety, similar to a long ghagra, so that during spins, the skirt flares out dramatically.

Mughal costume for women consists of an angarkha on the upper body. The design is akin to a chudidaar kameez, but is somewhat tighter fitting above the waist, and the 'skirt' portion explicitly cut on the round to enhance the flare of the lower half during spins. Beneath this, the legs are covered by the chudidaar or figure hugging trousers folded up giving the look of cloth bangles. Optional accessories are a small peaked cap and a bandi or small waistcoat to enhance the bust-line. A belt made of zari or precious stones is also worn on the waist.

Male costume

The traditional costume for men to be bare-chested.Below the waist is the dhoti,usually tied in the Bengal style, that is with many pleats and a fan finish to one of the ends.

The Moghul costume is kurta-chudidar.The kurta can be a simple
one,or again,adapted for dance to incorporate wider flare, but is
usually at least knee-length.Men may also wear an angarkha.
Particularly older variety costumes include the small peaked cap too.
.

Bannerghatta National Park

I had a nice outing at Bannerghatta National Park yesterday
with my family.Here are a few pictures which i could capture
in my camera.

Rab ne bana di jodi

I have won myself an autographed audio cd of 'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi'
seen above in Worlspace Satellite radio's "Radio Jhankaar
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi contest"

Some style tips

If you are bored of wearing your same old black or brown pants,here are some unique style tips to convert and make them a little trendy and funky.

GO METALLIC

Start with just a hint of gloss and glitter,shine and stars. Jazz them up with a metallic belt or if subtle is your style,a leather belt with a copper-metallic buckle.Add a pair of heels which are the same shade as the belt for a glam status!

The trend works even for other accessories--highlight your outfit with a brooch.Even a metal hint on your mobile phone does work.


FUNK UP WITH ACCESSORIES

If metallic touch doesn't appeal to you, then add some energy to your outfit with hints of colours.The easiest way to do it is to buy a one metre long satin ribbon and use it like a belt,tied up in a bow.It will immediately uplift your outfit as a whole,especially if your trousers have the same sheen of polyester-mixes.


PATCH OR EMBELLISH

Try this only if you like to get funky.Buy a couple of patches from the market and stitch them to your trousers.Fruits,cartoons,butterflies,etc look really cute and brighten up any outfit.You can also experiment with some cross-stitching and make a design by yourself on the back pocket or the hemlines.


PLAY WITH HEM

Just folding the hem at the bottom can immediately liven up your outfit.For cotton and linen trousers,it is easy to cuff up the trousers,but if you have a satin or polyester pair,then you need to get them cropped.

Creative strokes

Its not the paint strokes like it looks,its of the old,
unused nail paints. So next time,when your nail paint
gets dried,dont throw away, you can make a beautiful
greeting card or just put a frame and hang it on the wall.
Its even attractive with contrast colours.
Just try it out.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Primary,secondary,tertiary colours on a motif

Primary colours


Secondary colours




Tertiary colours

Here are the primary colours,secondary colours,and
tertiary colours represented on a motif.