Kimaya - the leading fashion house of India

Now that I have (finally!) started dedicating my posts to Indian brands, I have been facing silly li'l hurdles. Like no website, no information, no history...As none of the mid class market brands are available on Net, I have ended up covering the luxury brands. I don't really mind that, but I wish I could cover more of the brands which people like you and me actually wear. Not the ones we droll over.

Kimaya is one such droll-worthy brand. Actually, it's India's only fashion house to have more than 100 designers in its kitty.The likes of Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Rina Dhaka, JJ Valaya, Aki Nirula, Rohit Bal, Anamika Khanna, Falguni & Shane Peacock and many more have their collections housed under Kimaya. So you have all those gorgeous clothes, with the trademark of each designer sitting under one roof. If only we could afford it... (deep sigh!!)

On top of all this, Kimaya is bringing the Italian fashion house, Pinko to India. It will now be available in India exclusively at Kimaya stores in Kemps Corner and Juhu in Mumbai and will be arriving soon at Kimaya, Emporio in New Delhi.


With branches already in Mumbai, Delhi and Dubai, it' soon going to launch online shopping... even if I can never afford those designer clothes, won't be delicious to browse through them??

Image Credit: http://kimayastudio.com/

Fab India

Am finally doing an Indian Label!!! (yayyiee)

Everytime I go to a fabindia store, I am always taken in by the fabrics. Their distinctive use of handloom weaving techniques, natural dyes, and both vivid and earthy colors have made their products both fashionable and desirable. Especially with the Arty set and the tourists.

A bit of history: It was founded in 1960 to market the vast and diverse craft traditions of India. It blends indigenous craft techniques with contemporary ethnic designs. With 57 stores in the country currently, and one each in Rome, Dubai and Guangzhou, the company is to add close to 200 stores in the next four-five years. And, true to its founding mission of creating sustainable employment, it is taking its craftsmen along. From providing jobs for close to 15,000 artisans today, it is hopeful of supporting another 1,00,000 in the next few years.

The website of Fabindia, though online shopping enabled, is a huge disappontment. The product photographs are hardly attractive, the models look aged and ungraceful (!) and their clothes look dowdy...





From skirts to kutis, tunics, shirts, churidaars, to salwaars, nehru jackets and duppataas in beautiful fabrics and colors, Fab india stores everyting for men and women. They also have a range of home furnishings, which is worth a dekko. Don't go by the looks of the website, though - if ethnic, down-to-earth clothes and natural fabrics is what you crave for, do check their stores!
Image credit: http://www.fabindia.com/

Skirt UP!!

There’s something so cool and comfortable about a skirt. It makes you look stylish, very down-to-earth (that depends), and fun. I mean, yes, we all LOVE jeans – but too much of blue can be boring. So why not throw this fun cloth into your wardrobe, especially when the mercury is getting hotter by the day…

When it comes to skirts, one has immense variety to choose from. Different lengths of hemlines, straight or flared, patterned, textured, plain, wild, with or without boots / tights.. it can never be boring!
I surfed around and collected some really beautiful looks with skirts, from style-arena and The Sartorialist and from here...

Tamed:
The gypsy look under control - those shoes rock!
Experiments and Observations:
Ethnic jacket, long skirt, a bindi and kool hair-do. Love her!
I dare you..
No really..he's carrying it with such elan.
Dare you -II
That's a dhoti, btw...

Tried and tested:
Team a floral patterned long skirt with a Tee in solids and flats, so you don't end up looking too girly.
Layering about:
Simply gorgeous - and notice the purple tee.
Naughty Schoolgirl:

Don't we all know this? I'd love to ape it, down to the fuschia bangles.
Miss Goody-shoes:
Goes Orange! Hail, Hail!
Cute with a Capital C
That seablue with brown boots - drool...

Marimekko

"Marimekko's ready-to-wear collections offer high-quality, functional clothing for all occasions, including business, leisure and evening wear. The collections comprise woven fabric garments, knitwear and jerseys, which are chiefly made from pure natural materials: cotton, wool and linen."
It's modern, fresh, bold and fun! Not neccesarily what I would wear, but I love the quirkyness of the individual pieces...pleats, bows and ruffles make them look very feminnine yet not over-the-top cute.

Saree - the 9 meter wonder

According to dear ol' wiki, a sari or saree or shari is a female garment in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. A sari is a strip of unstitched cloth, ranging from four to nine metres in length that is draped over the body in various styles. The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist, with one end then draped over the shoulder baring the midriff. The sari is usually worn over a petticoat with a blouse known as a choli forming the upper garment.

In the good old days, saris were woven of silk or cotton. The rich could afford finely-woven, diaphanous (like the chiffon net sarees you see around nowadays too :P )silk saris that, according to folklore, could be passed through a finger-ring.

Saris are patterned with checks or stripes woven into the cloth, with block printing using carved wooden blocks and vegetable dyes, or tie-dyeing, known as bhandani work. Ikkat, Zardosii, Resham work, Swarovski crystals and various other forms of embriodery are also used.

I was quire amused to read that some researchers believe that blouses were unknown before the British arrived in India, and that they were introduced to satisfy Victorian ideas of modesty. They must have been so broad-minded! And now - we keep talking about how much Mallika Sherawat exposes…

I even found a video on youtube explaining how to wear a saree:


Saree keeps coming backing in vogue, no matter whatever the fashion / season may be. No shaadi, no trousseau is complete without it. Even today, most of the fashionistas would happily discard their LBD’s for a sexy chiffon sari with, but ofcourse, the lil’est of blouses. After all, nothing can beat a sari in the matter of sheer oomph. It’s the only garment which bares a midriff with such elegance!
No wonder you have our own Kareena’s and Rani’s and Kajol’s and Aish wearing it..it’s the perfect counterpart to the western gown…the dress for red carpet...

So wear your own demure / elegant / sultry wrap next time you want to realllyyy shine, coz, trust me, no matter what your age, size or skin tone, if chosen with care, a saree will never let you down.

Till next time... :)

Shopper's Stop: The Makeover

Makeovers have always been hot, but the hottest makeovers are those of brands. Shopper's Stop recently changed it's branding. New advertisements (i found them stupid, but, then I think they were meant to be stupid...),new logo..the works.

What pleasently surprised me, however, were the changes in SS's stores. Not only have they redone the entire look - much more sophisticated - but they have even added many more international brands.

So now, one can find awesomely gorgeous clothes of brands like UCB, FCUK, UCB, CK , Tommy Hilfiger and Nautica etc.

Perfect reasons to go shopping (as if we need any)!!

Online shoes

Big Shoe Bazaar is here!!
Finally we Indians have a website dedicated to shoes - so now, one can not only browse through the various shoes styles available but even purchase them online... how cool is that!
The site claims that it is India's largest online shoe store, retailing shoes and accessories made by some of India's best footwear and accessory brands.
The site seems very user-friendly, though there are a few technical glitches, which I hope will go away with time.

One can browse the footwear through various categories - color, brands, new arrivals, on sale and ofcourse, through various styles of shoes. So many brands like Lee Cooper, Woodland, Adidas, Levis, Nike,Reebok, Red Tape, Valentino etc. I wish, though, that they had more local branches like Finesse and The Show Garage so that women had more options.

They even have an accesories section where one can surf through (as the site suggests) wallets, belts, jackets, socks and even foot cosmetics. Though I could only see foot cosmetics :P

It's not as vast as other international websites, neither does it have as many color / styles options, but hopefully more will be added with time...

On a departing note:
I had gone to buy sth practical for office, but fell in love with this sunshine...