The Aashni & Co Wedding Show

This time last week I was in the presence of Indian fashion royalty. Held at The Dorchester Ballroom, I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the Aashni & Co wedding show, featuring all of my favourite designers, possibly the most incredible floral displays I’ve seen to date and a bridal beauty demonstration. I was surrounded by the most gorgeous pieces and their creators! (To say I was excited would be a huge understatement)

The designers featured were: Anamika Khanna, Anushree Reddy, Arpita Mehta, Ashima-Leena, Elisha W, Jaipur Gems, Kotwara by Meera Muzaffar Ali, Manish Malhotra, Monisha Thahryamal, Nikasha, Pallavi Jaikishan, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Rimple and Harpreet Narula, Sabyasachi, Shehlaa, Sonali Gupta, Tarun Tahiliani and Varun Bahl. (I know…breathe..)

The day started fabulously with a much needed coffee en route to The Dorchester. As soon as I entered the ballroom, I was completely overwhelmed with the amount of elegance and glamour facing me. The whole show was decorated with absolutely stunning floral displays by Zita Elze, with an entrance display that was just magical.

You see what I mean…

I realised I was surrounded by some of the most incredible pieces I had literally ever seen!

Shehla Khan

Manish Malhotra

Sabyasachi

Tarun Tahiliani

Once this had all sunk in, I wandered into the exhibitors area and it was just so much more than I had ever imagined. The designers were in their own stalls, surrounded by their garments and freely talking to the public. It was endearing to see my idols humanised for a day!

Having found the ability to breathe again, I headed off to find and speak with the designers. Here are some quotes and pictures from the most amazing day.

I absolutely LOVE Anushree Reddy’s work, the florals and prettiness poured into all of her designs, is something that has inspired me since her first collection.

Anushree Reddy: It is great to be able to be here and visit a city and meet the brides who buy my work. We need to experiment with different markets and you only learn by going there.

Sabyasachi: I love helping young people, so when Aashni came into my store and told me I had to make a collection for her store I couldn’t say no. I was young and starting up once too, I like the confidence in young people.

Photo credit – OneTimeFashionista

Manish Malhotra: My collection here today is basically bringing back the classic red. I like taking vintage and heritage culture and giving it a modernising nature, which is easy to wear and personality driven.

Another stunning banquet display

Tarun Tahiliani: My first show at the Dorchester was in 1995. It was the first show I ever did and it was one of the most beautiful, magical nights. When I heard the venue for this event was the Dorchester, I had to do it just to do something a little different. It is wonderful being here. I had no idea it would be such an incredible turnout. It has been wonderful speaking to brides and the audience here

Aashni with her royal fashion entourage

Aamir Naveed and Ambreen hair and makeup demonstration

Tamara Al Gabbani; brand ambassador for Jaipur Gems mid interview

Needless to say…I was a very happy me by the end of the day!!

Shop the designers at Aashni & Co

Happy Sunday

.x.

Why You Need a Wedding Planner

Every bride believes they can plan their wedding by themselves, and so does every Mother of the bride, every mother in law, every sister, every cousin, every aunt…(you see where I am going with this). The worst culprits of this thought process are Asian brides!

I’m sure many brides are capable of doing so, but my question is why would you, when there are people who dedicate their lives to this type of planning. I mean they REALLY love seating plans, guest lists, crockery arrangements and more, and they REALLY love doing it for everybody else!!
Seriously..I know because I am one of these creatures!

I am here to let you know why it is beneficial to have a wedding planner.

The Bride Loves Sharing

When thinking about bridal make up, the keywords are natural, subtle, elegant and pretty. Red lipstick isn’t a first choice for a white wedding for the fear of looking overdone and vampy, however red lipstick is such a gorgeous way of creating a bridal look and can easily be used for a natural elegant look and any good bridal make up artist can do this for you.

Red lipstick is very vintage and 1920’s but we’re all about living past eras, especially in fashion and beauty, because well..

Enough said.

Choosing a red lipstick that suits your skin tone is imperative. Here a few pointers in choosing the right shade.

Firstly there are different types of skin, cool and warm. Warm skin has yellow and golden undertones, whereas cool skin has pink and blue undertones. The quickest way to figure it out? Look at the veins on your inner wrist in natural light: if they look green you have warm skin, and if they look blue, you have cool skin.

Warm Skin Tones
For warm complexions use orangey reds, tomato reds, reds with a golden base or tawny reds

Cool Skin Tones
For cool complexions use pink reds, berry reds, reds with a blue undertone like plums

For all skin tones a REAL red would work- think post box red.

Now that we have skin tones covered we move to skin colours..

(picture sourced from The Beauty Department)

Porcelain Skin
Cool undertoned reds generally speaking look the best with this type of skin, however for a statement look use a warm red.

Fair Skin
Fair skin in general should use a cooler red, hints of plum work wonders. Again using a warm red creates a bold look.

Bisque Skin
This warm skinned colour suits a cooler look, think light berry to create your look.

Beige Skin
Yellow undertones in this skin prefer a warm red , golden undertoned to set off the colour in your skin. A cool red in this case add drama.

Olive Skin
A warm red with a green or brown undertone look amazing with olive skin, think autumn reds and you have your perfect match.

Tawny Skin
A warm brown red is more suited to you than a berry gold red, but with this skin a cool colour can sometimes create more of a match. For tawny skin I would suggest trialling a few and then taking photos. The photos will tell you which suits you.

Caramel Skin
Orange reds are PERFECT for caramel skin, probably the only skin colour to REALLY be able to carry an orange undertoned red.

Dark Skin
Go deep! go for a deep dark maroon, these colours suit without looking scary (as they would on a fairer skin colour.

I will leave you with some of my favourite red lip looks..

.x.

Gorgeous Ways to Wear Headpieces

So you’ve heard of wearing a tikka and you are either completely for them (YES) or not a fan..

This post is solely dedicated to show you beautiful ways everyone can wear them..and make you a firm YES person!

Tikkas can very quickly turn an outfit from lovely to bridal and well, that’s really what we’re going for!

Traditional
The traditional way to wear a tikka is to align to the middle of your forehead and pin back through your hair, here are some very simple tikkas to try and tempt you into wearing one on your big day…

See how pretty they are! They can be made in almost anything these days and can be custom made to match your bridal jewellery!

Recently there has been a trend in wearing 1920’s style headgear, but all ‘asianed’ up..not sure what I mean? Think of The Great Gatsby..minus the feathers and add some gorgeous Kundan rows..

Ok so these aren’t exactly Kundan but therrreee you go! Mental image complete.

There are so many variations to how these can be worn..

There’s the single row

Yes believe it or not that is actually a single row!

No that is not a real person. yes it is very scary.

The multiple row..

actually a little scarier – but gorgeous double rowed tikka piece

The side parting rows…

Praise The Lord!

OR the even newer trend of having no rows and having a one piece at the centre of your forehead..

Or for those with a side parting…the side piece!

How can you resist the head bling!!

Happy forehead decorating!

.x.

Zuhair Murad!

Zuhair Murad is one of my favourite designers and one of my biggest inspirations as a bridal designer. He creates this amazing East-West fusion in gowns; the same foundation that underpins my own designs, within his bridal wear, Haute couture and ready to wear collections. His Lebanese foundation mixed with his fantasy sketching has led him to be one of the most talented designers today.

Haute Couture

I love his haute couture because this is what we are drawn towards when deciding outfits for our receptions. This is where we can wear the most gorgeous Indian – Western fusion gown known to man!

This Chiffon high neck makes the perfect reception gown – the beading is a very Eastern style of beading found on sarees and lenghas. Chiffon is a very classy and bridal fabric which makes an appearance in a lot of ZM collections. (Good choice!)

This embellishment and embroidery is perfect for an Indian fusion outfit

This type of dress in colours! Just shows how perfect it would be to match your colour schemes!

Bridal Collections

Using the most amazing fabrics and silhouettes he has created a fantasy land with embroidery and embellishment fit for a princess! Here are a few of my favourites from his AW14 collection

 Genuinely my favourite dress of all time!

 This is the kind of embroidery that makes me want to cry at how perfect it is!

With saree gowns coming into their own this year and only growing as a trend into next, these kind of dresses are to arrive on the horizon in multitudes! And I cannot wait!

Leaving you all with some of my favourite images from ZM collections to date….enjoy!

You can see why I am so inspired!! To the drawing board!!!

Happy Reading!

Featuring : ZuhairMurad and various Pinterest users (seriously guys get on Pinterest)

.x.

To be on Trend – Fall ’14 Part 2

 And for part two only the BEST colour – PINK! No..HOT Pink!!!

 This is one of the easiest colours to be able to wear within your bridal attire – not only is it gorgeous, but the colour is so complimentary to Red, Green and Cream it could almost just replace the Red.

Here are a few of my favourites..

This is gorgeous because, although the main colour is pink, the highlights of red make it an amazing alternative for a bridal outfit.

Not your traditional conventional bridal attire, but how AMAZING! the velvet and the flower veins have a Snow White-esque feel and with a slight tweaking of colour – you could be the trendiest Disney bride ever!

This beautiful hot pink and gold brocade lengha would be ideal. Perhaps changing the Dupatta colour to have a gold/ cream base or adding a cream border, would make this more bridal and more traditional. But if you love the pink…you go for it!

This is a Pagli creation which is simply stunning. Simple enough to carry the hot pink, yet heavy enough to be considered bridal. Your secondary dupatta would need to be Cream/ Gold to be able to carry this.

I am absolutely in love with this! The pink has a blue undertone to it which I think makes me love it more! Perfectly simple, perfectly bridal! IF you wanted to feel that little bit more special – throwing some rhinestones and jewels on to it would achieve that! (You can never have too many jewels right?!)

This stunner is a Manish Malhotra  (as if it weren’t obvious). I am in love with the metallics on this outfit! such a nice replacement for gems and jewels. I don’t think I need to say anymore…

I found this photo on Pinterest (yes I am obsessed with Pinterest) and couldn’t get over how gorgeous this design was. The Red features as the main bridal highlight however the pink borders make this style that little more pretty and that little more on trend! I just wish I knew the designer of it!

This is a beautiful lengha to wear if you are going all out for colour – perhaps on a mehndi night or a sangeet. Adding a tulle underlay would make this that little bit more bridal.

This is one of my favourites…Pink, Gold, cream AND jewels…how can you go wrong?! The fishtail style of skirt makes this that little bit more glam.  I would personally shorten the blouse so as not to cover the gorgeous skirt waist detail. Everything about this outfit screams yes!

To conclude our journey to the land of PINK, here is an outfit mixing a couple of the jewelled tones together: Mendhi night you say?

LOVE!

Be Pink!

.x.

To be on Trend – Fall ’14 Part 1

As most of you are aware, getting colour into our traditional Indian outfit is quite tricky. Without just putting a few coloured gems into the embellishment or adding a coloured stone necklace, getting this pop of a colour other than red, white or green is fairly challenging.

We are in the Autumn/ Winter phase of the cycle at the moment, and as you may or may not know one of the biggest trends for Fall ’14 are Jewel Tones. This bodes very well for us as the Pantone (colour) chart looks something like this…

Over a few of the next posts we will be looking at all of these colours and getting them in to your big day!!

Looking at Teal

Here are a few images of some traditional bridal outfits that you can use as inspiration to be the trendiest bride!

Some of these aren’t to my taste, but the general colour idea is there!

Featuring collections from

http://www.charmicreations.com

And other unknown designers

Happy Fall!

.x.

30 Second Post // Indian Wedding Up-dos

Surely there’s only one way to have your hair at your Indian ceremony? In a bun and under your dupatta/ chundri (I’m a guj.)

Here are some pretty styles to make sure your hair looks lovely under it! As long as you have a good hair stylist, these styles will stay under the weight of your outfit! (Hairspray and hair grips will be in abundance of course)

And there’s a new trend emerging with no bun!!

Whatever your style, have happy hair!

.x.