Potli Bags- Beauty and Ethnic Charm in One

The Potli BagsWhen it comes to bags, the Fendis and the Louis Vuittons definitely exude a lot of oomph. But there is a desi trend in bags that’s fast rising in popularity and it’s the potli bags. Recently, Rekha, the  Bollywood actress, was seen flaunting one with her Kanjivaram saree. The style diva that she is, the trend is sure to be picked by other Bollywood A-listers as well. And if sales numbers of online shopping portals are to be believed, potli bags are in high in demand in the Western world as well.

Given the elegance and beauty of these bags, their rising popularity does not come as a surprise. They are characterized by drawstrings at the mouth, and beautiful mirror work, sequin work and appliqué work that’s done on them. Potli bags are available in a range of colors, from the greens to the oranges, the yellows and everything else.

What makes them a really great accessory to have in your wardrobe is their versatility. A potli bag could go well with your suits and sarees, and it can compliment your western outfits as well. Of course, carrying one of these with an evening gown is surely a no-no, but generally speaking, they gel with almost anything.

And it is not just the design bit which makes them popular. They are highly functional as well. On the outside, they are small and compact, which makes them easy to carry. On the inside, they have plenty of space, given their shape and structure. Now, we all know we women love to carry our make-up kits, our lipsticks and a whole lot of other stuff with us. Potli bags are very convenient for that purpose.

However, if you are looking to flaunt these at the next wedding function or your next college bash, here is one piece of advice- if you have a potli bag which heavy mirror work or sequins work, avoid teaming it up with an equally heavy saree. Too much bling can be jarring for the eyes and can spoil the appeal of these charming little accessories.

Other than that, you could try color blocking or contrasting, whichever way you feel comfortable. Flaunting a green polti bag with an orange sari is perfectly fine, and so is flaunting an orange one with black jeans and white top. Either way, it works well.

Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week 2012 Review – Part 2

Day 3 – Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week

Day 3 of the Wills Lifestyle Fashion Week saw 13 designers showcasing their collections. While the previous two days were largely about ramp shows, day 3 saw activity around the stalls as well. In terms of clothes, day 3 saw a few stick to the theme of autumn/winter while a few others swayed a tad bit from the theme.

Manish Malhotra’s show garnered the maximum attention with a host of celebrities flying down to cheer the ace designer. Seen in the front row at Manish’s show were politician Shashi Tharoor, actresses Urmila Matondkar, Kangana Ranaut and Mahima Chowdhary and a few others. Manish’s collection comprised of his trademark use of bright colors, teamed with darker hues. What was interesting to see was the use of Anarkali dresses with pants instead of churidaars. Although the show did not have a wow factor to it, most of the collection was pretty decent.

 

Trends of the day:The day was largely about bright hues and colors. But what really caught the eye was the show by the duo of Pankaj and Nidhi.  Their collection as inspired from the Polish art of paper cutting and comprised of interesting patterns and silhouettes.

Star of the day: Although Manish’s show attracted the maximum attention, it was Pankaj and Nidhi’s show which was the standout performance of the day. Their use of cross stitch leather coupled with a varied range of fabrics viz. wool, silk satin, georgette etc., and the use of deep colors created a very wearable collection.

What else caught attention: Apart from clothes, Day 3 of Wills Lifestyle Fashion Week 2012 was also about a social cause. Twelve designers got together to create collection around the theme of “human trafficking.” The show saw Subi Samuel showcase his photographs titled “Alice in Wonderland.” The photos were a series of pictures taken by Samuel of a little girl Alice who was rescued by You Can Free Us NGO, an organization supporting the cause.

 

Day 4: Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week

Day 4 of the fashion week was largely a day of experiments. While Rahul Mishra experimented with two different families of yarn in his “Similar Opposites” collection, Charu Parashar experimented with silk dresses, leggings and floral appliqué. And although the day saw quite a few experimental collections from designers, it was nevertheless high on wearability.

The day also saw star power with actor R. Madhavan and actress Bipasha Basu walking the ramp for designer Rocky S.

Star of the day: Star of the day was undoubtedly Rahul Mishra with his “Similar Opposites” collection. Hand woven fabrics were used with other kinds of fabric to make for an interesting collection. The highlight of the collection was jackets where handloom wool was used. The jackets had a young feel to them and had an interesting combination of the modern and the traditional.

Color trends: The day largely saw use of black and gold with some bright hues such as pinks and greens thrown here and there.


Day 5: Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week

While the opening day belonged to Rohit Bal, the ultimate day of the event belonged to Meera Ali. Although she didn’t do the finale, her collection titled “Sense of a Woman” was high on fashion and wearability. The finale of the show was done by JJ Valaya, Kangana Ranaut being the showstopper for the finale. The designer did an Ottoman collection with his signature couture collection. A standout trend of his collection was the calligraphy done on his signature jackets and kaftans, mimicking the royal times. What also caught the eye at JJ Valaya’s show was denim bandhgalas teamed up with printed shirts.

Trends of the day: The trend of the day was definitely the subdued and feminine collection of Meera Ali. Her collection largely consisted of subdued colors in blacks, greys and browns. She played with asymmetrical cuts in dresses as well as skirts and experimented with different fabrics as well. There was suede, wool, chiffon, crepe as well as velvet to be seen in her creations. She did away with the usual bling, presenting a muted collection high on fashion and wearability.

Star of the day: Definitely Meera Ali. The finale done by JJ Valaya was good too, looks like the event picked up more and more pace everyday. In fact, the finale was an end diametrically opposite to the start of the event in every sense.

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Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week 2012 Review – Part 1

The 19th season of the Wills Lifestyle Fashion Week ended last week with the finale done by JJ Valaya. Although the ending was spectacular, this edition of the Wills Lifestyle Fashion Week was a mixed bag in more ways than one. To start with, the week was pre-poned by a month in order to match international fashion events of London and New York.

The pre-ponment of the event was one of the plausible reasons for low turnout of international buyers this year. Designers were seen cribbing about the rescheduling of the event, which definitely hit their business. In fashion terms too, the event was a mixed bag.

Day 1 – Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week

Day 1 of Wills Lifestyle Fashion Week 2012 kicked off with Shantanu and Nikhil’s creations. The duo was fashionably late by half an hour to get things underway. They showcased their collections of some modern evening gowns inspired from the Indian sari, some wearable cocktail dresses, and some short dresses as well. But what was most surprising to see was the use of chiffon and sheer fabrics for most of their creations.

In fact, sheer clothing was the norm of the day on the first day of the event. Given that it was supposed to be an autumn/winter collection, the use of transparent clothing really came as a surprise.

Trends of the day: Apart from the use of translucent clothing, another trend that was noticeable on day 1 of Wills Lifestyle Fashion Week 2012 was short skirts and figure hugging dresses.In terms of colors, Deep reds, purples, greens and golden ruled the day.

 Star of the day: The star of the day was definitely Rohit Bal, for his presentation  style. He showcased his collection offsite, on installations rather than models, which made for pretty interesting viewing. Of course, the trademark collections in white were there to grace the occasion.

 

 

Day 2 – Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week

Day 2 of Wills Lifestyle Fashion Week 2012 saw a majority of designers put up a strong show. While Day 1 was about sheer fabrics, Day 2 was largely about a mix of Indian and Western silhouettes.

In fact, Nachiket Barve was one of the standout performers of the day, with his funky saris and some cool accessories. Contrary to most other designers, Barve played with the cut and length of the fabric than the colors. And while others played largely with figure accentuating clothes, Barve kept the attention away from the hips and shoulders, but still managed to give his collection an international feel.

Trends of the day: There was no one particular trend that stood out on Day 2 of the Fashion Week. While on one hand it was about fusion clothing, with designer Vaishali S doing the best of the lot, on the other hand, it was the subdued collection of Barve that did the talking. However, compared to Day 1, Day 2 saw much tighter waistlines, which of course looked better than the “comfort fit” showcased a day earlier.

Star of the day: There were quite a few stars on Day 2 of Wills Lifestyle Fashion Week 2012. Tarun Tahiliani managed to stand upto his reputation by doing an offsite show in a posh restaurant near Qutub Minar. He showcased a diverse collection comprising of shirts, tunics, kaftans, dresses etc. Largely, his collection was for the street-fashionista. There was also the fusion line done by Vaishali S and the mastery of Barve to applaud on Day 2. Rakesh Agarwal did a good job too with his sexy evening gowns and dresses in sensual colors such as midnight blues, greens and pinks. The sexy stage act of Anushka Manchanda added to the element of the show.

Image Source : http://blog.bestylish.com/tag/wifw-2012/

Priyanka Chopra at FilmFare Awards 2012

Indian actress Priyanka Chopra looked stunning in a Greek Goddess style dress, at Filmfare awards 2012,  The FilmFare Awards is an annual Film awards and this year the  57th edition of this oldest Bollywood movie award show was held on 29th Jan, 2012 in Bollywood city Mumbai.

Priyanka seemed to stand out, looking almost as beautiful as a Greek goddess, in her powder blue Ferragamo gown, dewy pink face and hair that perfectly complemented the fluidity of the dress.