Why??...Miss INDIA and Miss INDIA TEEN Massachusetts Rhode Island New Hampshire

Miss INDIA (17 to 27 yrs) and Miss INDIA TEEN( 13 to 16 yrs) -2012  is a perfect way to bring youth together where they can work towards how to showcase their personal and cultural attributes on stage. Rather than classroom style of teaching, we believe that promotion of self esteem as an Indian and enhancing public speaking abilities through an enjoyable project would have more positive impact on young people’s mind and lives.

A beautiful Indian girl is the one who possess inherent self-confidence, charm, talent, intelligence and high self-esteem. As an Indian American, girls will acquire important life skills through rehearsal/training and experience the rich Indian culture, glamour with other contestants of her age.

In words of Dannel P. Malloy- Governor of Connecticut--”Having the oppurtunity to represent your state in a competition such as this is something I am sure you will cherish for years to come”, in his message to Miss India Connecticut.

The pageant is expected to be a great assimilation of Indians from different community groups celebrating their heritage in a unique vibrant atmosphere, and a wonderful day with the help of beautiful, talented contestants from three states and a number of accomplished artists who are performing at this show.

The contestants will participate in Evening Gown and Indian Ethnic Dress rounds . The winner will be decided after Question-Answer segment among selected five finalists based on their scores from first two rounds. Judges will be eminent, respected members of Indian, American and International community.

Entries are open at www.missindiatristate.com There is an oppurtunity for a possible moment of Titles, Tiaras, Sashes, Prizes, lots of pride as an Indian-American and an oppurtunity to be seen as a role model by others in coming years. The winners and title holders get a sense of accomplishment and that stays in their profile for life.

The awards/recognitions of this pageant are Winner, First Runner Up, Second Runner Up, Viewers Choice, Miss Congeniality, Miss Talented, Miss Photogenic. Winners will receive $500 in cash and gift certificates and oppurtunity to represent their state at Miss India USA. 

Beautiful Quote for this month: "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

-Eleanor Roosevelt

Mon Amie 'Bagwati'

Who can forget pleasing, graceful, classic, shapely, intriguing personality from Bollywood movie ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’- Bagwati!. Farhan Akhtar even cohosted Zee Cine Awards with her at Macau in early 2012. Ms Bagwati is a classic Hermes Kelly bag named after famous Hollywood actress ‘Grace Kelly’ . The star used the bag to hide her pregnant belly from the paparazzi and the bag become so associated with the actress that Hermes named it in her honor. These bags are produced in limited quantity by craftsmen in Paris every year and can only be ordered from a Hermes store. It is said that there is a one year waiting period before you get them delivered. The bag is big enough for a mother yet courtly enough for a member of royalty and not even affordable without that kind of ‘Royalty’.

Purses, pouches, or bags have been used since humans have needed to carry precious items. We can see ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs showing men wearing purses around the waist. The railway revolution of 1843 turned bags into luggage or handheld bags style. Both Parisian  brands Hermes and Louis Vuitton emerged as luggagemakers then. In 1896 the Louis Vuitton monogram canvas was introduced and is the brand’s most recognized symbol to this day. By 1930s, most of the bags used today had been invented, including the classic handbag which had handles and a clasp frame, the clutch, the satchel, and the shoulder bag. The Chanel 2.55, so named because it was released in February 1955, was the first popular shoulder bag. Coco Chanel first made these quilted bags with long gilt chains in jersey and then switched to leather visualizing the demand for luxury.

One cannot miss the splendid charisma of clutches held by hollywood and Bollywood celebrities during Red Carpet events. Sometimes, I barely even notice what the other person is wearing and get distracted by loveliness of their accessories. Recently I was very impressed by the choice of Black retro clutch carried by  a friend Preeti Nigam Munjal from Andover. The bag is a necessary accessory and I feel someone so important that it helps and supports me all the time and always stay close to me. So I would love to call it ‘Mon amie Bagwati’ (in French), or ‘My friend Bagwati’. Bags are very personal, they hold the things you need for the day and the things you want to have just for comfort. Market is full of sophisticated, timeless, simply brilliant designs and brands to chose from and I think it is really wise to invest in a good quality one, and also New Englanders must stay away from famous closeby fake destinations (as I have heard) like Canal Street in NewYork. My accessory designer friend Deepashri once told me that fake designer bags do not have quality stitches and fine hardware and not even a  proportionate well placed gusset which is what makes all the difference so you cannot compare an authentic designer bag with a fake one.

Before I got an introduction of Coach, Chanel, LV or Burberry, I liked an Indian brand ‘Da Milano’ and used to visit their Connaught place based showroom in New Delhi to check their collections and buy’em. They were expensive for someone in early 20’s yet the quality of craftsmanship and variety of styles never disappointed me and I remained their loyal customer for a longtime. Their styles were functional and fashionable at the same time. At Wills India Fashion Week 2012 a newly emerged handcrafted leather accessories designer label ‘SRZ Studios’ introduced ‘asusual unusual’ a unique handbag and luggage collection made with 100% biodegradable vegetable dyed leather inspired by grandparents wardrobe and made with retro style for both men and women. One can buy them at Taj Hotel boutiques in India.

The bag that one carries add a lot of personality to your outfit. One can try wearing a white basic blouse with blue jeans and carry it with red leather envelope style bag, alternatively try a Vera Bradley quilted shoulder bag also. You can easily see the difference. Also, there is no rule that the bag color or texture has to match your shoes. If you care, bags are also a status symbol.

Now what I am thinking of is a bag which can carry my IPad, wallet, cellphone, some makeup and yet look sleek, very stylish and be luxuriously branded.

Fashion Quote for July 2012: “When I first moved to New York I bought VOGUE instead of dinner. I just felt, it fed me more.”

-Carrie Bradshaw

Power Dressing For Indian Women

Women of Indian origin love traditional elements from culture and often wear heavily embellished and embroidered clothes in bright colors. Indian culture is very expressive but for power dressing most important thing is how to control it and chose the style that works best for our personality and work environment. A woman’s clothes and accessories reflect meaningful things about her and they can help in showing right business attitude while in a formal social or business occasion. Armani is the designer who first created power suits for women as he realized that there is a need for women at their workplaces to be taken seriously. It is an art to look professional while retaining femininity. Business and social entrepreneurs and those working in a corporate environment must practice this and master it.

Indian women worldwide seem to be obsessed with famous Indian Kurti (Tunic Top). When they wore it in late 90’s and till mid 2000‘s it looked unique, professional and stylish. If you wear the same kurti now, it will easily make you blend in the crowd. Try a sherwani style with pashmina or handpainted silk stole, or silk top with brocade blazer for that professional stand-out look. 

Power dressing is related to job environment and the local culture too. Classic cut clothes, dark colors, neutrals, minimal patterns usually help in conveying the right image.  To stand out in a crowd, a  professional looking designer bag, statement ring and a sophisticated pair of shoes will work. Heels and a little makeup is a must add-on to feel confident about yourself. A polished look always wins, you can go for white clothes too but it is bit difficult color to carry, make sure it has the right silhouette and details, also matched with right accessories. For common Indian skin it is very easy to be lost in a light color Indian outfit, whereas the key is not to let beauty of your clothes and accessories overpower your face and personality.

For most of the Indian women, Freida Pinto’s natural makeup will work better than Red Retro. This Indian actress from Mumbai, who became famous from Slumdog Millionaire has created a space for herself in Hollywood’s glamorous events and fashion magazines. A fine watch must be an essential and also for final touch you can’t go wrong with blow dried hair. Low cut, tight or short clothes are not appropriate at any level in a professional environment. Bags that look like a weekend tote or a mommy kit are a strict no too. Also, one should try to find alternates to floral prints and embroideries. There are many options if you search-pin tucks, tone on tone embroideries, khadi silk, swarovski crystal components, block printed and jacquard variety of silk fabrics and much more.

Professional women often struggle with how glamorous should be their look for a formal evening. When in doubt, Black and white is a safe choice. Recent trends in Milan and the wall street journal’s view says that power dressing is now prettier than ever. Oscar De La Renta in their fall 2012 collection showed lace suits. I also love Naeem Khan’s corporate fashions for Fall this year with lots of Asian ornamentation done in a way that it stays business like and formal. If you have evaluated all the options for your personality and found the one that works best for you, then there is no need to change it , you can stick with it and maintain a signature style. Simi Gerewal always wear whites, Bollywood stars Rekha is always seen wearing heavy silk saree with gold jewelry and now her follower Vidya Balan too during all award ceremonies. The typical ethnic look with traditional Indian attire can work in Indian gathering but that should not be done in a multicultural environment or at a formal business conference, meeting or even office party. Another point to consider is when starting a new job or changing careers, dress more conservatively than creatively.

Deepa Narula, researcher and educationist from India who owns many schools in New Delhi, says that the embroidered Indian suits make her merge with the crowd which does not support her position as an administrator. She needs to reflect her power to maintain control in campus. She has now turned to Western talilored dresses in solid colors and wear them with tights. She admits that for social gathering in evening her choice would be long suits made famous by Pakistani fashion designers in New Delhi.

It seems that here is a beginning of another trend. It is very common for celebrities in West to come up with their product line, and now the well known Telugu actor Chiranjeev’s brother Pawan kalyan is launching a clothing line of sportswear apparel. We can hope to see more Indian celebrity brand apparels coming in near future. Talking about trends, Jharna Madan has come back with fifth rank in Mrs India International which was held in Atlanta in end of May 2012. We are surely going to see many more participants going for beauty pageants from New England area in coming years.

Lady Gaga was in a Hong Kong fashion event recently and she wore a white contemporary white gown designed by Indian designers Alpana and Neeraj Mittal, also a hat designed by Shilpa. It is a dream come true for designers who believe in their creativity and work for out-of the box collections. The IIFA rocks will be held in Singapore this year and will showcase collections by designers Suneet Verma, Masaba and Varun Bahl. 

As India New England Women of the year 2012 is around the corner in Boston, we have known so many powerful women having ability to move people, organizations to another level and ability to make community groups stand together for various causes and for what they believe. Dear Indian women, you have worked very hard to earn meaningful positions in our society , reward yourself with quality pieces, and above all style ideas and universal principles of dressing, make sure you wear lots of attitude.


Fashion Thought for June 2012
"Fashions fade, style is eternal." YSL

Those Who Wear Black...

New england has very conservative style of dressing so formal often means Black. What makes me write this blog today is viewing Ralph Lauren’s Fall 2012 line and is full of long black dresses with heavy gold ornamentation, feels like inspired from Egypt. American women with classic taste have always been pairing black with silver or white gold but it seems that a lot of yellow metal will be worn with black in 2012 as D&G, Bottega Veneta and many others have also shown the same combination in their clothing and accessories for Fall this year.

In Indian fashion scenario, color Black is viewed as modern, fashionable and glamorous choice. The tradition tells a different story though, about black clothes not to be worn during any joyous, auspicious occasions. Recently, I read guidelines for travel to India which said ‘Do not wear Black clothes while visiting a Jain temple’. Inspite of availability of finest Indian traditional clothes in black, it is hard to find a Hindu bride or groom’s mother wearing Black saree during wedding, or a part of trousseau collection. The Pooja (ceremony of worshipping Hindu God) host and their close family members also avoid wearing Black.

The popularity of Black as a formal choice comes from the fact that it helps wearer hide curves and look thinner, but that also depends on the silhouette. There has been centuries of religious and cultural symbolism in India favouring bright colors. We can blame it on heat also. Schoeller Textil’s coldblack technology has come up with a fabric finish if applied on the garment, the wearer feels temperature a few degrees lower, should make it easy to wear black during summer.

Black threads in India are often worn by men, women and kids as protection from evil. Black beads are also part of Indian traditional necklace ‘Mangalsutra’. A consultant from Gabriel Design was surprised to know that the Black spaniel and diamond necklace they were displaying actually resembles an auspicious piece of jewelry given to a wife from her husband after marriage. 

Lakme India fashion week in March 2012  showed designers using Black and mixing it with whites, gold ornamentation and prints. I liked the way Anita Dongre, Arpam Vohra, Malini Agarwalla and famous designer Rohit Bal have used it keeping the conservative Indian styling in mind and playing with colors and surface ornamentation. Although a new england resident will still find these clothes too modern to be worn in an Indian social get together. 

The Indian designer Manish Arora who is known worldwide for his surrealist runway collections, joined french designer Paco Rabanne in 2011 as an art director and worked on a project to create ready-to-wear line which can portray the right brand image as this french designer also is known for highly creative surreal creations. He has now resigned. I am sure Lady Gaga is not happy with this news as this design duo could create more things well suited for her.

Fashion thought of the Month: “Those who wear Black live a colorful life”.

India welcomes Vogue's first edition

The world has its eyes on India where number of millionaires are rapidly growing. Truly speaking, when I go there it seems that they are multiplying. For the same reason multinational companies see India as one of the countries with high growth potential, with the most intelligent manpower available and good living conditions.

'Conde Nast', the company that owns 'Vogue' brand has launched its 17th Vogue with India edition. 'Vogue' is best described as a fashion bible and its launch is a clear indication of the global brands having keen interest in Indian consumers. The magazine is more colorful than all the other 16 editions and is going to display Indowestern fusion of style. The market entry is done with 50,000 copies and is availbale in about 40 towns in more than 5000 outlets. The launch party was done at Umaid Bhavan Palace in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

The cover page has Bollywood stars Bipasha Basu, Priyanka Chopra and Australian supermodel Gemma Ward. Vogue cover girls are styled by British Vogue's fashion director Lucinda Chambers and shot by Patrick Demarchelier world's leading fashion photographer.

Affluent Indian women of today want the best of both Indian and Western fashion. Bravo! Indian designers to create fashion scene in India and the consumers with loads of money in their wallet.

The Nehru Jacket

India's first primeminister 'JawaharLal Nehru'(1947to 1964) is credited to popularize the famous single breasted,hip length jacket with band collar. It is fitted like a regular suit jacket and called as 'Nehru Jacket'. This style came to West in late 60's which stayed there till early 70's. 1960's was the time when foreign cultures had a strong influence on society and that revealed in fashion too.

Hollywood has always seen it as a villain's attire....oops Nehru didn't know this character of his favourite jacket....or probably he discovered a powerful style element hidden in it and that is what he liked in it. Indian politians, rich and famous-all have their wardrobes loaded with Nehru jackets.It is a kind of uniform among all the James Bond Villains. In the popular Harry Potter movies, Severus Snape (played by Alan Rickman) is always shown wearing a black robe with a black Nehru jacket-like underpiece. Hugo Drax in Moonraker, Dr.Evil in Austin Powers, Dr No in Dr No and many more villains have worn it. All round entertainer Sammy Davis claimed to have owned 200 of these.

In 60's intellectuals, musicians and religious leaders had special interest in Indian culture. The Beatles even travelled to India to study 'Meditation from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The same Maharishi who has a dedicated TV channel'. Some musicians actually went ahead to learn Indian music. This jacket was available in variety of fabrics and sometimes worn with beads giving it a little hippie character. It could be a fashion fad in west but a classic men's outfit in India. Every Indian men has at least 1-2 of these jackets. It is considered a perfect choice for a groom's attire to be worn on his special occassions be it engagement, wedding day or reception. If any of my male readers do not own one, think of the powerful, diplomatic, dominating character associated with it ........ go ahead to get one stitched.

1980's

1980's (80-89) saw the mix of styles with the beat "everything bold and flashy". Everyone had their individual style depending on their personality and lifestyle. There was money and lots of activity in society. The generation of baby boomers were young and working. By 80's it was not unusual to see women working in high positions. The 'power dressing' for women was shown by the popularity of use of shoulder pads, mini skirts, bold hairstyles, high heels in bright colors.

In 1983 the movie "Flashdance" popularized the ripped sweatshirts with one exposed shoulder for women. Bollywood actress 'Dimple' wore the similar one in movie "Aitbaar". The superhit style icons of 80's were 'Michael Jackson' and 'Madonna'. They gained fame all over the world. Madonna wore brassiers for the first time as outerwear and the youngsters followed her. Lace gloves, tulle skirts, boytoy belts, fishnet stockings, layers of beaded necklace were the trends set by her. Michael Jackson as an icon spread red/black leather pants, jackets, one glove sometimes without fingers, sunglasses and the love for breakdance.

The elements of casualwear were getting into the formal dressing which gave birth to contemporary style. Men started to wear casual T-shirts under expensive jackets. People started wearing sneekers as casual wear instead of only wearing them as an athletic wear. Acid washed jeans and denim jackets was another popular style. Tatooting and piercing had their own reflections. Left ear piercing was acceptable for a heterosexual male and right ear piercing would mean homosexuality. Pret a porter (Ready to wear) design business flourished in 80's because the trend was to reflect the money that you have and that is what happens when the young generation has money.

1980's also saw legwarmers, puffed sleeves, hairstyles with bangs, headbands, tight pants with lose shirts, polka dots and aerobics wear. The designers used lycra/ spandex and viscose in making of special fabrics.

Dance and Music were the main theme of many influential movies of both Hollywood and Bollywood. The bollywood 'disco dancer' and 'dance dance' movies followed the success of 'Dirty dancing', "Flashdance' etc. ' Mithun Chakraborty was a disco dance icon. I remember as a kid (80's) we used to dance on his dance numbers in our birthday parties.

Amitabh Bachan and Jitendra could be seen dancing the same actions as the actresses. They also wore make up in their movies. Some of the 80's pop singers in west also wore makeup like Boy George, Duran Duran.

Sridevi was the no 1 heroine in Bollywood. She had dark and bold make up on her face, hairstyles with bangs and little overacting in most of her movies. Overacting, dark lipstick and eyeliner were the trends.

The era of 'Minimalism' (90's) in India started with the movie 'Maine pyaar Kiya"(1989) in which the story,acting, screenplay, songs and dresses did not have that extra, bold and flashing character of 80's. All over the world 90's saw 'Minimalist' as wearing the frills, makeup and color just as much as they needed.

The fashion and style trends start repeating them after every 20 years and If we look at the trends now we have reflections of 80's like the return of tight pants and lose shirts, high heels in bold colors, hairstyle with bangs and lots of layers, puff sleeves, patent leather, shoulder pads in jackets, dresses with high waist belts etc.

I am sure 80's had so much going on that I must have missed one or the other point. You are welcome to add on as a comment if you find some other thing.