Gay

Limited Edition - I came across the brand at the Black Taxi Exhibit in Bandra a while ago. The good thing about the exhibit – it brought together all the elements of style & substance. The exhibit featured 25 amazing new designers who are kicking design ass and boy, was it good!

Which brings me to my point – not all design that comes from India needs to be kitsch. Please, stop the Mere Paas Maa Hai crap. Coming back to the point…exhibitions like these really make you see some great talent and I had an awesome day – striking colours and bright lights! And I stopped in my tracks as I felt the soft blue cloth bags with my bare fingers at the Limited Edition counter.

‘Limited Edition’ is a budding idea of two young entrepreneurs, (one of them I spoke to- who was super fun to talk to) whose big idea is of course, to give the modern salwar-wearing woman a fitting bag. The Indian cloth bags that we see nowadays aren’t very well-made. And if they’re well-made –they are not in style – or they’re terribly tacky or there’s not great stuff to choose from.

And that is why these girls say they have created a passionate collection of funky, printed and unique bags that are conceptualized and manufactured to suit everyone.

And they’re malleable – the bags go from western to completely Indian depending on the way you style it. The two girls, one a designer and the other a banker got together to make this dream of theirs work.

And the best thing – one of them tells me – life’s nothing if you don’t follow that passion and she’s made it work while catering to her day job. That for me is amazing! She also tells me that we in India – the hub of the textile industry – don’t make good cloth bags and that got me thinking. That is so true!

The label that started in 2009 was a weekend venture. Work on weekdays and scouting for fabrics and new trends on the weekends. That way, it wasn’t an easy passion.

The good thing about the girls is that their idea of style is simple. India in their opinion doesn’t work with the Spring-Summer and Autumn-Winter code. Rather, it is all about the festive and the non-festive route that works brilliantly. Bingo!

Also, the girls are dependent on fabrics that they source from outside which they’ve smartly used to their advantage. So, you don’t get the same style or fabric over and over again. A good way to stay exclusive, don’t you think?

The bags range start from Rs 950 – Rs 2000. The wallets at Rs 550 and cute little tassels and bag accessories at Rs 150. To know more about the brand after seeing these pretty pictures, go to their FB page.

Now go take a look at their Summer Quilts Collection. Pretty awesome in nice pastel shades!

P.S The Limited Edition collection is soon coming out with a recycled range. I heard all the juicy details so watch this space.

 
 

Via modernmotive.com

I am always up for a challenge – I understand that there’s no greater pleasure than the pleasure of risk – I often challenge myself in word games or even fashion games. But I am scaredddd of hair colour. Yes, you heard it right. I absolutely hate putting anything chemical-y on my hair. Except for conditioner and volumizer. Now, you got to be careful with hair colour. It’s never the same colour as they make it look on a carton. And two, you might look like the cat dragged you out after a few days of hair colour in the sun. Dangerous, I thought!

But then along came the Wella Bloggers Women’s Meet. On a bright chirpy Saturday morning we were invited to the newest and most coolest restaurant – Bungalow 9. I walked in and started scanning the place only to catch a few bloggers chatting away to glory with a thin lanky lady in a blue tank.

She looked weirdly familiar – and a few minutes of peeping-but-not-directly looking, I realized it’s no one but Natasha Nageamwala - The Hair Expert. No she doesn’t have those bangs anymore and no she’s hot and mostly, very very sweet.

I introduced myself and sat with her in the bright sunlight and asked her everything I can ever ask on hair colour. You know this time, I’m gonna do it the right way. And you, if you’re just like me…here’s what I heard and it sounded so good.

• Get a haircut, get a new dress…your boy doesn’t blink his eye. But get a change of hair colour and he will jump up with joy…or not! 92% of Indian women feel people around them do notice hair colour. So maybe it’s not a bad idea.
• Two coloured hair swatches are dipped in water, and Natasha promises that other Hair Colour brands drip colour more.
• 96% Indian women in a survey say Wella Kolestint is the Best Hair Colour Brand they have ever used. Now that’s relative but still huge.
• Wella does have a swatch sheet stuck on the side with shades of hair and the colour they will turn once you apply the carton. Easy to know and guess…no more hoping that hair will turn out to be “ok—ee—zay”. It will be just more than just fine.
• One can colour hair ideally every six weeks.
• Must-use: Colour safe shampoo. And Natasha says that the Wella Colour Protection Conditioner is just yummy and keeps your hair healthy.
• Sun is not so fun in India so don’t expect hair colour to stay forever. Be realistic – cover hair when you go out and use colour safe shampoo.
• Hair colour can never make it grey later. What are you? Six? Grey hair is in your DNA, not in the shampoo or hair colour you use.
• Never have too many treatments on your hair at one time. Poor hair, leave it be! If its permed, don’t colour for a bit and vice versa.
• Size of the colour pigment matters. So red ideally fades faster than brown. Just like clothes left out in the sun far too long.
• You can determine hair colour by two things. Are you a cool or warm person? Is your skin more yellow ( warm) or blue (cool)? Choose colours according to that.
• You will always need help with a DIY box. So don’t think you’re a smartie and mess it all up without help.
• You can shampoo safely after colouring. Truth!

So that’s that. Interesting heh? I’ll show you my new hair on the blog soon. Wish me luck! But before that, catch the pictures from the event. No hard selling – just the truth – Natasha was a great sport and she tells it like it is. Will keep you updated.

P.S Bungalow 9 food was amazing and I met @ideasmithy and @streakhuefall, the two cool gals from the blogosphere!

P.P.S Bips is the new Wella Kolestint Ambassador. She looks too good!!

All this Osama and Obama talk is getting me all riled up. I mean, the world in the last two days has become Moses + Red Sea situation – and as some might call – vegemite-marmite situation. And that my dear is a complicated way of saying – the world’s taking two sides! One heralds Osama as martyr and the other considers Obama the leader. Of course, if you ask me – I’ll move over to the B side- the Obama side and my reasons are entirely frivolous save only for the few pages of The Audacity of Hope I read in drunken stupor.

And that got me thinking. About why icons become iconic. And who we choose to influence us and who we allow into our lives and hearts. And most of all, why they hold the key to your mind and your half-deduced personality.

I’ve had my share of loves, loathes and leftovers. My earliest influences were – Alexander The Great ( don’t ask me – something about the ‘conquering-the-world’ hotness), Nathaniel Netanyahu ( Read 90 minutes at Entebbe – a book my dad bought me in STD 8^th), Indira Gandhi ( short hair-cut aside – the guts) and probably a bit of fiction – Elizabeth Bennet for everything ballsy and oh, for that pride.

But slowly and surely I grew up but my loves remained the same – well almost. I added Howard Roark, Michael Corleone, Anais Nin, Shah Rukh Khan, Rahul Gandhi, Ines De La Fressange – and hey, even my mother. I’ve had many mentors at work – people who got me and made me who I am. But not without some disciplining. And I recommend that journey – to everyone. In a day and age when 15-mins-of-fame can win iconic statuses – it’s important who we permit into our lives.

Which brings me to the awesome Levi’s Shape What’s to Come Project.  It’s interesting – the blog held by Levi’s and TED is targeted towards recognition of young women who are channelling their passions to impact society. This is the first time that this program called ‘Shape What’s to Come’ (SWTC) will be held in India and because of this, the chosen ones will be recognized as the founding members of the SWTC community here.

Levi’s ‘Shape What’s to Come’ is looking for passionate young Indian women http://edl.mn/SWTC-I + http://edl.mn/SWTCform

 For those chosen as founding members, they will get to:

1.       Help set the course of the SWTC community in India

2.       Be a mentor and inspiration for other young women in India

3.       Attend TEDGlobal in Edinburgh in July 2011

More information is available here and the form can be accessed at this link. Do note that the last date for applications is May 4th, 2011.

So now, here’s your chance to become your dream. And maybe someone elses. And maybe it’s an enclosure, a place where you find inspiring kinds. Ones who push you and pull you closer to the big goal. I’ll only say one thing – Be Unafraid!

Pic courtesy: lazy gal quilting