Guest Blog: Bloggers' Fave Five Fashion Moments - The Pennywise Dulhan

Hey all, I'm going to be caught up today in appointments and errands, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to blog.  Filling in for me is the Pennywise Dulhan.  She's a T.O. based blogger, like me, and a newlywed (congratulations PWD!), she started her blog shortly after her wedding to share her experiences and give brides a practical view of an industry that is in all honestly, meant to suck the money out of your marrow. So go show some love, people! Anyways, here are her picks from the best of the South Asian wedding fashion scene:

Hi everyone! I’m really excited to be here today – thank you Asiya for inviting me. I love bridal fashion and styling, so it was difficult to narrow the list to my five favourites. Sources of inspiration are everywhere: fashion week runways, magazine editorials, designer ad campaigns, styled shoots and real brides. I had sensory overload while wedding planning... you may experience this too. Luckily for South Asian brides, there are multiple wedding events which allow for multiple bridal looks, so you don’t have to choose just one! Here are my favourite fashion moments from the last two years.

1. Favourite Real Bride: Anum

Rima Darwash via Asian Wedding Ideas

A well-styled, elegant and confident bride can be the difference between a forgettable to an unbelievable wedding. The right fit and proper styling will do more for a bride’s look than the presence of a designer label on the dress or shoes.

Anum is the perfectly styled bride. Her bridal look shows thoughtful consideration of colour and cut of dress, placement of dupatta, flattering makeup, accents of flowers and delicateness of accessories. The pale pink makes her look angelic and her dupatta placement looks like an extension of her dress, rather than weighing her down. Even though her wedding decor is beautiful, the real star of the show is the bride (as she should be).

2. Favourite designer ad campaign: TanishQ

Sharon Nayak Photography via AAINA Bridal Blog.

My favourite designer ad campaign is Prelude by Sharon Nayak featuring Tanishq jewelry. I love the vintage combination of pearls and tulle with soft reds and pinks.

3. Favourite Fashion Week Runway show: Karma

images via Asianaires

My favourite runway show was by Karma at PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2011. The halos, the flower girls, the free-flowing curly locks and rosette dresses... oh my! I love hippie-chic at its best.

4. Favourite Magazine Editorial: South Asian Bride Magazine

Saadia Mirza for South Asian Bride Magazine

My favourite magazine editorial was by Saadia Mirza for South Asian Bride Magazine’s Winter 2011 issue. I love the modern yet vintage combination of pearl necklaces with kundan sets, offset with smoky eye makeup. This shoot was the inspiration for my own wedding makeup and jewellery.

5. Favourite Vendor Collaborative Styled Shoot: Amna Hakim

Amna Hakim Photography via AAINA Bridal Blog

A Decadent Afternoon Tea was a styled shoot photographed by Amna Hakim and featured dresses by Sobia Saleem. This shoot was the first time that dresses with long flowy A-line blouses moved from Pakistani runways to the consciousness of the sophisticated South Asian/North American audience. All of these dresses are perfect for a bridal trousseau.

Thank you PWD for those great choices.  A lot of these have been featured on my blog, and other blogs I read daily, which is kind of cool for the blogging world on the whole!

 

Designer Bride: Bridal Asia 2011 - Shanthanu & Nikhil and Siddhartha Tyler

Shanthanu and Nikhil

Siddhartha Tyler

All images via Paklinks Wedding Forum

Designer Bride: Bridal Asia 2011 - Ravaghendra Rathore and Sabyasachee Mukherjee

Ravaghendra Rathore

Sabyasachee Mukherjee



All Images via Paklinks Wedding Forum

Designer Bride: Bridal Asia 2011 - Honey Waqar and Pallavi Jaikishen

Honey Waqar

  

Pallavi Jaikishen

All images via Paklinks Wedding Forum.

The Inspired Bride: Coming Up Roses

Spray of Roses, Vogue India Fashion Spread, Valentino Couture 2006, all via my Tumblr.

Bollywood Bride: Sonam Kapoor in Thank You

I haven't written a B-Town Bride post in ages because I haven't actually  had time to sito down to watch a movie in a long while.  And to be honest, my first choice when I did eventually find some time to watch a movie was not going to be a Bollywood movie.  Instead I saw Bridesmaids, which was high-larious, by the way.  Except for the the wedding gown scene, I mean, what was that???  I know it was gross and all, but on top of that, I felt the blood drain from my face as I thought of them ruining those perfectly good clothes....oh man.  But seriously, very funny, will watch once more. 

Anyways, I did know that when I eventually got around to doing a Bollywood movie, it was going to be Sonam Kapoor in Thank You.  I saw the pictures of her between takes on Pinkvilla, and I fell in love with the look.  Sonam is very fashionable, and she has a clear style direction going on, which I don't think is the case with all Bollywood starlets, who seem to just wear whatever gets thrown at them.

The movie Thank You...weeeaalll...I guess that with the exception of the clothes and the songs, I can't really watch an ENTIRE Bollywood movie. I confess that I skipped through bits. The gist of it is that it stars Sonam Kapoor as Sanjana opposite of Akshay Kumar as Kishan and Bobby Deol as Yogi. The story is about three philandering desi guys with too much money, too much ego, and for some reason, enough time to string along slews of girlfriends while their wives go nuts trying to get them commit. Again.  The sexual politics of this film are more than sketchy, since apparently, even a modern desi lady  just wants to be faithful to her faithful husband and send him off to work with his packed lunch everyday while all a modern desi guy wants is a faithful wife to send him off to work with his packed lunch everyday plus a bevy of *ahem* acommodating extras (very white, very blonde extras) on the side...Suffice to say, I didn't like the movie.  In my defense, Wiki says the critics didn't either.

The look is definitely young, with its midriff-baring top, loosely pinned updo, and feather-light dupatta.  I liked that the dupatta was pinned at both shoulders and draped down over Sonam's chest.  For a slim girl, this is a good idea, because it gives the impression of being fuller up top.

I initially fell in love with this look for the necklace.  I love the kundan plating and the simple, wide set placement of each laara.  It's a great contrast to the tiny embroidery on the choli, which is far more intricate.  They don't compete for attention in the picture and this is so important.  There are times when it pains me to look at a bride because I just don't know where to focus, there is so much going on. 

The embroidery on the choli is called Chikanri.  The word just means embroidery, but it refers to a specific type, which was originally done with white thread on white fabric in intricate, but flattened repeating motifs over a section of fabric to create a textured effect.  These days, it can also be found in contrasting colours, but the types of stitches used, and the delicate handmade touch remain consistent in the style. As someone who's into that kind of thing, I personally love it. 

Also, the beads around the hem of the choli, and on the dupatta.  very pretty, but somehow, I don't see a lot of brides trying that one out.  I think it may be because on the wrong outfit it can look dated, and most brides shy away from all that stuff around the face business.

One thing I did not like about the look was her makeup, the winged eyeliner (shadow?) isn't defined enough for my taste, so it fails to make her eyes appear wider and longer.  It just looks unfinished and smudgey, like a mistake somebody was in the middle of wiping away before they started rolling the cameras again.  The rest of her makeup is non-existent.

As an aside, I do not know who the designer is, and could not find any mention in the credits of where the clothes came from.  If anyone has a clue and a source, do share! All images are screenshots from my copy of Thank You, distributed by UTV Vision, 2011.