#stylemearia

Clothing made with love // "UNcollection”

I recently partnered up with PikaLove, a very eco-friendly label. I’m going to get right to it and tell you a little about them.

PikaLove was started by the talented lady, Deepika Sarode.

PikaLove clothing is handcrafted with a conscious effort to protect the environment and to help and grow our handloom community. They strive to create a healthier community and at the same time create conscious fashion.

The collection that is styled in this article was for their Lakmé Fashion Week Summer/Resort’17 invitation for Textiles/Sustainable day.   PikaLove strives to create a social change by creating environmental and social conscious clothing. Their clothing supports farmers and weavers, helps building healthier communities and creating a cleaner planet.

Although sustainable fashion isn’t as mainstream as we would all want it to be, many young designers are choosing to join the slow fashion movement.  

Here is a brand by a forward-thinking Indian designer whose work goes beyond beautiful design and highlights fair practices, social responsibility, and environmental sustainability – elements that truly set this particular designers creations apart.

Unlike fast fashion, slow fashion production ensures quality manufacturing to lengthen the life of the garment. Developing a garment with a cultural and emotional connection is also pertinent to the purpose behind slow fashion: consumers will keep an article of clothing longer than one season if they feel emotionally or culturally connected to the article of clothing.  

PikaLove became very dear to me, as I could connect myself & my style with the collection and its super minimal and fuss-free outfits.

Each outfit separately could be styled with different pieces, since each garment is extremely versatile. Those sort of pieces are the necessary ones in the wardrobe, since they can be styled with anything and everything.

I only just got back from fashion week, hence been MIA on the blog (although been fully active on other social media). Now that I am back, there's a lot to look forward to, so stay tuned.

And follow my adventures on my social media - @StyleMeAria

More soon.

Featuring -

Clothing Has No Gender | Featuring Payal & Zinal

Hi, Lovelies!

The year is coming to an end in a day or so. A DAY!? Wasn’t it just yesterday that we were celebrating the start of 2016? Well, good thing 2016 is ending. I, for one, am ready to take on another year and new adventures.

Recently, I’ve been keeping close tabs on this designer-duo, Payal and Zinal, whom I discovered right after they showcased their collection at India Runway week’16. Their collection was called Vida De Frida, which was based on the theme of “Ungender", highlighting that a person matters and not his or her gender. We exchanged a bunch of emails and i told them how keen i was on associating with their brand. I came across so many of their lovely, colourful, stylish images, and could not wait to get right to shooting with their beautiful collection.

I shot this one eclectic look from their collection, which I thought summed me up nicely. Firstly, it has been the season of capes; this is a deep blue suede cape, with fringe detailing. It has skulls on the shoulder as well as shoulder pads. As you can see, I felt like a confident new age warrior. A stylish one, for sure.

The long, symmetrical flared pants just added to the goodness of the outfit and they were the most comfortable pants ever. I like how they structure your body and make you feel so tall & confident, with a pair of heels. I paired the cape and pants with an ombre blue purple shirt, which I decided to tuck in. The focus is then more on the texture of the cape and the fall of the pants. A buttoned-up collar, sleek hair back and you are good to go. I didn’t want to go all out with the accessories or makeup, since i wanted the outfit to be the only focus.

I decided to go minimal with my makeup- just some white kohl and my NYX Orange liquid lipstick. This is such a fun outfit- it has flare, volume, drama, and is the perfect match for someone who likes to wear unique clothing, since every piece from Payal & Zinal’s collection has its signature style. Every outfit is so different from the other, yet they connect together as a collection.

As their collection said, this is the “Age of Ungender”. The collections they make are for everyone, and everyone can adorn them, regardless of gender or age, and look their stylish best. As you’ll see in some of their photo shoots, they have men modelling the Frida collection, and that for me speaks fashion. Designing for the whole, rather than based on any stereotypes.  I definitely felt extremely liberated when i wore this outfit, and I feel anyone and everyone can wear whatever they want and be happy with it.

That's what we are promoting here: freedom of fashion for oneself. You wear and believe in whatever you want at the end of the day.

That's all for now, my loves. I hope you guys have a brilliant New Year! I promise you, I’ll have a lot more to offer my StyleMeAria Family in 2017. Let's make it an even more successful year and grow with each year, together.  x

FEATURING -

Hyderabad meets Bombay / Biryani meets Vada Pav -

You know when you want to bring two cultures into one frame and celebrate all that is good about two diverse cities and the cultures within them? This post aims to do exactly that. So stay put and read along.

I’ve collaborated with Rohita from MyFaddedDenim to create a culturally diverse post for y’all. Using a modern perspective and silhouettes, we’ve come up with a diverse lookbook. #StyleMeAriaXMyfaddeddenim is a collaborative post by the two of us, Rohita from Mumbai and me from Hyderabad. We tried to showcase our cultures with a modern twist. So sit back and read on.

Rohita’s Look -

Women in Maharashtra traditionally wear a saree which is nine yards in length, with a short-sleeved blouse also known as a 'choli'. The choli covers about half the torso. Generally, this is the dress worn by older Marathi women. For our look, instead of the choli, Rohita wore a smart tank top with skinny jeans and draped the nine yard saree over that, in the typical Maharashtrian style from under the leg.

Maharashtra is the land of the Marathas and Peshwas and the women wear traditional jewellery derived from these two dynasties. Here, Rohita is sporting the Nath (which is a nose ring). We love Kolhapuri chappals (made in the Kolhapur district of Maharashtra  and famous worldwide), but here, instead of Kolhapuri Chappals, she is wearing a pair of jootis. She has her hands full of typical glass bangles. Finally, we decided to complete the look with a Suhani Pittie waist belt, which gives the outfit an Indo-Western feel. She indeed looked like the most gorgeous Maharashtrian girl!

Mixing the traditional with the modern is not a new fashion concept, but it can be seriously striking if done right.

Aria’s Look -

Now coming to the land of Nizams! Hyderabad is home to many museums, galleries, and other institutions which are major tourist attractions as well as playing a research role. There is so much history and tradition when it comes to Hyderabadi clothing. But since we decided to mix these cultural outfits with western styles, here is my take on a Hyderabadi outfit. I decided to pair these black with gold detail Sharara pants with this bold marsala men’s shirt (because I love everything oversized). I'm wearing a black jacket (made by a Hyderabadi designer) backwards, isn’t it gorgeous? Putting marsala, gold and black together has got to be my all-time-favourite combination.  

I love the regal look and feel that Hyderabadi ensembles have. Each garment is designed and created so uniquely that it makes you feel one with the royal Nizams. I decided to do my eyes with heavy kohl and wear a strong, bold marsala lip contrast. Since my jacket and border of the Sharara already have so much going on, I decided to complete this look with the very famous accessory known as Jhumar.  A Jhumar is a hair piece which is generally worn to the left side of the forehead. It is a triangular-shaped ornament with strands of pearls joined with gold.

I decided to (obviously) wear my boots with the outfit since it is such a winter wedding look and it gives the outfit the western touch that it deserves!

We had a blast conceptualising and shooting for this fashion feature. We always wanted to work together and what better way than bringing both your cultures together and creating fashion with it?

Hope you guys love it as much as we loved planning, shooting, and presenting this to you!

FEATURING -

Conceptualising & Styling - Rohita & Aria. Location - Yours Truly Photography & Edits - The wonderfully creative Vyshakh. Thank you so much for handling not one, but two girls on set and our demands. You’ve outdone yourself like always!  (Link to his page: https://www.facebook.com/vyshakht)

Instagram - Find Vyshakh Thaliyil and follow his work.

The Armed Metallic Jacket -

This blog post is special because I’m featuring this beautiful jacket by the amazing, Kallol Datta! This jacket was made from garbage bag paper, treated with silk. So it's meant to be in a crushed style, that's the beauty of this silhouette. You would definitely just pair the jacket with a straight outfit because the jacket itself is flared.

The mood board for this shoot is earthy meets metallic, where metal meets earth, and where one has gone out of their comfort zone and mixed two textures or two different houses of shades together and gotten a good result!

That's exactly what I did with this outfit, I mixed fabrics and textures to create this uniquely different look. Pairing this garbage paper jacket with this jute + cotton long skirt is definitely something I wouldn’t have thought of earlier. But what is fashion? As the famous Karl Lagerfeld says, “I want everyone to wear what they want and mix it in their own way. That, to me, is what is modern.”

That is my take on the brilliant garbage jacket by Kallol - Amazing - Datta!

That is it for now. Stay tuned for many more blog posts in the following weeks to come!

Until then follow “StyleMeAria” on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.

FEATURING - Clothing & Styling - Kallol Datta and yours truly. Conceptualising & Photography - (Vyshakh Thaliyil) this was the first project we worked on together, and Ibmust say, he is filled with talent.

A Quick Diwali Look -

Hey Everyone! My friends in India, y’all must be preparing for Diwali, which for some is tomorrow. I know the internet is full of Diwali outfit ideas and rangoli DIYs and everything. But I wanted to specifically share with all of you this 2-second outfit I came up with. Perfect for your Diwali nights and card parties.

This Diwali, don’t shy away from pairing your metallic off-the-runway clothes with a lehenga and dupatta. That's exactly what I’ve done here. As long as you like whatever is put together, and it flatters you, then you are good to go. It's a myth that you need to always look your traditional best during festival season. We are slowly breaking free from the myth, and pairing our solid western wear with traditional elements to create Indo-western outfits or fusion attire.

You might ask why I wore that wide black belt with this outfit? I will tell you exactly why. Indian women are wonderfully curvy and I wanted to emphasise that aspect by using a belt with this look.

It's always fun to mix and match around and to play with your outfits and create something visually appealing. A quick bun, with some traditionally beautiful earrings, and some bright lipstick, and you are Diwali-ready! It honestly doesn’t take more than this.

This is a quick fix for an outfit if you don’t want to splurge on yet ANOTHER Diwali outfit you may never use. Use whatever you have around you and create the best kind of vision for you, for this special day of festivities with your close ones.

This Diwali, I hope everyone takes it easy with the firecrackers and respects the decision not to go overboard with them. Help the street animals and animals at home by lessening the noise. Eat laddos, make bright rangolis, wear your best snazzy outfits, and enjoy the festival of lights, rather than the festival of noise pollution.

Have a very Happy Diwali each one of you. Loads of love and light coming your way. :)

Hope you enjoyed my quick Diwali look. That's all for now!

The New Age Woman is Here / And She's Here to Stay -

Hi Lovelies,

This post is a bit of a fashion editorial. And as the title says, “the new age woman is here”.  We have arrived. In the country we live in, you can't fully do whatever you want without the odd staring and passing of baseless opinions about things you do or what you wear.

This post is about freeing yourself from all those things people may have told you, commented upon or even made you believe. Like the other posts, you will notice that in this post, the makeup and hair are a very bold symbol. This contrasts the bold structured cape that I wore on this grey body-con dress. Fighting for your rights, balancing a work life were the things that were most crucial for people a few years ago. But I think that now it's about time we took the next step. Move to the next level where we can live for ourselves, do what we want to do and enjoy life on our own terms and nobody else's.

It is also about how passionate you are about exercising your choices and  thoughts and following your heart.  I feel it can be truly liberating when you wear whatever you want without being judged or when you can have the freedom of speech without anyone else feeling offended or in simple words when you can voice your thoughts & opinions.

Okay, that was the core topic I wanted to address in the post, but now lets discuss the outfit! Since I'm always in H&M or Koovs, let me breakdown the outfit details for you. The dress is from the Bangalore H&M store- I was pleasantly surprised with the stock at this outlet. This body con grey dress is so perfect. You can dress it up or down, formal, informal, and make so many uses out of the dress. These are the kinds of pieces I like investing in, the kind that you can use over & over again.

I'm sure all of you have heard the myth that says one should never repeat an outfit. Well, I've never followed that because I feel it is extremely pointless to wear something for only one occasion or one time and then never wear it again. The whole beauty of being a fashion enthusiast/blogger is in mixing and matching every outfit in your wardrobe and coming up with new ones. And that, my friends, is what I do for every event, personal style post, outing, or just conceptualising ideas. The black shoulder cape is something I got on the Koovs.com #Cantgetenough sale, where everything was Rs.495 and under. Whoever knows me, knows that I like very edgy eye-popping products, be it clothes, makeup, accessories, anything. It always has to be a uniquely crafted piece. Whenever I go shopping or sourcing, I'm always caught picking out the  strangest things no one ever picks up or looks at.  

Also, if you were wondering why I paired the briefcase bag with this outfit, it's because I was portraying a working woman who is strong, independent, and certainly has her own opinion on how she dresses and how she decides to shine through.

This is my vision :)

That's all for now.

See you soon. x

FEATURING -

Makeup & Styling - Yours truly