IMPERFECTLY PERFECT...

I was at Suhani Pitte's store in Hyderabad last week and as I was trying on a choker, the sales lady interrupted me to say "Madam, this would look good on a long necked woman." I found myself thinking " yes, I know, but??? At my second stop, the clothing store "Elahe", I was about to decide on an Anamika Khanna saree when the sales person placed a 5 inch sandal in front of me. When I gave her a questioning look, she quickly informed me " Madam, the real look of this saree comes when you add that extra 5 inch". So I stood there and wondered about people like me who are just about 5 feet tall and have a short neck. Are we meant to be neglected? Is looking good only a tall person's prerogative?

And at times like this, my favorite lines from Christina Aguilera's song "Beautiful" come to mind.

I am beautiful no matter what they say, I am beautiful in every single way, oh no- you don't bring me down today.........

And as we celebrate WOMEN this month , I want to tell all my readers that it's okay to be imperfect, it's okay to have laugh lines, crow's feet and grey hair. What's important is to embrace these imperfections gracefully and be happy in one's skin. Height, weight and skin color are all trivial and what actually matters in the long run is a positive attitude, a good heart and self confidence!!

Every year, I religiously follow "Lakme Fashion Week" and last year, I absolutely loved the work of an emerging designer called Yogesh Chowdhary. He took the 80s famous arcade game PAC-MAN and the most common item in it called PAC -DOTS and turned them into a stylish clothing line called "SURENDRI", named after the his mother, meaning the beautiful one.

I waited for this quirky collection to come out and was quite thrilled when I bought my first Surendri saree. I loved the clash of patterns, the bursts of color and the craziness that I got to see in Surendri. With so many prints, colors and textures going on in one saree, it was so "imperfectly perfect" that it had to be featured on Sage&Slingback. When I was looking for a location to shoot this post, the first thing that came to my mind was my favorite store "Anthropologie". 

I knew that it would do complete justice to the mood and theme of this post. When I contacted the manager of the Anthropologie store at the Geneva Commons mall, they were more than willing to help out. 

So one winter morning, my dear friend Vandana and I headed to Anthropologie for this shoot and as you can see, she captured the mood so effortlessly, thus making it a fun post!

If you are an 80's kid you will surely be familiar with the Pac-man print (it looks like a pizza with a missing slice) which was also a big part of the pop culture then.

Yogesh Chowdhary at the Lakme Winter Fashion week 2012.

You will love Surendri if you have an adventurous taste in fashion and love to experiment.

Simple lines, clean finish and fit and vibrant, playful colors make "Surendri" a must have.

A "Knit sweater top" in place of a regular blouse adds an interesting twist to this saree.

The silhouettes in the collection range from separates like skirts, tee-shirts, trousers, jackets, trenches and blouses to swimsuits and saris. Knits & Chanderis are combined with techniques like block and digital printing.

The distressed look & the many print concept of Anthropologie blends so easily with the "SURENDRI" line.

This post was styled keeping the carefree & the quirky look of "SURENDRI" in mind. A classic "Balenciaga" handbag and a few enamel bangles were thrown in for that extra splash of color.

Fun Unlimited - with Vandana Rao.

GIVE ME LOVE...

The greatest feeling on earth is to love and to be loved. 

Sage & Slingback wishes it's readers a very happy "Valentines Day". Stay loved, Stay blessed!

December was the month of celebrations and holidays, so in this post I am sharing some behind the scene pictures and details of "ISHQWALA LOVE", one of the joyous occasion of my life, my 15th wedding anniversary and Sundari's third birthday party.

I was watching Karan Johar's new movie "Student of the year" & somewhere in the middle, the main protagonists break into a romantic song called 'Ishqwala Love". It was so beautiful and soothing that I developed an instant liking for the song and wanted to use it as the title for my upcoming party. Many of them wondered about the  meaning of "Ishqwala Love". Well, with most of the lyrics being in Urdu all I knew was, it meant something beyond the ordinary.  Lyricst  Anvita Dutt's line "Hota hai jo love se zyaada waise wala love" was good enough for me to go ahead with this passionate title. Yes, It was " Ishqwala love" for me for my 15th!

I have always believed that beauty and talent in any form has to be recognized and appreciated and through this post, I would like to introduce 2 young, budding talents to my readers.  My 13 year old neighbor Madhumita Prakash and 14 year old friend Ritivik Tandon.  

I am pretty old schooled when it comes to a lot of things in life and I like to do things the old fashioned way. Hand made invitation is one such thing and I prefer it over e- mail invitations. So I asked Madhumita to come up with a handmade design for the invitation. Madhu is an amazing self taught artist who specializes in crochet jewelry and card making. She takes classes for kids during holidays. I briefed her with my requirements and in a couple of days, she came up with this beautiful card with a 3-D love bug sitting on top of it and the cover of the invitation read - Are you ready to be bitten by the love bug? - which I fell in love with. You can see her work here: https://sites.google.com/site/madhucrochet/about-madhu.

Moving on to my other talented friend Ritvick, he is so passionate about photography that he eats,sleeps and breathes it. One look at his creative eye, I knew he would be the one who is going to capture the moments of my special day and I am glad that he agreed to be a part of this memorable evening. Don't miss his photography website :http://www.tandonimaging.com/gallery/.

The word LOVE is largely associated with the Valentine's and it was quite challenging for me of bring the love factor into the evening without making it look like a Valentine's day party. I wanted a simple yet elegant feel to the party. So the obvious choice was to use muted colors with a hint of red. I used one of my favorite fabric, jute and ropes which I got  from Mangalore, my hometown for less than $10. The little red hearts were cut and used for the pop of color.  Strips of jute were cut and tied around cylindrical vases containing fresh white flowers like snap dragons, mums & hydrangeas, which were purchased from Whole Foods. A little note with an agenda for the evening was attached to the vase, just so 

that the guests knew what to expect.

The generous manager at the Whole Foods give me the shopping bags for free of cost. I cut the handles and reversed them to get  the brown paper effect. They were used as wrapping paper to wrap the gifts for guests. Ribbons were made out of thin strips of jute and a "Thank You" was added with a printed "love quote" on it.

The cake stand was made of unevenly cut strips of Jute, to give it a raw feel.

Hosting a good party is never easy. Be it food, decor or entertainment, a lot of detailing is involved. Since the evening was about love, I used quotes from the great Persian poet, Jalaluddin Rumi and my fascination for old frames was evident in the decor. To match the flowers, I ordered an elegant white on white cake with monogrammed fondant  

representing our initials.

To host a great party it's important that you involve your guests at every step. Give them a chance to showcase their creativity and make sure that they have something to look forward to. Be it the dress code, decor or entertainment, see to it that they are a part of it. I asked my guests to bring one picture from their personal album, which they thought was special. An array of photo frames were displayed, showcasing their moment of "LOVE". Tea light candles and Rumi's quotes added for the romantic feel. The entire evening was dedicated to love, music and dance. Surprise love medleys had everyone dancing.

We made sure that the guests got creative with the props we gave them for their family pictures and the results were fantastic. As you can see, they had a blast! 

 

 It's all about looking good and feeling good and clothes do play a BIG role. The fun & the excitement involved in dressing up for a well organized party is priceless.

Now what can you expect from one of the biggest fans of Sabyasachi to wear for the evening but his creation?. Back in Nov -2012, while I was watching the grand finale of Sabyasachi's Delhi couture week, I fell in love with Nethra Raghuraman's  sindoori red "parsi gara lehenga saree" that she paired with a vintage long sleeved black high neck embroidered blouse. Right there I knew, that it was the one for me. 

Knowing my penchant for good clothes, most of my friends decided to buy their first "Sabyasachi" saree for the evening. They dazzled in their Sabya's and how!!

For a change, men had a natty dress code - black suit and tie, white shirt and gelled hair and they looked "dapper"!!!