Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Asiana Bridal Show London 2012 - First Look
The exhibition opened at 10am to a small crowed eager to check out all the wedding suppliers. I was one of the early birds and even though the exhibition was open til much later on in the evening, it was still starting to feel very busy in the first few hours. I'll be writing a bit more about my fashion-finds at the exhibition stands in more detail in future blog posts, but now onto the main attraction - the fashion show!
First let's rewind a little bit: the beautiful clothes on show at the 2011 Asiana Bridal Fashion Show were overshadowed by the fact that there was a distinct lack of brown faces on the catwalk. Thankfully, this wasn't an issue at the 2012 show - I felt there was the right balance and regardless of ethnicity I think all the models carried the outfits well and did a great job.
Seating as always was a bit of an issue, I didn't have a VIP reserved seat this year, but Ziggi Studio very kindly let me have one of their exhibitor passes so I managed to get myself on the 4th row. The only way to get a seat on the front three rows was to be on the guest list of one of the big sponsors - Madhu's, Sony Entertainment, or Sunrise Radio. I'm not going to be too critical of this policy, as those sponsors have obviously paid to put the whole show together, but I will say that a lot of their guests didn't look like they were shopping for wedding outfits!
Anyways, onto the photos! I will be posting more photos from each designer, but in the meantimes here's a little preview:
RDC opened and closed the show, here are two of my favourite outfits from their catwalk collection.
Having visited their store (on Ilford Lane - East London) in the past I've found their outfits to be quite reasonably priced and being a bit of an online-addict I like that they keep the RDC facebook page regularly updated with their latest designs.
Kyles Collection were second up on the catwalk. My camera struggled to get photos of all the pieces close up but I managed to get a clear-ish photo of this set. I wore a shingar patti from Kyles Collection on my wedding and if I got the chance to dress up as a bride again I would definitely wear another of their head-pieces like this one.
Traditions showcased a collection of bright white registry-style gowns, followed by a few red, more indian-style bridals - all with matching menswear. I liked the addition of orange in the outfit below.
Looking through my photos from Mongas collection, as beautiful as the outfits were from the front, I really loved the backs too - so here's a pic of the back of 3 outfits! I promise I will be posting pics of the front of these too in a future blog post :)
Cakes4U presented some of their cakes on the catwalk, alongside outfits by Arinder Bhullar. I like cake, and I like dresses, but sometimes I think you can get a bit too matchy matchy!
Harkirans
Frontier Raas had some really bold single coloured outfits. I really liked this yellow outfit. I don't think my photos do it justice, but in person it stood out on the catwalk and looked very vibrant. As far as I remember, this was the only yellow outfit on the catwalk.
Make-up artist for the show, Jawaad had a small segment in the show to demonstrate the hair and make-up efforts of his team. The outfits were provided by Mona Vora.
Khushboos by Chand presented a catwalk full of reds:
Ziggi Studio were up next with their menswear collection. I think this was one of the most popular segments of the fashion show as there was lots of eye candy for the largely female audience!
Ekta Solanki's collection was one of the most popular from the 2011 Asiana Bridal Show and this year's collection didn't disappoint. I must admit I do have a bit of a weakness for hot pink lenghas and green is also another of my favourite colours so you can probably see why I liked this outfit!
The fashion show was put together by Naseeba and the Ooops team and the beautiful backdrop was created by Maz of Leicester.
One of the dressers/backstage team has written up her views from the other side of the catwalk which you can read here: Asiana Bridal Fashion Show-Behind The Scene: Rehearsal. Momtaz from the Asiana Team has also written up her initial thoughts on the show here: Catwalk Highlights: Asiana Bridal Show 2012
Did you attend the show? What did you think?
Posted by nazma asianfashionblog.co.uk at 00:19 1 comments
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Uzma Rafiq Hair Academy at the Internation Asian Fashion Awards
Alongside all the beautiful outfits at the 2011 International Asian Fashion Awards was a showcase to promote the Uzma Rafiq Hair Academy. The headline for their section of the show was: "sensational hair sculptures, timeless fashion, elegant beauty"
I'm not totally convinced by the concept of this "hair catwalk". I see hair sculptures but I don't quite see the "timeless fashion" and "elegant beauty", especially in some of the more outlandish sculptures like the ones below.
What do you think of this hair catwalk and do any of these looks inspire you?
Thanks to Rafyl Photography for these photos.
Posted by nazma asianfashionblog.co.uk at 09:43 0 comments
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Charmi Creations new asian bridal showroom launch
This month Charmi Creations celebrated the launch of their new bridal showroom in North London.
Guests in attendance also had the opportunity to see Charmi's new bridal collection for 2012, including their "fusion" line which you can view in the catwalk video below:
For further details about Charmi Creations' new showroom and book an appointment, visit the Charmi Creations website or get in touch via the Charmi Creations facebook page.
Posted by nazma asianfashionblog.co.uk at 16:42 0 comments
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Ruby Rani - Indian Babywear Online
Childrenswear isn't something I tend to write about a lot here on asian fashion blog, but since becoming an aunty again at the end of last year it's something that's back on my radar. So when I received an email about an online Indian babywear company called Ruby Rani, I jumped at the chance to review their products.
The product range at Ruby Rani, includes slogan tshirts, churidar outfits for the girls and kurta/sherwani-style outfits for the boys. I picked out the "Rohan Kurta Suit", a t-shirt and waited for my package to arrive!
Both my items were wrapped in blue crepe paper and each item was further packaged in its own bag. I thought it was a nice touch that the plastic bags used were recyclable (I like companies that make an extra effort to be green!)
I was really happy with the way these garments looked and felt in person. You can't always tell when buying something online but these items were true to the website images and felt good quality to me.
From my personal experiences of attempting to dress a baby I can tell you it's not always an easy task! The outfits in the Ruby Rani range have plenty of buttons so that they're easy to get on and easy to change nappies with.
You can view the full range of outfits on the Ruby Rani website, prices range from £12 for the tshirts to £35 for the girls churidar-style outfits and boys kurta suits. However all prices have been discounted this month so if you buy before 1st February 2012 you can make a saving - there's also free UK delivery available at the moment too!
My nephew hasn't had a chance to wear his outfit yet - waiting for him to hit the 3-month mark before he will fit into the t-shirt, and he should be the right size to fit into the kurta outfit for the summer wedding season. I'm sure he will work the look and more importantly, feel comfortable in it too!
Posted by nazma asianfashionblog.co.uk at 21:59 2 comments
Saturday, 31 December 2011
Asian Fashion Blog Review of 2011 - my year in asian fashion!
January - the Asiana Bridal Show 2011 in London
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| Ekta Solanki Collection as seen at Asiana Bridal Show 2011 |
February - The bride with the designer gowns
The first wedding of the year for me was my cousin's. She was every bit the designer bride, from her Jimmy Choo shoes and matching bag to her red and gold bridal outfit by Mehdi and her pastel-shaded Maria B walima outfit.
For privacy reasons I can't share her pictures with you, but this was the Maria B bridal she chose:
Now onto what I wore! Well my outfits weren't anything special really, not like the outfits I blog about, however I did make an extra special effort with my styling and I'm a firm believer that the right hair and make-up can turn an average outfit into an amazing outfit! So here's a little montage of the looks I rocked for this wedding, including the "necklace in hair" look (which personally I think is a little bit overdone right now). Credits go to my hair and make-up artists, Make up by Mus for the green outfit, and Huda Ahmed for the other two looks.
All three outfits were purchased from Southall, London and my necklace/hair piece was from Kyles Collection.
March - Asian Fashion Blog makes its TV debut
Following the success of the tv show "big fat gypsy weddings", BBC Northwest decided to do a feature on asian weddings. The research team at the BBC found my blog, approached me, and the next thing you know I was walking and talking round Manchester's Asian Wedding Exhibition whilst being filmed.
There's no online version of the full show available, but instead here's a link the section of the show which features make-up artist Lubna Rafiq...and for any blog readers who are curious to see what my wedding outfit was like, see if you can spot a blink-and-you-miss-it clip from my wedding video in there too (by the way, Lubna Rafiq didn't do my bridal make-up but they used my clip as an example!)
April - Satya Paul's "Jewels of the Sea" at Lakme Fashion Week
I blogged about a few of the collections at the Summer/Resort 2011 Lakme Fashion Week in India, and my favourite was this collection by Satya Paul.
Perhaps not to everyone's taste, and some of them seemed a tad unwearable, but I loved the theme and the colour inspirations. View more photos from this collection here.
April was also the month the Royal Wedding took place. As sad as this may sound, I was glued to my TV from very early on that morning, keen to see what all the guests, famous and non-famous, would be wearing. I even spotted a few asian outfits at the royal wedding!
May - Asian Fashion Inspiration on US TV Show 90210
When US TV show 90210 featured an Indian wedding in their season finale my eyes were on the fashion. One outfit in particular caught everyone's attention, and even now, months after the show was aired in the UK and even longer before that in the US, I still get hits from people typing variations of "90210 naomi sari dress" into google.
View more outfits from that episode, including the bride, here: An Indian Wedding in 90210.
June - Pakistan Fashion Extravaganza in London
The 2011 Pakistan Fashion Extravaganza took place in London again this year and featured collections from a range of top Pakistani designers including Nickie Nina, HSY, Faiza Samee, Asim Jofa and Maria B. There were over 150 outfits on show so it's almost impossible to choose just one favourite, but looking back at the photos, this gold and blue HSY outfit still makes me think "wow" even after all this time!
View all the collections from this show here: Pakistan Fashion Extravaganza 2011
July - all about the maxi dress
July brought with it two more weddings, both close friends this time. I had a maxi dress in my wardrobe which I'd been saving up for a summer wedding and this was a perfect opportunity to give it a debut.
I actually bought the dress in October 2010 on a random visit to Birmingham. I don't usually make impulse purchases like this, but I saw it, I liked it, it fit without needing any alterations (a rare thing for me!) and I happened to have a spare £250 in my bank account at the time!
Dress from Zoya, hair and make-up by Huda Ahmed.
September - Another family wedding, and a chance to wear my very own Satya Paul sari
September felt like a month-long wedding! There were four separate events, two in London, two in Manchester all spread out from the first to the last weekend in that month.
Earlier on in the year I had purchased my very own Satya Paul sari from the store Phulkari in London, and this event was the perfect opportunity to wear it. I was very pleased with how it looked and I'm so in love with the print.
Photography and Videography for this wedding was provided by Amir Shah, he's created this trailer for the full video which amongst other things, features a little bit of me wearing red at the mehndi!
Gohar & Nishat from Amir Shah on Vimeo.
November - Manish Malhotra collection in Studio 8 DubaiWith all my weddings for the year over, I finally had a little bit of time to take a holiday! My holiday included a short stopover in Dubai and I took this opportunity to visit an asian designerwear store called Studio 8. The highlight of my visit was seeing and touching some of the beautiful outfits by Manish Malhotra. You can read my full review of the visit here: Studio 8 Dubai Shop Review
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| Outfits from Manish Malhotra at Lakme Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2011 |
December - Chanel does Indian style
The fashion show in Paris for Chanel's pre-fall 2012 collection caught the eye of fashion bloggers all over the world, and even more so for asian fashion bloggers like myself who loved the fact that such an iconic brand took inspiration from asian fashion.
View more of my favourites from the show here.
What I'm looking forward to in 2012
My 2012 is going to start, like 2011 did, with asian wedding exhibitions! I'll be attending The Asian Bride Show and the Asiana Bridal Show, both taking place in London over the same weekend - very convenient for asian brides-to-be and fashion fans who don't live in London!
As well as all the fashion shows and fashion weeks, I'm looking forward to trying out some of many online asian fashion retailers who have appeared recently. I've already tried out Bombaypink.com, and look out for reviews of asian childrenswear store RubyRani.com and make-up store Pure Halal Beauty.
Posted by nazma asianfashionblog.co.uk at 15:21 12 comments
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
IAFA - International Asian Fashion Awards 2011
The International Asian Fashion Awards (or IAFA) returned to London for the second year running last month. The main aim of this event was to "honour success in style, reflecting the unique elegance in Asian fashion".
I didn't attend in person, but from what I've seen it looked like a lavish event - as well it should with standard tickets at £100 each and "VIP" tickets at £150 each!
There were 10 awards in total on the night and businesses involved in the asian fashion industry were invited to submit their own nominations. These nominations were judged by a panel which included Indian designer Neeta Lulla, Pakistani designer HSY, make-up artist Lubna Rafiq, Sultan Asi - owner of Imani Studio, Onita Prasada Vashish - owner of O'nitaa, and Jyotika Oberoi from India Today magazine.
Here's a list of the winners from the night:
Best Male Fashion Designer
Ziggi Studio, who also won this award at the 2010 IAFA event.
Best Female Fashion Designer
Silons
Best Make-Up Artist
Kaniz Ali
Best Newcomer in Fashion Design
Saran Kohli
Best Designer Brand
Santoshi
Best Wedding Collection Designer and Collection of the Year
Etka Solanki, who won "collection of the year" at last year's IAFA event.
Outstanding Contribution to the Fashion Industry
Satya Paul
Now onto the fashion show photos! The show was put together by someone who's work I truly admire - Naseeba Sacranie and her team. Amongst other things Naseeba and the Ooops team produced the 2008 Asiana Bridal Shows which, as a bride-to-be at the time, served as a huge inspiration to me (you can view videos from that catwalk show here).
The collections on display at this year's IAFA event were from a range of the nominees and winners.
Harkirans
Charmi Creations
Ekta Solanki
Double winner Ekta Solanki showcased a lot of the same outfits which were seen on the catwalk at the 2011 Asiana Bridal Show in London and indeed in her magazine ads. The outfit in this pic though, I don't think I've seen before.
Gul's Style
As with Ekta Solanki, a lot of the outfits Gul's Style had on the catwalk I had seen and blogged about before, view their collection from the 2011 Asiana Bridal Show here.
Silons
RDC
Safa Couture
Saran Kohli
Variety Silk House
Congratulations to all the winners and a special thank you to Rafyl Photography for these photos.
Posted by nazma asianfashionblog.co.uk at 16:07 1 comments

































































