calling all asian fashion fans in Leicester!

The bookshop Borders is having a "magazine week" and as part of their instore promotions, they're hosting a free Asiana Magazine fashion show in their Leicester store next week - Thursday 2nd October.



I only just spotted this on the Asiana website, and I'm surprised it hasn't been advertised a bit more (although I'm not based in Leicester so it's probably been advertised locally). The Asiana website only has the info on the banner above, so I dug around on the Borders website to find the following info:


MAGAZINE WEEK!
'Asiana' Mini Catwalk Showcase 12:00 pm, Thu 2nd Oct 2008
Come along on Thursday, 2nd October from 12pm when Asiana magazine will be holding a mini fashion show, showcasing the best of Indian designers. The editor of Asiana will also be instore to answer any questions you might have, and we will have the industries top mendhi artist present on the day. In celebration of our Magazine Week, when all magazines will be on a Buy One Get One Half Price offer.


I wish I was going! If anyone does go along, let me know how it was :)

Couture Week in India

Masala.com recently posted photos from a series of shows which took place in India featuring 11 designers including Manish Malhotra, Rohit Bal and Ashish Soni.

Fellow blogger Indian Rose Fashionista has given her view on some on the shows, so check out her blog posts here (you have to click on each post title to read the full post!)

In the meantime, here are some of the outfits that caught my eye for one reason or another!


A maternity dress??! from Rohit Bal.
View the rest of the Rohit Bal show photos


Heavy accessorising on the Manish Malhotra catwalk.
View the rest of the Manish Malhotra show

Shilpa Shetty modelling for Tarun Tahiliani.
View the rest of the Tarun Tahiliani show

Another famous face on the catwalk - Sonam Kapoor wearing Anamika Khanna.
View the rest of the Anamika Khanna show


All the models at the Pallavi Jaikishan show wore flowers in their hair, loving this outfit by the way!
View the rest of the Pallavi Jaikishan show



Red and white at the Manav Gangwani show
View the rest of the Manav Gangwani show


Floral prints and an enchanted forest at the Suneet Verma show
View the rest of the Suneet Verma show


What do you think of these outfits? Don't forget to check out the rest of the pics and designers on masala.com, and read the reviews by Indian Rose Fashionista

online asian bridal/wedding magazine - Mantra Weddings

I first received a leaflet about this online wedding magazine at a bridal exhibition early this year. The site wasn't live then, so I forgot all about it til I came across some amazing photos on facebook and thought WOW! which magazines are these from??

I eventually found myself on the Mantra Weddings site, and for a "free" magazine I was very impressed! The blue belles photoshoot wasn't the only good thing about this mag. There's also fashion tips, beauty tips, mens fashion and most other things you'd find in an asian bridal magazine.

The whole look of this online mag overall is very professional, even the adverts look high-quality.

It's definitely worth a visit for the fashion and beauty even if you're not a bride-to-be, and best of all it's FREE :)

Visit the Mantra Weddings site or check out the Mantra Weddings facebook group.

Different ways to accessorise: Wear your necklace in your hair!

No party look is complete without a matching hair accessory, you can get them everywhere even the high street shops like Claire's Accessories have feathered fascinators and jewelled hair slides. If you're trying to match your hair accessory to an asian outfit then it's often difficult to find the right coloured accessory. The cheaper, more affordable, hair accessories tend to only come in basic colours and you might end up settling for something which doesn't quite match.

Here's an idea for you, wear a necklace in your hair! It may sound like a crazy idea, but if worn correctly a necklace can complete your look in a subtle way.

Not sure what I mean? Well here are two examples I came across:

wearing your necklace across your forehead:


Wearing it to the side:


Ok so it looks fine on the models in the magazines, but how do you get away with it in real life?? Personally I've not tried this yet, but having thought very carefully about it, I came up with the following points to consider before trying this out!

Points to consider

1) The necklace itself.
You can't just go and stick any old necklace in your hair, even if it matches in colour perfectly! Is it going to rip half of your hair out with it when you're finished? For example, a choker would be a bad necklace for your hair: this choker would look beautiful on your neck but not so good in your hair! This delicate necklace would probably do the trick, simple but the beads make it striking.

2) Where to wear
Do you want it on your forehead? Or perhaps on the side of your hair? Howabout on the top of your head worn like a tiara?

3) Technical details - how to keep it in place
Use hair grips that match your hair colour to hold it in place, and if you're rubbish at styling your own hair (like me) get someone else to help.

4) YOU
It's all about you and your own look, got delicate features? Then don't go for something too big and striking - it'll drown you. Short hair? long hair? hair up? hair down? Are you wearing a necklace on your neck too? How big are your earrings?


I don't think there is a general formular for this, after all necklaces weren't made to be worn in your hair, but you never know it could look fabulous, so give it a try and let me know the results!!!

Shop Review - Kyles London (part two) the online shop

After purchasing my bridal jewellery from Kyles Collection in store ( click here if you missed my review) I decided that some of the smaller pieces from the Kyles Collection would make great gifts.
Unfortunately I couldn't justify another trip to London, and didn't fancy visiting any of their stockists either, so my next port of call was the Kyles website:



The site itself is easy to navigate with their collections categorised into the following: Bridal, Evening, Occassion, Couture, Casual and their Tableware & Giftware. I did wonder to myself, what the difference was between "evening", "occassion", and "couture" and actually some of the products appear in multiple categories.

I decided to browse through everything to they had cause see what caught my eye. Once you've clicked through to an item you like, you're given the option to choose a colour for the stones, and a plating for the metal.

Now this I found a little difficult, some of the stones look the same and you don't get to preview your piece in the your chosen colour. You can also only choose one colour, even though a lot of the pieces have different coloured stones in them.

I chose what I thought was the closest coloured stone to the photo on the site, and went through to make my order. The ordering process was easy and I went away quite happy.


A few days later I received a phone call from one of the sales assistants at Kyles. He went through my order with me, checking what colours I wanted and giving me some recommendations. I told him how I wanted it packaged (I'd bought various items for 3 different people and wanted them to be packed separately) and he told me what date I would expect to receive my items.

Sure enough my order arrived when he said it would, packaged as I'd asked. All the items were beautiful and when I eventually gave them as gifts the recipients loved them!


Overall, I was pleased with the whole ordering process and my items. Even though the system wasn't perfect when it came to choosing colours and plating. I'd definitely order online again if I was buying something small, but for a larger purchase I'd prefer to go instore to see the pieces for myself.