The Asiana Magazine Top 50 Bachelors for 2010

The Asiana team travelled across the UK (to London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds) in search of the top 50 asian bachelors for their 2010 list (you may remember I previously posted photos from the fashion show at the london event which featured designer Ekta Solanki.

The final 50 who made the cut are now available to view in the latest issue of Asiana and online for you to vote for here.

Where are these bachelors from?
I have to say I was really pleased that Asiana extended their search beyond London this year, as I'd noticed most of their previous bachelors were all from the south of England and in particular the London area.

I was looking forward to seeing a few more northern bachelors in their list this year, but sadly I was disappointed when I saw the actual list! I did the maths and 33 of the 50 bachelors - 66% were from London and the surrounding areas. There were 2 bachelors from Nottingham, 2 from Manchester, 4 from Birmingham, 4 international bachelors and a few others from locations which my knowledge of UK geography can't quite place!

I attended the Manchester event, and there certainly wasn't a lack of bachelors there! I've also seen photos from the birmingham event which was equally as full! So I'm very surprised there's only a handful of northern bachelors in there and not a single Scottish or Welsh bachelor in sight!

What do these bachelors do?
I thought it was really funny that there was only 1 dentist, 1 doctor and 1 accountant in the list! Aren't single asian people in these professions heavily in demand?? And where are all the solicitors and barristers? None of those in the list either!! Maybe there aren't many single asian guys in these professions left cause they get snapped up so quickly...or perhaps I'm just buying into an old stereotype!

The most common occupation was "actor" with 5 included in the list, followed by "musicians" and "entrepreneurs" with are 4 each of those.

How old are these bachelors?
My calculator tells me that the average age was 24.86 years old, with the youngest bachelor being 19 year old artist/songwriter Staz Nair and the oldest being 41 year old Holby City actor Hari Dhillon.

Who am I voting for???
I voted for two bachelors, purely for the reason that I've met both of these guys in person!
My first vote goes to Javed Laher who I met at the Manchester bachelor search event. He was very nice to talk to and didn't mind nattering away to a married woman like me when there were clearly A LOT of other pretty single women in the room.
My second vote goes to Taff Rafiq who I've met very briefly through my contacts with Ziggi Studio. He features on this Ziggi Studio promo video if you want to see more!


I'd love to know who you're voting for and why, and does anybody know what the bachelor with the most votes actually wins?? Leave a comment with your thoughts :)

Night of Hope 2010 Charity Event - fashion show photos

Last friday, London held host to the Night of Hope 2010 charity event and fashion show. The show featured outfits by: Gul's Style, Saiqa Nasar Majid and Ziggi Studio amongst others. I didn't attend myself, but my good friends at Ziggi Studio have kindly let me post some of their photos from the event!!

This isn't the first time I've seen these Ziggi Studio t-shirts, I don't believe they're for sale but I think they're a good way to promote the brand at events like this!



These four outfits above are from the Saiqa Nasar Majeed collection. Both the black outfits seem a bit too plain for my tastes, but I do like this last outfit with a hint of pink outfit - I'm impressed that I managed to find it on the Saiqa website, but think it looks much better on the model than it does on their site!



The two outfits above are by Gul's Style, their part of the show also included some of the designs they had on the B4U Asian Mela catwalk.



I have no idea which designers the rest of these outfits were by, if anyone can fill in the missing information please leave a comment to let us all know!



These last 3 outfits are my favourites, all very elegant and even though they are embroidered, they have that flow-y light look to them.

A final thanks to Ziggi Studio, who have been nominated for an International Asian Fashion Award or IAFA, for use of these photos. Good luck to them at the awards ceremony on the 9th July!

Instore Review - Bees on Green Street

Last year, I reviewed the Bees London online shop and was impressed at their ability to take their instore offering and create an easy-to-use, nice looking online shopping website (you can read the review here).

A few weeks ago I was in London and as I found myself on Green Street, I decided to visit the Bees store to see what they had on offer and to review the in-store shopping experience!

The first thing that strikes you about the shop when you walk in, is the wall of bracelets! They have almost every single colour imaginable and even though their shop is full of all types of jewellery, the bracelets remain their most popular product. The Bees staff are trained to mix and match up bracelets to any outfit, because we all know it's rare you'll find an asian outfit in a single block colour!
I have been told that if you're going on a weekend, go as early as possible because the shop does get very busy and don't forget to take your outfit to get a perfect colour match!

Aside from the bracelets, you can also find a big range of other jewellery including necklace and earring sets, such as the Kundan-style set above which features in the upcoming Bees Summer 2010 catalogue. If you like a set from the store but want to make some changes, Bees do offer a customisation service which will take around 4 weeks.




Other key items which will be included in the new catalogue are these bejewelled hairclips and keyrings/charms.

As I mentioned in my review of their online store, I think Bees prices are really reasonable. The products are good quality and they come packaged beautifully.

After viewing all their pretty pieces I couldn't leave empty handed, so bought myself a cocktail ring similar to this one for £5.99 and this brooch with blue stones as a gift.

Have you shopped at Bees recently? Leave a comment and let us all know how it was for you!

Aab - luxury abayas and hijabs online

Hijab fashion is something which we've seen a lot of this year, on the catwalk as well as in the top asian magazines.
I was recently introduced to Aab a UK based online store selling abayas for all occassions. Although I don't wear hijab myself, I couldn't resist taking a further look at their site and seeing what they had to offer!

The Aab website itself has a very clean and bright feel to it, a bit like their motto of keeping things "stylishly simple". Their abaya collection is split up into the following categories: everyday, workwear, occassion, maternity, classic black and Hajj/Umrah.
Prices start at £49.99 and go up to £149.99 for the more elaborate "ocassion" abayas. Having never bought one of these before I'm not sure if that makes these reasonably priced or expensive, but either way they look like they're worth every penny! I'd love to know your thoughts on these - leave a comment and have your say!

Shop Review - sareez.com

Sareez.com are an online asian fashion retailer who ship their garments worldwide. Don't be fooled by their name into thinking they only do saris, as they also have a salwar kameez suits and lehngas in their online store.

I got the chance to sample some of their products and this is my review! I'll be honest I was a little unsure about what to expect, I've never ordered an asian outfit from abroad before via a website.


Sizing:
I was given a form to fill in with my measurements to ensure my sari blouse was just the right fit. The form itself was quite detailed and that left me with some confidence that I would get the right size. Sure enough when my sari arrived, the blouse was a perfect fit. As an alternative to filling in the measurement form, you can also send in one of your sari blouses for fit.

Delivery & Packaging:
The outfit was sent by courier and arrived a lot sooner than I expected - around a week after putting in my order. The sari was packaged in a sturdy cardboard box which prevented any damage which could have occured in transit


Quality:
Overall I was impressed with the quality of my garmet, sometimes you can't be sure when ordering online whether the fabric will be a good quality, but I had no problems with my order.

Pricing:
You can view the prices US Dollars, Euros, Indian Rupees but at the moment no prices in GBP - but you can easily find an online currency convertor.

Has anyone else shopped here? What was your experience like and were you happy with your outfits?