2011 started as it always does, with a rush of asian wedding exhibitions across the country. This time though, I wasn't just attending out of interest and for blog articles, I had a year packed full of close family weddings to think about too!
January - the Asiana Bridal Show 2011 in London
I had the pleasure of a front row seat for the all-important fashion show at this event so I got a great view of all the outfits. Ekta Solanki and Ziggi Studio were my two favourites from this event, read my review of the event here: Asiana Bridal Show London 2011 - first look.
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!
With 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
