Chic Accessories: Jewellery inspirations and how to wear them (Part 1)

Chic Accessories: Jewellery inspirations and how to wear them (Part 1)

Like clothing trends, fine and art jewellery is inspired by everything around us- from popular culture to mundane objects to wild nature. Here’s a look at jewellery inspirations and how to wear them:

Inspiration: Safari

Choose an exotic animal or bird- tiger, rhinoceros, giraffe or kingfisher. Then wear it on your wrist, finger or neck.

Chic Tip: Wear with a loose blouse, feminine skirt and kitten heels. The idea is to look cute, rather than just cool.

Below: Elephant charm and Fantasy bird ring, both from Toniq

Elephant Charm from Toniq

Fantasy Bird- Ring from Toniq

 

Inspiration: Vintage

Oversized coloured rings and pendants are popular these days (I have a white stone pendant). So are faux and real diamonds designed in the 1940s style.

Chic Tip: Diamond earrings look gorgeous with delicate lace or net saris. Wear it to a cocktail, sangeet or reception. And don’t forget the red lips.

Below: Ring and earrings from Aldo Accessories

Aldo Accessories vintage ring

Aldo Accessories earrings vintage

Inspiration: Horror

Skulls remind me of exorcists in old Hindi movies. But they can be fun accessories!

Chic Tip: Don’t think so much! Throw on an old crew neck cotton tee and jeans. Or better, borrow your brother/ boyfriend’s graphic print tee.

Below: Touch skull bracelet from Mango.

Mango Touch skull bracelet

Inspiration: The heart and soul

If you’re a “thinker”, jewellery designs with metaphors and multiple meanings will appeal to you. For instance, Eina Ahluwalia’s recent collection presents the heart in a new form and perceives the eye to be the window to the soul.

Chic Tip: Wear unique pieces of jewellery with minimal looks, and make the accessory the centrepiece of your ensemble.

Below: Heart of Gold earrings,  Door to the Soul necklace, both from Breathing Space by Eina Ahlawalia.

Eina Ahluwalia Heart of Gold earrings

Eina Ahluwalia Door to the soul necklace

 

What jewellery inspiration are you wearing today?

More jewellery inspirations to come. Watch out for part 2.

LFW S/R 2012: Day 4 highlights

LFW S/R 2012: Day 4 highlights

Most interesting look

Swapnil Shinde mixed robotic, futuristic, tribal, raw, dramatic, spiritual, futuristic and dark celebratory inspirations to almost recreate sci-fi movies and music of the 80s.

Swapnil Shinde at LFW S/R 2012

Swapnil Shinde at LFW S/R 2012

Other noteworthy looks

Nupur Kanoi:

The designer used fabric tapes as embellishment, and created geometric patterns as surface decoration. The colour story revolved around white (depicting spirituality) and blue.

Nupur Kanoi at LFW S/R 2012

Shashank Raj- Prajwal Badwe:

The duo showcased speed and chaos of city life with innovative shapes, and techniques like blotting art and paper cut-outs, 3D felt cut-outs and clever play of sheer with opaque fabrics.

Shashank-Prajwal at LFW S/R 2012

WTFashion moment

Sidhartha Arya.

Siddharth Arya at LFW S/R 2012

Crazy prints of the day

Insects crawled on dresses, scarves and embroidery of l khadi, tussar, crepe, georgette and silk Lurex at Rimi Nayak.

Rimi Nayak at LFW S/R 2012

Meanwhile, handpainted leaves and dew drop prints were paired with metallic cutwork sequins at Neha Agarwal.

Neha Agarwal at LFW S/R 2012

Accessories of the day

Neckpieces at Eina Ahluwalia; multi-leaf brooches at Neha Agarwal.

Eina Ahluwalia at LFW S/R 2012

Neha Agarwal at LFW S/R 2012

Most entertaining show of the season

Narendra Kumar played DJ at his show in a Mick Jagger wig, as his models in similar wigs danced a bit on the ramp. And oh, the clothes weren’t too bad.

Narendra Kumar at LFW S/R 2012

Makeup of the day

Dark lips at Rimi Nayak—to show your dark side!

Rimi Nayak at LFW S/R 2012

Customary Bollywood appearance of the day

Not one, but two- Sonali Bendre for Siddhartha Tytler and Sonakshi Sinha for JJ Valaya at The Karmik Show.

Siddhartha Tytler at LFW S/R 2012

Karmik Show Sonakshi Sinha at LFW S/R 2012

LFW S/R 2012 Day 4: Shows to watch today

LFW S/R 2012 Day 4: Shows to watch today

It was a fashion-packed weekend that ended sooner than I wanted. But hey, it’s another day at Lakme Fashion Week Summer/ Resort 2012!

Bodice by Ruchika Sachdeva: The young designer has been tweeting extensively about her upcoming collection for her label ‘Bodice’, and the designs seem to be an interesting amalgamation of vintage influences and menswear tailoring, while being futuristic.

Eina Ahluwalia: Eina’s accessories are bold, in-your-face and don’t hesitate to call a spade a spade. Her collection based on domestic violence last year had made quite a mark, and I spotted some good pieces at her stall yesterday.

Below: Eina Ahluwalia at LFW S/R 2011

Eina Ahluwalia at LFW S/R 2011

Swapnil Shinde: Last season, Swapnil used folds, pleats and drapes in materials like acrylic, PVC and leather to interpret sound waves. The “rolls” and tubes made quite an impact on the ramp.

Narendra Kumar: There’s only one word for Narendra Kumar’s shows—fun! One of the few menswear designers at LFW S/R 2012, I’m expecting a stellar collection from him this time as always. And of course, lots of eye candy and an entertaining show. (Last season, he got models to do little jigs and dance steps on the ramp!).

Below: Narendra Kumar at LFW W/F 2011

Narendra Kumar at LFW W/F 2011

LFW: Trends seen on Day 3

Day 3 of Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2011 was it kicked off with the accessory show, and ended with a rock glam show by Shantanu-Nikhil. We pick our top fashion and accessories trends of the day:

The gleam of metal

From Siddharth Tytler’s Metalosophy show to metallic accessories, there was enough metal on the ramps to send security officers into a tizzy. 😉 Siddharth Tytler’s collection had gold and silver embellishments (or strong metallic hints) on dresses, blouses and even shorts. At Malaga there were gold and silver sequinned bags shining on the ramp, while Suhani Pittie used real metal  to create some interesting neckpieces and cuffs.

(Below left to right: Siddharth Tytler, Malaga, Suhani Pittie)

Siddarth Tytler at LFW S/R 2011 Malaga at LFW S/R 2011 Suhani Pittie at LFW S/R 2011

Debarun’s gold applique glittered on the ramp, giving a rich look to his outfits, while Anita Dongre used gold and silver ribbon borders (though there was nothing unusual or luxurious about them).

(Below left to right: Debarun, two pictures from Timeless by Anita Dongre)

Debarun at LFW S/R 2011 Timeless by Anita Dongre at LFW S/R 2011 Timeless by Anita Dongre at LFW S/R 2011

Fashionable nomads

Babita Malkani sought inspiration from Baul singers from Bengal and the fluid, feminine silhouettes were nomadic, bohemian and chic. The prints included those of Baul singers, Bengali scriptures and abstract designs of musical instruments like the Iktara.

Meanwhile at Aparna and Norden Wangdi’s aptly-titled “New Tower of Babel” the softly draped and asymmetrical dresses had symbols in Japanese, Chinese, English and Sanskrit  in resham, prints or sequins. While the look was anything but sloppy, the outfits reflected new-age nomads.

(Below left to right: Babita Malkani, Aparna and Norden Wangdi)

Babita Malkani at LFW S/R 2011 Aparna & Nordan Wangdi at LFW S/R 2011

Art meets fashion

Rajat Tangri’s Bella Donna sought inspiration from Italian Renaissance painter Fra’ Filippo Lippi, using his painting of Virgin Mary and infant Jesus on his jackets and dresses. Meanwhile Rimi Nayak took a step toward being a mixed media artist by inserting buttons into plastic tag string and attached these on to fabric.  She also used origami on her dresses and skirts.

(Below left to right: Rajat Tangri, Rimi Nayak)

Rajat Tangri jacket at LFW S/R 2011 Rimi Nayak dress LFW S/R 2011

Women get daring

Projecting personalities on the ramp is always tricky, and is usually done with the clothes, hair and makeup. But once in a while, it’s nice to see accessories speaking up for the battered wife as seen at Eina Ahluwalia. Models wore gold pendants shaped like daggers, knives, trishuls, bows and arrows, sickles and even a skull with semi precious stones.

Euna Ahluwalia at LFW S/R 2011 Eina Ahluwalia accessories at LFW S/R 2011

Shantanu-Nikhil introduced their bridge brand S&N Drape with evening wear meant for a glam rock diva. With thick orange eyeliner and big crimped hair, the models walked with attitude and some flipped their hair and flirted with the cameras. Corsets replaced sari blouses, and petticoats were absent. Boleros were worn over slinky bodysuits and bronzed brocade was used for sheath dresses. And the divas ended the show with some fun dancing with the designer duo.

Shantanu Nikhil dress at LFW S/R 2011 Shantanu & Nikhil at LFW S/R 2011

Hotties on the ramp

Pictures below, enough said!

(Aditya Roy Kapoor for Debarun and Randeep Hooda for Rajat Tangri)

Aditya Roy Kapoor

Randeep Hooda for Rajat Tangri

Fashion News: Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2011 designers announced

Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2011’s advisory board recently announced Gen Next, Emerging, and Accessory Show Designers for the upcoming LFW Summer/Resort 2011.

Here’s the complete list:

Gen Next Designers:

  • Anna Liza Ganguly &  Anita Walia
  • Deepti Purthi
  • Manas Dash
  • Miriam Strehlau
  • Shivaji Dutta
  • Timsy Kamboj

Emerging Designers:

  • Abhishek Byas
  • Jelin George
  • Pamela Phlaphongphant  & Archana Banchongrati
  • Sabah Khan
  • Sabbah Sharma
  • Vaishali Shadangule
  • Atithi Gupta

Below: An outfit from Jelin George’s Lakme Fashion Week Winter/ Festive 2010 collection.

    Jelin George LFW 2010

Accessory Designers:

  • Eina Ahluwalia
  • Malini Agarwalla
  • Prabhat Kumar
  • Rachana Reddy
  • Rina Shah
  • Rohan Arora
  • Suhani Pittie

Below (from left to right): Picks from the Lakme Fashion Week Winter/ Festive 2010 collection of (Row 1) Eina Ahluwalia and Malini Agarwalla; Row 2: Rohan Arora and Suhani Pittie.

Eina Ahluwalia LFW 2010 Malini Agarwalla LFW 2010 Rohan Arora shoes LFW 2010 Suhani Pittie jewellery LFW 2010

More LFW News

This season renowned stylist and designer Aki Narula will mentor and guide the Gen Next applicants. I say they’re a lucky bunch!

Also, veteran designer Rohit Bal is now a member of the LFW Advisory Board.

Which designer are you looking forward to this season?

LFW: Glass on your neck

Eina Ahluwalia’s Lakme Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2010 collection for Breathing Space was characterised by two main themes: mini glass containers (“Containment”) and felt (“How I Felt”). Building up on the concept of containment, Eina used miniature vases, bottles, jars to symbolise urns that contain our ashes.  The oversized glass pendants also seen in the collection made quite an impact on the ramp, and were strung on sterling silver with semi precious stones.

Eina Ahluwalia's LFW show Eina Ahluwalia pendant

Felt created by Dutch artist Beatrice Woonders was used as stoles, or studded with semi-precious stones for neckpieces. I asked Eina why she used felt. “I wanted to do something more interesting and challenging beyond gold and silver,” she said. Simple, straightforward, and well-put!

 Eina Ahluwalia at LFW

 Speaking Chic says: Some very interesting concepts, and clearly the artist in Eina shone through. She says her work is in the space between art and commercial jewellery. Indeed, but she just about makes the cut into commercial.

What do you think of Eina’s jewellery? Tell us!