Thursday, May 13, 2010

Shopping at Lokhandwala







So Aastha aka my partner in crime dropped in after a hair cut mid afternoon. After rounds of gossip, we decided to go shopping at the nearby Lokhandwala market. Now, for the uninitiated, Lokhanwala is an old haunt for all those struggling actors and also for the entire TV fraternity that populates the Andheri suburb.

Now, I haven't shopped there as much as Aastha has so with her expertise in tow, I went on a hunt for all the great bargains she tells me she gets there.

Basically, the evening was all about denims and more denims. We did look at the smaller boutiques which when ransacked can spring up some great finds for you and I bought one such tunic/dress which shall be featured right here soon. Then we landed up at Chemistry and shopped truckloads, again a lot of denims.

This is how we looked while we went on our shopping trip to Lokhanwala market:)

Sunday, May 9, 2010




Yesterday I went scouting for a summer dress and ended up at Vero Moda..Now what I had seen of them in Europe wasn't that impressive,so really I don't know how they claim to be the best from Europe etc anyway..I finally did find this one dress-- a little over priced I thought in the Indian currency. But I liked the denim cotton look to it, very summer it was..
I paired it with one of my favourite earrings from Six-- it just makes every look so dressy and girly..ye,ye.
And rest of it..well white gladiator sandals from Colaba and white bag from Claire's. And my not so new over-sized Wayfarers.


I wanted to dress up for it's the weekend but the heat outside made me think twice. My husband and I were going shopping...and I really wanted to wear this dress which I got from a vintage store but it wasn't really apt for the sweaty Bombay heat.

So I finally decided to wear this orange kurti which I dug out from my pile of old clothes a month back when I was visiting my folks. I knew it was time I revisited it. I wore it with this beige skirt.

OOOh and I just bought these oversized retro Wayfarers, how do they look? Btw, the bag is from Kala Ghoda..

Saturday, May 8, 2010

The XX-- Islands

Thrifted--I like it like that!




One of my favorite finds, tucked away in this vintage/thrift store called Fox Hole in Bruxelles for some EUR 15, that's a paltry 900 bucks thankts to the Euro hitting such lows. Anyway I bought this last year in September..just that it's a bit big for me but i din't give up. I wear it with stocking and socks to make it fit well.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Recent clicks



Aastha's black polka dot dress from Lokhandwala,
Belt from Nuon,Big green clutch from Sisley,
American Apparel leggings and black zip-up heels from Tresmode.



Army green, black & white very retro check tunic from Chemistry
White leggings from H&M.Old, tattered Mary Jane like ballerinas from some shop in Bandra.Big green clutch from Sisley


Samidha's collared white shirt from Benetton,
Knee-length peasant Skirt from Sarojini Nagar Market, Delhi
Belt-- part of a dress,
Gold headband from H&M,
Bangle from FabIndia,
Yellow ballerinas-- Bershka,
Gold bag- Vintage shop, Antwerp



Two different looks I tried out of my favourite, favourite American Apparel 70's-inspired elastic waist shorts, in Mineral Wash Denim.

Left: Worn with a formal striped shirt- Benetton,
Promod vest and thrifted classic Converse.
White aviators from Aldo

Right: Teamed with a striped formal shirt from Benetton,
Rolled down knee length stockings from Hong Kong flea, Silver ballerinas from Cartlon

My blog on The Times of India

Spotted On The Streets
Samidha Sharma, 06 May 2010, 06:10 PM IST

Big thanks to everyone for such a great response to my introductory post. The next step is for all of you to start contributing with your own take on street fashion and make this space even better. I want to keep the flow going from my last piece and give you a glimpse of the nascent street fashion culture that I wrote about last time.

This time with the help of a few pictures. Hopefully, these will inspire some of you, at least, to turn photographers the next time you see someone uniquely styled out on the streets. And do let me know if that happens, we would love to see the pictures right here on Style Decoded.

The pictures I am posting here are from Wearabout , Purple Peeptoes and Street Style clicked by bloggers who are out there, on the streets with the aim of capturing varied , off the wall styles being sported by people.


On the Left- Matching your clothes and accessories bit by bit is totally passe'. With the whole mismatched look, stockings with sneakers and sling bags, this punk-inspired look makes quite a statement. Paired with cat-eye glasses the two girls stand out thanks to their eclectic mixing.

Photo Credit- Purple-Peeptoes



On the Right- Now, this is a complete hippie/boho look with most of the stuff bought from a suburban train station in Mumbai. Yes, so next time you hop onto a local train, look out for these great bargains. Highly recommended are the bangles, earrings and other accessories for dirt cheap prices. We hear this dress is stocked in boutiques for a few thousand bucks, criminal I say.

Photo Credit- Street Style on Facebook.



On the Left-This DIY look sees a skirt being worn as a tube top over a white sleeveless tank top, try it with one of your elastic waist band skirts. To add to the distressed look is the jute grocery bag and the slip-ons. Can be worn with or without the leggings.

Photo Credit- Wearabout





On the Right-This knee-length black dress clubbed with a pair of plain white jazz shoes just shows how one can blend the colours black and white in different ways and still not look hackneyed. The over-sized glasses throw in a toned down look to the outfit. The same dress can be worn in a very formal way if paired with heels but this one looks way better.

Photo Credit- Wearabout




On the Left-The bag and the gladiator sandals are picked up from a roadside shop in Bandra, Mumbai. Don't we all love it when we find such great stuff without having to empty out our wallets. The mineral wash skinny jeans look totally retro and go very well with the multi-coloured studded bag. Try this look at anytime of the day, you just can't go wrong with it.

Photo Credit- Street Style on Facebook.


Do let me know if you want to see more of what people are wearing on the streets. It just so happens that this post only captures the Mumbai street style, but it will be great if some of you can send me pictures from other cities too.



So keep an eye out and I am sure you will find exciting stuff out there on the streets.

Fashion Digs Real

STYLE DECODED
Click! Click! Fashion Digs Real
Samidha Sharma, 26 April 2010, 04:27 PM IST
Move over those perfectly turned out Hollywood actors, supermodels and hip-shaking pop stars, here come the real hotsteppers --- self- styled girls and guys spotted on the streets, in clubs etcetera. Thanks to the internet, the rage around the world for street fashion blogs and websites is getting bigger by the day. I don’t need your fashion bible à la a Vogue or a GQ; I got my own community of hip and fashionable friends to take tips from.

Call it fashion’s subculture or the underground scene sweeping fashionville, the diktat here is loud and clear and that is to create and not blindly follow. And why not? Every form of art, be it music, literature or films, has an independent streak which thrives alongside the commercial. And maybe this is the big subculture, the indie influence that fashion is witnessing aided by the growing consciousness of young people to look stylish.

Try searching for street fashion and it won’t be surprising if you find thousands of websites trying to chronicle the latest on the streets of Berlin, New York and Paris. Although, not a completely new phenomenon, what with Scott Schuman’s The Sartorialist having been around for over five years, the exciting thing I see now is the new breed of street fashion websites and blogs, which are not necessarily by fashion industry professionals but are run by just about anyone.

In the process, communities such as “Lookbook” have gained mammoth traction, in fact, Wikipedia- the online encyclopaedia, says that it boasts of over 50,000 members and over one million unique hits per month. An invitation- only community site, Lookbook—collective fashion consciousness, lets you post your unique looks/styles which are liked and commented on by fellow members.

The popularity of the community is evident in the fact that Los Angeles based- clothing brand American Apparel partnered with Lookbook to bring out a catalogue to showcase its clothes being worn by the Lookbook members.

For me the mushrooming of such alternative style platforms signals that celebrity fashion is no more the quintessential reference point for youngsters around the world to look edgy. As these street fashion blogs and communities attempt to capture unique, individual styles and not necessarily the big labels sported by celebrities, more crowds will flock towards sites like Lookbook to keep their style quotient up and running. Till a few years back celebrities more or less topped your list of influences if you wanted to be fashionably dressed but now youngsters check these blogs and communities for tips to get street-ready while wanting to be featured there themselves.

If you thought street fashion is only a big phenomenon globally, you will be surprised to see a lot of Indians doing the rounds of the fashion blogosphere. How this sub-consciously inspired me to start a page on the social networking site Facebook called Street Style is another story but that it’s filtering into the Indian fashion scene is anything but evident. Although, most Indian blogs and websites are a far cry from their Western counterparts that such a movement has begun is encouraging enough.

And my blog-- Style De:Coded- is another way to help push this subculture to grow in India as well as its doing worldwide. I would welcome your thoughts on what you feel about this parallel universe that is taking shape in the world of fashion. Please write to me and let me know your ideas and comments on the way forward for this movement.