Jodhaa Akbar

Hello! Sorry I fell off the face of the earth there for a few days – it was a busy weekend!

But, since it was a rainy cold weekend, I had a chance to watch Jodhaa Akbar, a period Bollywood film, and as of Sunday night, a favorite of mine. Why? Probably because it is almost like a fairy tale – the right combination of romance, beautiful language and costumes. I honestly think that Indian films have some of the best language ever – they know how to phrase things just right. The the saris in this film are beautiful! Yes, every now and then there is the little bit of cheesiness that makes is a Bollywood film, but for the most part it is a beautiful film.

Oh, and it is three hours long with subtitles. So make sure you have enough snack food. And don’t try to knit while watching it (like  I did), you’ll just end up making a mess because knitting and reading subtitles is a little difficult (for me at least).

 

Middle East Color Love

Source: Uploaded by user via Trena on Pinterest

The Dress

Rachel McAdams in an adorable dress during an interview in the movie Morning Glory

If there is an item in the woman’s professional clothing closet that is too often overlooked, I think it is the dress. Dresses are amazing. In less than five minutes (If you are the smart kind of person that either (a) irons clothes when they come out of the wash or (b) is like the French and throws things on wrinkled and doesn’t give a hoot what other people think. Besides, wrinkles add texture, and they’ll fall out after five minutes in the VA humidity anyway. Can you tell that I am more of a (b) person?) you can be standing in a complete outfit without ever having to think of what you just pulled over your head. A minute later, after your groggy morning brain computes the color and style of the dress, you can accessorize with a belt or scarf, or cool jewelry. 30 seconds later the right pair of shoes and viola! An outfit! A few quick twists and bun pins makes an up-do (if only we lived in the days of hats to cover bad hair, with a little luck Princess Catherine will fix that problem for us) and out the door goes the dress, grabbing a cup of coffee on the way and maybe a slice of toast because it saved so much time. I have a high regard for skirts and tops, and pants and tops, they are like dear friends to me, but they will never beat the dress for ease of getting ready and simplicity.

Picture above from here.

“New” Fashion

There is nothing new under the sun. I was looking through pictures of various runway shows from Fall 2010 and Spring 2011. Of course there is the normal “ooh that is cool” thoughts that floated through my head. But its been a long time since there was something new on the runway that wasn’t bizzare at the same time. I must confess that my main thought was “meh.”

Then I started thinking. We are only tapping into fashion of the western world, what is everyone else wearing. Oh My GOODNESS! A whole new world just opened up! A world of beautiful silks and jewels and colors! Yard upon yards of beautiful fabrics and patterns! Why hasn’t any of this caught on over here!

Granted, they aren’t practical at all, that is for sure. But they flatter the female figure so beautifully!

This picture is from the web site of Ahmad Bilal, a Pakistani designer. And this my friends is just the tip of the iceberg.

Here is another! Isn’t it beautiful!

From the Collection of Ahmad Bilal