The Mr Voonik experience

I have always been somewhat of a hyperactive shopper. I'm not going to begin an interesting piece by quoting Carrie and saying 'shopping is my cardio' (I did it, didn't I), but safe to say the only exercise I get on some days is all that energy utilised in tearing up online shopping parcels like a rabid animal. 
I am not sure how I feel about the practice of heading to stores and boutiques to shop becoming nearly defunct what with the advent of online shopping for everything. But this much I do know, I thoroughly enjoy the practice of sitting on my bed with a snack and lazily adding things to my cart that I might or might not buy. 
When Voonik was launched in 2013, from then to now it has apparently docked in 9 million registered users and 7 million downloads. But I was never a numbers kind of girl (unless we are talking Hugh Grant's phone number but hey, that is a topic for another day). I would rather talk to you about how Voonik stocks every plausible label under the sun and truly lives up to its name of being a fashion market place. I was amazed to see everything from Chennai Silks to Chumbak available on the website and you really have to sit up and ask yourself if the trip to the mall is really worth your time.
That aside, this one is for the boys. The male counterpart called Mr Voonik is now here and definitely here to stay. I love shopping for the boyfriend ( now my fiancé ) and I almost took it upon myself like a social experiment to browse this website and give you a little bit of live coverage of everything about it that you need to know along with successfully shopping for the boy. 

• User friendly interface. If I could find my way around for everything, it must be fantastic. I tend to be technologically challenged on many occasions.
• It covers almost everything you can dream of buying for yourself or the men in your life; carefully divided under categories of top, bottom, sleepwear, accessories, grooming etc.
• Once again, I found myself in a labyrinth of more than 1000 brands which just left me spoilt for choice.
• Easy to shop according to the style preference. Take the style quiz and find yourself faced with options best suited for you.
• Saving the best for the last and definitely the most interesting. By connecting directly to the manufacturers, you are paying the right price across all categories. How many websites today that we regularly shop from can actually boast of selling the product to you with no additional cost.

Mister will be made to read this and consequently appreciate my little Mr Voonik haul for him. Gotta love this selfless, unconditional sort of love, right?

x

A midnight summer romance

Somewhere down the line I became the person who took immense amount of pride in styling and writing that struck a chord. As opposed to styling to look pretty, of course. Or accompanying writing for that matter that made me appear like the perpetual optimist who was perfect in almost every sense. I am not constantly happy. I have really bad hair days too. I hurt in love. I open myself up to embarrassment. I make serious mistakes. I feel like throwing in the towel and fleeing on some days. I make spelling errors (Imagine that). I don't always behave in the manner deemed most fit. I enjoy a good cry. I fall almost everytime I start walking. I drop things all the time. I enjoy looking fifteen shades darker than my original skin tone (the heart wants what the heart wants). I do not always follow fashion forecasts. I think about what it would be like if we all just opened up our hearts and made space for ourselves before we let others in.

I conceptualised this look thinking about the dark, vengeful yet sometimes glamorously portrayed side to all of us. I look for ways to always put out a slice of me on the blog. I decided that this was the season and the summer for all things dark and fifty one shades of grey (points for originality? ). We shot this in a seedy yet a quintessentially Delhi lane which was about 50 mts wide. It made sense, since the idea was to explore the underbelly of human emotions and my city, I reckon.

The idea of this dark summer and romancing it in this (un)desirable way came to me after a lot of thinking and surfing the web and one of my go to apps for all fashion inspiration is Wooplr. I try and do a lot of sneaky outfits specially for Wooplr since I tend to get very inspired by the youthful fashion that is always on display there. So for more of my looks and other inspirational fashion looks from girls all over the world, head over to their app.

Photography and the mad edits by: Jagrati Marwaha

Wearing:

White waistcoat: Chemistry

Charcoal colored skirt with large pocket details: COS

Grey velvet choker: Dirrty Glam

Shoes: Charles & Keith

Tan pouch: The Design Collective

x

FTLOFAOTx Wills Lifestyle SS 16

You know a brand is working extremely hard on revamping it's public image and towards changing the general perception of the brand in the minds of the masses when you walk into the store one day and forget where you are. In my tryst with Wills Lifestyle, this time for Spring Summer, 16 I had a million and one observations to list out. It would be a fine place to begin if I told you that Wills Lifestyle is no more just your go-to option for all your workwear needs. This season sees Wills working it with all the coolest trends of the season and colour bursts like never before. I cannot get enough of the fact that denim, once never associated with a brand like Wills Lifestyle is coming out in different forms and shapes (all very very fashion progressive), this season. From a variety of prints that cater to the girly girl like the all popular Japanese cherry blossom, to the retro chic polka dots and the myriad of Indian inspired prints for the nomadic chic girl, they have their bases covered. 

We did a cool one day activity with the brand where we styled modelled in looks we created as fashion bloggers of Wills Lifestyle and also did this fun live chat on Twitter where I answered all your style queries. If you have been following Wills Lifestyle, I'm sure you didn't miss any of it.

I decided to bring out a relatively new facet of the Wills Lifestyle collection this season by working with a look that screams vintage glamour and relaxed nonchalant chic, simultaneously. Channeling my inner Alexa Chung, I styled this pussy bow blouse with the large polka print in black and white with these soft denim culottes in the most relaxed fit. You are never New York ready if you haven't put on those killer statement heels, ready to walk through the subways or hail those (dirty, made to look glamorous) cabs. These Kate Spade pointy shoes brought in just the right amount of oomph while continuing to keep the colour palette of the look more or less muted.  

Wearing:

Blouse and culottes: C/O Wills Lifestyle

Gold and silver cuff: Assorted

Shoes: Kate Spade New York

Black portfolio clutch: H & M

Photography by: Saumya and Shiva of The Open Art Project

A little sneak peek into what you can expect from this season at Wills Lifestyle. Given that the colour palette is full of pastels, aqua blues, tangerines and the prints go from bold checks to baroque inspired architectural prints, safe to say that SS,16 looks quintessentially busy for Wills. 

Would love to hear what you think.

x

Art meets fashion

Is it ever really too late to understand the history and to dig a little into the art scene of a particular country? On my multiple trips to Singapore, I could never really manage a trip to the National Art Gallery of Singapore. Sure, some might call that leaning towards the nerdy side but I really cannot think of a single reason to not explore one of the most stunning structures in Singapore. The erstwhile City Hall and Supreme Court of Singapore (now the Art Gallery), is architecturally a modern wonder. The moment I lay my eyes on the clean white arches and the modern bits of furnishing touches, I knew I had made the right decision by turning up in my brand new sequinned wonder by 3.1 Phillip Lim. Some still wonder if you can ever do sequins in the day but let me tell you, no amount of gawking could undo the joy of seeing the sequin splattered shadows on the clean minimal yet modern walls and surfaces of the Art Gallery. Besides the cultural richness of the structure itself, we spent an awful lot of time soaking in some of best pieces of art curated by the Gallery both pre colonial and post colonial in Singapore. Artists that worked with ancient Chinese methods of painting and those who decided to move over to the modern side and work with oil and other such mediums were some of the things that intrigued me. This is a story I've put together to show you a little bit of everything: my outfit (a crash course on how to wear (and enjoy the jaws dropping) sequins to an Art Gallery), the magnificent structure, the presentation of the art in the Gallery itself and the skyline which is the added bonus from the top floor of the gallery). Keep the feedback coming in. More travel and fashion stories to follow soon.

Wearing:

White camisole: Keepsake the label

Gold sequinned skirt: 3.1 Phillip Lim

Sneakers: Stradivarius

Neverfull tote bag: Louis Vuitton

Beige leather choker: Dirty Glam

Would love to hear your thoughts on my stories about art, travel and fashion coming together. Feedback makes us all work better.

x