I Wear: The Lady Loves Lavender

I attended a friend‘s engagement party at Gallops, the restaurant at Mahalaxmi Race Course, a few weeks ago. It struck me that I haven’t done an I Wear post in awhile so I caught these on the go. Do excuse the low-grade quality of the pictures but I did want to chronicle this look. I must have been the only woman at the party, not in Indian wear.

I was keen on wearing a dress. For one, travelling to Mahalaxmi in a saree is not an attractive prospect. Secondly, I really did want to try out a Western outfit at an Indian wedding event. An engagement and at a swish restaurant like Gallops provided me the perfect opportunity, without needing to stand out too much.

First, I want to talk about this dress. Nearly 7 years ago, I was at a fabric sale when I came across a square piece of cloth. It was a bright, shiny material but not malleable enough to be silk. It also felt slightly waterproofey, which meant it would only work in warm weather. The print was a gorgeous pastel print on a lavendar background. I picked it up without thinking about what I would do with it.

I did try it out as a scarf but the fabric was too stiff and the piece too large to work well. It wouldn’t sit well in a knot and it was too slippery to stay on my shoulders for very long. Finally, I took it to my tailor and asked him if he’d consider making it into a dress. It actually was big enough for one (though I daresay if I had been a little larger in size it wouldn’t have sufficed). I drew him a simple straight pencil-dress outline to follow. He added some lining to give the fabric weight and shortly, I was the owner of a lovely evening dress! The cut is a really simple one but I wanted to showcase simple lines and bright silver/white gold accessories with it. It would probably be categorized as a cocktail dress, given its length.

I paired this dress with a sapphire ring set in silver, my steel watch and trusty silver ring. The bag is actually a plain purple clutch (identical to the red one seen in this post). For some reason, in the picture, it shines almost like it’s plastic but it looks a lot softer than this in real life.

My shoes were a pair of turquoise sandals that I bought on a whim, wondering when I’d ever wear such a decadent colour or heels. To my surprise, they go wonderfully with most of my party wear!

And finally, my make-up. I indulged myself as this was a night event. I’m just getting back into eye make-up (beyond the basic black eyepencil, that is). This is the denim look eyeshadow by Revlon with a nude pink lipstick (again showing up differently in the photograph, for some reason).

I Wear:

• Lavender paisley print dress: Tailored
• Sapphire ring: Bangkok
• Steel watch: Casio
• Turquoise sandals: Inc.5
• Purple clutch: Maybelline make-up kit
• Eye shadow: Revlon ‘denim’ powder

* Cross-posted to Divadom.