Blondes- to dye or not to dye? & women's wear, women's safety etc

ChocolatNY

wow, you can sew??
and do you mean a patiala shalwar Aishah?
like this? http://images.exoticindiaart.com/tex...ala_sn43.j pg

hmmm they look good on tall skinny girls... if you're on the short side or kinda healthy, then not so good.

anyways, i prefer boot cut pants with knee length kurti.. in my experience while indian sarees are the best, no one cuts a shalwar better than a pakistani tailor. the only place in india where i have seen perfectly cut shalwars is up north in Amritsar.

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karuna

I too have the no-high-neck coupled with ample bosom thing, but I have the additional problem of having round shoulders. My dupatta stays in the appropriate chestal region for approx. 2 seconds before slipping off down my arms, and I haven't yet learned how to carry myself to avoid this. Pins solve that problem, but then prevent me being able to pull it over my head or rearrange it if I so choose.

Shoulder pads perhaps?

Aishah

Patiala salwar - yes, that's the one! But I think I might have a figure like Karuna's and I need loose kurta upstairs, and plain salwar shape downstairs! Have been sewing for years - my mother used to be a dressmaker and taught me. And Karuna, that dupatta becomes the bane of my life and I wear it only over one shoulder. Much easier that way..if you don't pin they choke you!

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kristinm

You can always sling it across one shoulder and under the other arm and knot it on the hip like they do in the Bollywood videos just before they break into dance! I guess...

We certainly do not need more bulk up the top than necessary,I'll look for a more streamlined outline than all those pleats and so on.... and I do wear Kurtas all the time here - long ones over my swimmers and short ones over my jeans - so I'll just bring them home and wear a salwar? kameez? and jeans or salwar kameez while there.

I am first in Udaipur and then in Jodhpur - then Jaisalmer, maybe I'll buy one new outfit in each place - yeeha!

mani

there is a FABindia in almost all parts of Mumbai, if I am not wrong there are atleast 5 stores in mumbai. Where will you be staying in Mumbai?

Shalwar Kameez - the question has been asked and anwered many times. Yes it is a very convinient dress form especially for working women. looks professional without heavy regional/religious tones. with a dupatta you can coverup if required.

As an Indian woman in mumbai

to work : I wear a shalwar kameez without dupatta ( I travel by local train and walk to my workplace)
on a holiday ( anywherein india) : usually jeans / trouser with a comfortable t-shirt / top

Foreign women wearing SK: if the fit is good / the shalwar fits well - then it does look good and decent and Indians will appreciate. Please realise that ill fitting clothes do not look good they only manage to call attention to you from the wrong kind of people.

I have seen women wearing shalwars that are short for them or have been pulled up. Kurtas that are very short or shalwar worn with a skimpy top. and then they think that they are trying to be discreet .

I have travelled all over India alone in all forms of transport ( train, buses, planes) and have yet to feel threatened.

I request / appeal to all my fellow travellers (Indian/foreign) please take a moment to review where you are going and if what you are wearing is appropriate. it does not matter if you wear SK or a jeans.skirt with a top - please dress with little bit of caution and see the difference in the attitude of the indian population when they meet you.

Yes the staring does not stop - but then you are a novelty in most places. There will be respect and a difference in the manner in which people speak to you.

This is beging to sound like a rant ....... but then I am subjected to seeing foreign women in various forms of dress ( undress) walking on the streets of my city trying to convince themselves that mumbai is actally their home town.

come to think of it how many of these same people will not stare at me if I was walking on the streets of their town wearing a saree or a lehnga choli. ( much better if it is the skimpy bollywood shiny kind)

welcoming you to my country
mani

Aishah

Good points, Mani. And Kristin your kurtas over jeans are what most young girls in Delhi wear these days, so you could just travel in that. Entirely appropriate. Also jeans, which i find far too hot here most of the time are fine in Jan. (Since it's the 'height' of winter, so to speak!)

ChocolatNY

you know, much as i hear people raving about fabindia, i have yet to discover one good outfit at the fabindia stores. i love the colours, the designs look good on the hanger, but the tailoring is not to my taste.. somehow when i try on a fabindia kurti, it just doesn't fit right, and looks so STIFF!! has anyone else encountered the same?? my favourite kurti styles are the Biba brand found in most stores, but the quality isn't consistent. I bought like 20 of their kurtis, and while the pure cotton ones are holding up okay, the others fell apart at the seams after one wear! i had a great experience at pantaloons though with their readymade churidars... i love churidars and find them more elegant than shalwars anyway.

those of you who can sew, you know that it's really ALL about the cutting of the fabric. this year, i'd love to just find a good tailor in Mumbai and get my outfits stitched there. Mani, is there one you'd highly recommend for good work and fast turnaround? i'll be staying in Worli.

kristin, are you going to shop for silver jewellery in Jodhpur? i found Jodhpur had more reasonable prices than Jaisalmer, and better quality too. i also loved a leather embroidered waterbottle carrier i bought in jaisalmer.. i use it for all of my trips now! wish i could go back there!

Nick-H

Mrs N bought me a batch of lovely kurtas from FabIndia this summer as part of my birthday present. The seem to be made well enough: certainly they've lasted a few wears and washes so far --- I could do a Long-term Ownership Report next year!

However, I bought nothing there for a couple of years, after some very bad experience of poor stitching. Maybe they've got over it; I hope so!

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the opoponax

Mani, I'm staying somewhere in the Fort or Colaba area ( drama best not talked about here). From FabIndia's website, they don't seem to have one around there (unless, of course, I"m just being dense about orienting things in Mumbai, which is entirely possible considering I've never been there).

Their website only lists outlets in mall sounding places in Bandra and the like.

capt_mahajan

See my link in post 144, Kala Ghoda is approximately the Fort area of South Mumbai.

Fabindia

Kala Ghoda
Jeroo Building,
137, M.G. Road, Kala Ghoda,
Mumbai - 400001
Ph: +91-22-22626539,
+91-22-22626540
Email:jeroo.bombay@fabindia.co m

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the opoponax

Oh, right!

I forgot, I discovered that last night, well after I checked the FabIndia website. For some reason I had thought Kala Ghoda was up in the suburbs somewhere... Then last night I was reading up on art museums in Mumbai, and it turns out that's] Kala Ghoda.

I'm a huge urban geography nut, and Mumbai is turning out to be one of the most fascinating cities I've ever studied up on... Really excited to finally get there!

Nick-H

Somebody has to ask (and thus ensure this thread lives on and on)...

If you decide to dye... will you do it in the sink?

the opoponax

If you find a purple and green striped sink in a hotel room in Fort or Colaba, just know there's a punk version of The Opoponax wandering around Mumbai...

Nick-H

As long as there's no yellow !

the opoponax

New Post: Is it polite to dye in hotel sinks?