City Hall Nuptials

Tags

elopement, fashion

Wow, it has been forever since I’ve written anything! I guess that’s what happens when life actually gets a little busy. Anyway, sometimes it seems as though the universe has picked up on certain things that interest me and the next thing I know I am constantly getting little messages that reinforce my ideas. Case in point, after writing about my dream of eloping (if I ever get married) I came across a collection of City Hall wedding photos on Refinery 29, via A Cup of Jo.

Just look at these photos! I love the idea of having a low key wedding with style that goes far beyond the standard long white dress. I think my favourite thing about seeing all these photos is that it’s a chance to see what couples do when they are able to wed on their own, without the clashing expectations of a few hundred friends and family. It’s honest, low-key and beautiful.

 

When did fat become the ultimate insult?

It’s been over a year since I went to India and every now and then I think about one of the ways I had to mentally prepare myself for that trip. Before I left I had to prepare myself for the fact that I would probably get a lot of stares and comments over my weight. That may seem like a straightforward issue but it isn’t so let me explain. In India (and in a lot of Indian clothing stores here in Canada) it’s very common for a salesperson to comment on your size or shape. In rare cases someone might make remarks that are downright cruel but a lot of the time it’s said in a more casual manner.

For instance, someone might say to me “Your waist is too big” or “Your arms are very wide.” It truly isn’t meant as an insult, instead it is stated as a matter of fact. And the fact is that yes, my waist is too big in proportion to the rest of my body (in my opinion, anyway) and yes, my arms are also quite wide. I know other people though, who are not used to this culture and who have become very upset when someone makes such a comment. But it got me thinking, why are these statements perceived as such a big insult? Why can’t fat just be another descriptor, just like tall, short, or skinny?

I know there are other issues at work here. For one thing, “fat” is subjective. What one person sees as fat, another person sees as average. I’m not even going to get into the ways that society’s standards have changed throughout the years. But I think that ultimately Kate Harding is on to something when she writes that fat is used as an insult to mean “ugly, lazy, unfashionable” and so on. Why else would we see size 0 teenagers hurling “fat” as an insult to one another?

Personally, I think that learning to expect those comments was a positive experience for me. Amazingly I didn’t actually receive any comments from dressmakers while I was in India. But I got more comfortable with acknowledging my size and even asking if there would be enough material to make an outfit for me in certain styles (in some cases there wasn’t). If we could learn to accept fat as just another way of being instead of some secret code for being “less than” everyone else, perhaps we would all be better off.

Dream Elopements

Tags

dream wedding, elopement

I’m going to start this post off by admitting that I am one of those women who has been planning my wedding on and off since I was a little girl. And no, I should not really be thinking about it because right now I am as single as can be. I think my wedding daydreaming comes partly from my love of design, decor and event planning. It also comes from knowing that being half Indian, whatever decision I make regarding a wedding (if the time comes) will be fraught with emotion and outside influences.

Last year my brother got married and well, it was a zoo. The guest list came in at just under 400 people, which may seem extreme until you consider the fact that we have been to several weddings with 800 to 1000 guests. No, really.

Although my brother’s wedding was beautiful I started to question the necessity of all the traditions and hullabaloo. When I look back on it, the elements that stand out to me are the following: my dad was stressed to the point of being almost unrecognizable, my family’s home felt like it was taken over by my entire extended family, and my parents spent an ungodly amount of money on an event that only lasted a matter of hours.

It was around this time that I happened to come across some videos of elopements on Design Sponge. The first one I saw featured a Toronto couple who decided to jet off to Paris to get married and spend the rest of their time wandering the city and enjoying each other’s company.

My jaw practically dropped when I saw this video. I couldn’t imagine a more perfect wedding, one that was simple, fun and actually allowed the couple to enjoy themselves in the city of love, no less.

I don’t know why but it took me months to click on the Design Sponge link to another elopement video made for a couple who decided to get married at San Francisco’s city hall after their wedding quadrupled (!!!) in size and budget.

Once again, the video was a beautiful representation of the love that is shared by the couple. And at the end of the day, isn’t that was getting married is really all about? I have to admit, I already have a very clear idea of what I would want if I were to elope but perhaps I’ll save that for another day.

Easter 2012

Tags

easter, fashion, pastels, polyvore, spring, style

 Easter is just around the corner! I love Easter, mostly because the entire holiday centres around the idea of rebirth. Easter makes me feel as though the world has emerged from darkness and into a bright new state of being. And I love how one of the ways this is symbolized is through the clothing that people wear on Easter. I really enjoy going to church and seeing everyone dressed up in gorgeous pastels. With that in mind, I decided to put together a little board of my dream Easter outfit.

Fashion what?

Tags

clothing, trends, what?

Every now and then there are fashion trends that seem to pop up everywhere and while everyone else is falling all over themselves about how cool the new trends are I find myself standing back and saying, “What?” There are a few that I have found particularly perplexing and yet I can’t seem to escape them.

1. Colour Blocking – Okay, colour blocking isn’t all bad. In fact with bright spring colours I kind of like it. But I often see it done in ways that I find unappealing, like having huge straps on shoes come in two or three different colours. Also I find that the colours people throw together are just too much for my eyes.

Kirsten Dunst wearing a colour blocked peplum outfit and looking understandably confused.

2. Peplum – While I was watching the Oscars this year it seemed like almost every other actress was wearing a peplum dress. I don’t even know how to describe this except to say that it’s like having a slim skirt and then having an extra shorter skirt on top. It kind of reminds me of a tulip. A lot of times the peplum is also in the form of having extra fabric attached to a shirt or jacket. Personally, I just don’t get the appeal of having extra fabric around one’s waist and hips. And as with many trends, it just seems like a sloppy throwback to a bygone era.

3. Drop waist – Okay, whose idea was this? I was browsing Refinery 29 one day and read an article where they beamed about how the doll dress shape had moved on from the “I swear I’m not pregnant” empire waist and was now embracing the drop waist. I still see nothing to celebrate. Let’s face it, any woman who isn’t shaped like an ironing board probably won’t look to great in a drop waist. For most of us it’s kind of like throwing on a colourful sack and hoping that no one notices the utter shapelessness of the outfit.

4. Ombre – For the past year or so it seems like every possible item of clothing has been following the ombre trend. I’d describe it simply as a fabric that starts out saturated with a certain colour and then fades to white or sometimes fades into another colour. Like this:

Now that’s not entirely bad but the other ombre trend I kept reading about was in regards to hair! As in women purposely having their hair blonde on the bottom and dark on top. In other words it kind of looked like every starlet in Hollywood just decided to let her dye job grow out for several months. Technically there’s nothing wrong with that but I just can’t see the appeal in having hair that looks like this (sorry, Drew).

By now you are probably thinking that I know nothing about fashion and am the least experimental person out there. That may be true. However, I will always believe that it is best to cultivate a strong sense of style rather than pouring your next pay check into a passing trend. Fashion is really all about choices and deciding what’s right for you. And these trends are definitely not right for me!