Mebaz - A reasonable destination

Shopping in Hyderabad can be very hectic. It has so many stores filled with so many outfits in a variety of designs. You can buy dressses in the lakhs or in low hundreds depending on the quality and styles you want. Among these stores, Mebaz stands out as a reasonable destination. You will get reasonably priced dresses and in the latest designs. Mebaz has been adding some good designer collections lately and if you are in a hurry to buy something, I would recommend Mebaz in Begumpet.

Mebaz collection

Tollywood Fashion icon?

With so many new heroes entering our Tollywood world everyday, it would be interesting to see if any of these heroes would make it to be the fashion icon. There is a varied fashion sense among our new heroes but there are a few promising notes from Rana, Ram and Charan. We have been and will be looking more closely at their fashion sense in the coming days.

Here is Allu Arjun, Rana, Charan and Chaitanya at Rana's Party

1 gram jewellery - Art Karat

With the gold prices sky rocketing everyday, more and more are opting for traditional looking 1 gram jewellery that is well made and looks artistic. They are now available anywhere and everywhere in Hyderabad. Most of the star hotels hold exhibits to sell 1 gram jewellery from Mumbai, Delhi, Rajasthan etc. Kalanjanli, Kalaniketan, Chandana Bros. etc sell these at reasonalble prices but if you are looking for even lower prices, you could go to begum bazar and sometimes, some people make and sell these from their own homes. There are also people who can create a replica of the jewellery that you like.

Art Karat sells some good designs of these jewellery on the web and they hold exhibits every once in a while.

Here are some of the good 1 gram gold designs

The unshaven new gen hereos

It has become a fashion lately to not shave for three days before you attend a function. Being rough is considered fashionable and the new generation heroes are following it to the T. I am still old fashioned and think that the men should look neat and clean shaven at least during the formal events.

Here is Chaitanya, Rana and Nithin at Appalraju event

Sridevi and Nagarjuna at Appalraju event

They both can take out a movie today and will still look better than most other heroes and heroines now. They maintained very slim figures and look good in the most casual dresses. Nagarjuna came in his ususal style and Sridevi could have been better but looks good irrespectively.

Sridevi and Nagarjuna

Hyderabad Traditional Jewellery - Bindi - PART1

A cut diamond necklace with pearl droppings is a very traditional "hyderabadi" ornament that is usually passed along through the generations. There is an old hyderabadi saying that one never owns one's jewelery, but  rather rents/enjoys it to wear in their lifetime and  then passes it along to the next generation !!

My personal feeling is old/traditional jewellery enhances and embellishes one's beauty in a very subtle way the is not possible with contemporary jewellery.

Here is a traditional bindi set from my aunt, I will be blogging about other traditional jewellery pieces later on. If you have any traditional hyderabadi jewellery that you would like to share on the blog please feel free to email me.

Women in white

White seems to be the in thing now. Most of the women showed up in white outfits at the Prakash Raj - Pony Verma's reception. The halter neck blouses are no doubt the most popular fashion blouses these days.

Sridevi and Boney Kapoor at Prakash Raj's reception

Jeans are not a formal wear and should not be considered one even if they look really great on you. Being usually well dressed, I don't know why Sridevi opted for this kind of a dress for a formal event.

Reception style

I don't know the names of these women but wanted to post the extreme saree styles at the receptions. This is at the Prakash Raj and Pony Verma's reception.

Prakash Raj and Pony Verma's reception style

Congratulations on their wedding but can't get over the dresses they wore for the reception. I am sure they got the best of the designers to help them with the ceremony and yet they wore not the prettiest of the ones we see.

Sreeram is on high...

But needs a fast fashion makeover to shine a bit more high.

Congratulations on creating history at the Indian idol and being the first south Indian to win this singing competition. He has got the charm and the talent and a little grooming will certainly take him to heights.

I believe he is planning to act in movies too... good luck for him in this aspect too.

Here is Sreeram in Hyderabad, meeting the fans..

Fashion at MAA TV cinemaa awards

With lot of stars and especially the new and upcoming heroines, it was rather a colorful event.

Manchu Vishnu and Ramcharan were the best dressed males at the event. Vishnu was surprisingly well groomed and well dressed and I liked every bit of his style.

As for the females, there were a wide variety of dresses with mini cocktail dresses to designer sarees.
Parvati Melton looked good in a red cocktail dress and Anushka was boring in her ususal salwar style.

Here are some of the pics of other ladies at the event. Nothing remarkable yet not bad at all.

Veronica Manchu - Kundan Jewelry

Kundan Jewelry is gaining popularity especially as a bridal wear in receptions and engagements. Instead of wearing a few different traditional jewelry items, you can wear a one big kundan set. Some of the kundan pieces look really nice but personally, I am not a fan of really huge pieces that you can not use again.

Here is Veronica Manchu during her wedding

Half and Half saree - The in thing?

Since they were introduced couple of years ago, the half and half sarees are still gaining momentum. Somehow I was never a fan of these sarees since the concept itself stuck very bizarre. You would wear a nice half saree or a gagra but a combination of all these feels like it doesn't do justice to any one fabric. I am sure lot of you disagree with me on this since it is a very popular reception or sangeet saree these days.

Here is Shraddha das in the latest half and half saree. I am glad she didn't add too many accessories for an already heavy zari saree. And I am sure someone told her that a halter neck blouse suits her the best. She doesn't show up in any other kind of blouse if she is wearing a saree.

Hyderabadi Pub Style

With so many pubs and clubs opening up in Hyderabad, the competition is pretty high. Firangi Pani, Bottles n chimneys, Touch, Liquids boast some regulars and the pubs try to pack it in by allowing women to get in free ( plus throwing in free drinks for girls)  to prevent these from becoming 'Gentlemen' pubs or addas :-)

As for the fashion scene at these pubs, there is nothing great to talk about. Everyone is in western wear with some wearing ill fitting BCBG dresses or tops and others in plain old kurtis . Something and somebody is worth mentioning every once in a while but they are few and far between.

Rana Daggubati at Blenders pride fashion tour

The new generation Tollywood heroes seem to have some fashion sense compared to the older brigade. Though not always, Rana, Ram Charan Teja, Ram do show up in sensible wear regularly. The black shirt and the rugged jeans are over done, but we do see quite a few of the Tollywood youth brigade in refreshing wear fitted specifically for them as opposed to something which appears like they borrowed it from their older ( or younger  ) brothers.
Here, Rana walked the ramp for the Blenders pride show. Except for the scarf, the look suits Rana especially because of his broad shoulders and height.

And as for what not to wear, Venky keeps coming up with a unique style of clothes and I guess its now his signature style to wear those jackets on top. Nagarjuna looks fit as usual even though he sticks to his style of a trendy shirt on jeans.

Daram - An exclusive cotton handloom place

Daram besides old airport lane in Begumpet boasts hand woven cotton garments fit for all seasons. They carry all kinds of garment from kurtis to sarees and hold exhibits every once in a while. They do have some exclusive pieces and worth a visit if you are looking for some exclusive cotton designs.

You can visit them at daaram.blogspot.com

Fashion at Santosham awards

As usual our stars stuck to the age old fashion concepts. Except for Shradha das and to certain extent Anjana, none of them look remarkable and even hers is a very tried and old fashioned look but the color and the style looks good on her.
Anushka should start looking beyond the salwar suits to show some fashion sense. For her figure and height, she can carry off so many new dresses with elan.

Elahe - A high end fashion spot

Elahe on Road No.10 in Banjara Hills boasts designer dresses at the higher end prices. Like always not everything is good but you can find some decent stuff if you are willing to pay with very simple ones starting at Rs.2000. They carry dresses by more than 100 designers including Tarun Tahlani, Sabyasachi, Jaya Rathore etc.

Here are some of the exclusive pieces from Jaya Rothore

Elahe store in Banjara hills

Shriya at Robo audio launch

Shriya looks beautiful in what I believe is a Manish Malhotra style saree with a bra styled blouse, which again is the latest fashion in the entertainment world. The saree itself doesn't appeal to me, but it seems to be working for her in totality.

Priyamani - Sabyasachi style

Mr.Sabyasachi has been really busy these days with most of the bollywood actresses endorsing his product and him designing the sarees for entire Ravan movie. With a store in Hyderabad he surely is attempting to get closer to the southern consumers too. I like most of his designs if not all though they are expensive for my taste. I guess most people can now afford them but you have got to spend a few thousands for his simple sarees to a few lakhs for his really gorgeous ones.

Priyamani looks perfect in this Sabyasachi saree with the right kind of makeup and accessories

Blouse designs - for the parties

The small sleeve blouses remain the traditional style after all these years. But the party wear blouses seems to hold all kinds of designs and patterns. The halter neck blouses and the strap blouses remain the favorite even though we see all kinds of designs with open backs, long sleeves, embellished etc.

Designer Kurtis and Leggings - The latest Trend

Since almost an year now, Kurtis with leggings or tights has become the fashion craze. Whichever party you go, you can see all the girls wearing bright kurtis with leggings. Though leggings are not new, and we have seen tons of them in the old hindi movies, the new craze is still young doesn't seem like to fade anytime soon.

You own a jean, couple of leggings and a few kurtis to go with them, you are going with the current fashion trend.