McQueen!

Anna Paquin of True Blood fame was recently spotted at the Emmy's rocking a fierce Alexander McQueen dress, and I totally fell in love! After a bit of hunting, I discovered that it is a Resort 2011, and actually looked at the collection for the first time. LOVE (as I do pretty much everything McQueen!!) I love Anna's dress -- it was so fierce and regal at the same time. Like Cleopatra meets woman warrior! I could go on and on :)

Take a look!

Anna Paquin; The dress on a McQueen model. 

{People.com and Alexander Mcqueen Official Site}

Shoulder details of the dress!

{Alexander McQueen Official Site}

 This recent collection included a lot of formal tops and dresses with strong, detailed gold shoulders. And I LOVED the shoes the model was wearing!!! 

{Alexander McQueen Official Site}

Also found this gorgeous ombre-ish/print-ish dress in the collection! I love the color combo (it reminds of this Satya Paul Sari below) and the scarlet is simply yummy! 

{Alexander McQueen Official Site}

{Unknown Source}

PS -- sorry for not updating! School just started and already I have ten million things to take care of outside of normal classes! This semester is going to be colorful, busy, but interesting :)

Stay tuned!!

Textures: Textiles of India

While in India, I got to go shopping and sightseeing, and took in a million colors and textures. Bright colors, intricate embroidery, patchwork, sequins, stones, beads, crushed silks, jewel tones, tissue thin saris, and so much more -- it's all gorgeous!! So, here's a mini crash course on some of the gorgeous, colorful textiles of India. Photographs by yours truly :)

Zardosi work - embroidery with sequins, stones, beads, metallic and colored threads, and more! 

Kota: brightly woven cottons, usually in the form of colorful saris

Applique and embroidery work

The colorful borders of traditional South Indian Kanjeevaram saris. 

Intricate embroidery on jewel tone silks

Block printed cottons

Handloom cottons colored with vegetable-based dyes with colorful borders

Colorful printed and dyed cottons

Those are just a few examples of the many textures, textiles, and colors of India. Part 2 will follow soon :)
Hope you liked it!

Glimpses of Shantiniketan

While in India, we travelled to Shantiniketan, a small town 180 kilometers from the city of Kolkata. Shantiniketan is where Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore grew up and wrote some of his most acclaimed work. Shantiniketan has turned into a university town, and attracts thousands of visitors each year.
Here are a few glimpses of Shantiniketan.

{Vendors selling handmade crafts all over the town}

{A temple with gorgeous glass walls}

{The instruments of a baoul, or wandering minstrel}

{A bell hanging in the shade of a banyan tree}

{The rope-like branches of a banyan tree}

{an old house -- remainders of a period of grace and elegance}

The Great Indian Adventures of an Undercover Diva :) :)

I'm back from India! With a million things to share with y'all!! :)

So, in the next posts I will be sharing with you all...

:)

Stay Tuned!

xx
~ Undercover Diva