What’s better than one showstopper? It’s two! And what’s better than the power couple of the moment to walk for you?
Nothing! Manish Malhotra reigns as the numero uno couturier of the country for a […]
Source: DeepVeer Walk The Ramp Together For The first Time As Hsband & Wife I POPxo
The wedding event on Air India’s A310, which made headlines as “Hawai Bandhan”, was such a lavish affair that celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor had designed the menu for the guests. “My wedding in the air was my dad’s dream. He wanted to get me married on an Air India plane. Now I am carrying his dream to another level with my daughter’s wedding on a B747 aircraft,” said Dilip Popley with pride.The guests for the Vidhi-Hridesh wedding on B747 were handed over boarding passes designed with traditional motifs of Indian wedding. The groom wearing a cream-colored sherwani and the bride wearing a red lehenga with delicate golden work arrived in a red Ferrari at a private terminal in South Dubai where their close family members and friends received them in an impressive manner. They boarded the aircraft decorated with exotic flowers inside for a 3-hour flight cum wedding ceremony.
Source: NRI Business Family Hosts Daughter’s Grand Wedding on B747 Flight with 350 Guests
Recent times have seen a resurgence in brown hues with actresses like Alia Bhatt, Janhvi Kapoor to even Kendall and Kylie Jenner stepping out in a peculiar shade of brown. Once considered an unflattering colour associated with a librarian’s wardrobe (before Prada popularised the librarian chic phenomenon), it has slowly risen the ranks of the colour hierarchy to be considered, now, even a red-carpet option.
“The Fashionista event of the year“ – that is what one of the attendees called the Eighth Annual Silk Threads Charity Gala on Oct 14th. The event benefited the Asia Center at University of Dallas, and was held at the new Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center on UTD campus.
The morning started with an interview of Ruby Bhandari, CEO of Silk Threads, on Fox4 News, talking about the event and giving a sneak peek of what to expect.
The evening weather was perfect for the gala – clear skies, and pleasant – and the location was sparkling. The decor, provided by Decor by Faiza, was fabulous and matched the colorful theme – which was the influence of fashion on cinema. This year again saw a sold-out crowd of Dallas’ who’s-who come out dressed in their finest.
By 6:30 pm, everyone was in place, with volunteers and wait staff looking sharp dressed in black, the drink sponsors Kruto vodka, Ironroot Republic Gin and Bourbon, and Topo Chico, as well as food sponsors The Gardens Restaurant and Bombay Chopstix ready and waiting for the guests. A dessert table was setup inside the hall, featuring Indian sweets from Royal Sweets and pastries from Delicious Cakes.
The VIP reception started at 7 pm, with guests mingling, photographers busily clicking, and bloggers live-blogging. Quite a few of the local media personalities were present from organizations like Fox, ABC, TV Asia and Dallas Morning News.
The show itself was divided into multiple segments, showing the progression of fashion from 70’s to modern day, and the influence of Hollywood on Indian cinema to begin with, and how the trend has slightly reversed nowadays. Over 40 models from different agencies, including Bella Modeling School, participated in the show. Ruby Bhandari, the Chief Designer of Silk Threads, created different looks to highlight this underlying theme, and each of her pieces drew appreciation from the crowd.
The Master of Ceremonies was LeeAnn Locken, the star of Bravo TV’s Real Housewives of Dallas. The show was kicked off by a mesmerizing song by a local singer, Priyanka. LeeAnn kept the crowd entertained, as the models changed between segments.
Terry Gajraj, the famous Indo-Carribbean singer from New York, performed a song – his take on the famous “Om Shanti Om” song from a Bollywood movie, which really got the crowd in the mood. Terry was brought to Dallas by the Platinum Sponsor of the Gala, Pete Persaud Productions, which is also shooting a music video with Terry in Dallas.
The final segment was themed “The Monsoon Wedding“, which showcased the men’s and women’s bridal line from Ruby Bhandari. All the pieces in the line were head-turners, with attendees mentally booking some of the pieces for themselves.
The party wasn’t over yet. Outspoken Visions Entertainment and DJ Raj from Stereo Nation LA took over from here, and brought the crowd to their feet – dancing away till it was closing time!
This event raised more funds than any of Silk Threads’ previous Galas – and all proceeds are being used to setup a scholarship at UTD. As Sanjeeb Samanta, one of the guests, said “Great event!
I know it takes a lot to put these together and the amount of planning that goes into it. Your team did great and the designs and show was impressive. As an alum of UTD, thanks for supporting one of our programs. As an active leader in the DFW non-profit community, thank you for your compassion and generosity every year to support different causes and groups.
We need more people in the DFW community with your heart and will”!
Ruby Bhandari, CEO of Silk Threads said, ” Thanks to all our guests, volunteers and sponsors for their effort to provide educational opportunities for the needy. We are amazed at the support, and this is what keeps us trying to raise the bar for our events every year”.
Bride & groom’s names: Eliza and Santosh Krishnan
4. Anything else you would like to add? – Silk threads had the perfect design that I wanted and everyone at the wedding agreed.
Thank you Santosh, and congratulations to Eliza and you…
Here is a short interview with Roberta, mother of Eden Ryder, who competed in the semifinals of Youth America Grand Prix Ballet. Eden was looking for the costume for an Indian princess, which while looking rich and regal, would allow her to do her routine. As you can see from the pictures, we succeeded – not only is Eden looking gorgeous, but her flawless routine has taken her into the Finals!
What was the special occasion/event you were trying to find dresses for?
The Special Occasion was Youth America Grand Prix (www.yagp.org). We were looking for a costume for the Classical Ballet Variation Gamzatti from the Ballet La Bayadere. Eden was going to compete in the Dallas Semifinals. Gamzatti is an Indian Princess so we wanted to look as authentic as possible.
Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP) is the world’s largest global network of dance. It fulfills its mission of dance education through scholarship auditions, master classes, alumni services, educational and outreach activities, performances, and films.
YAGP reaches over 7,000 dance students annually by holding workshops, scholarship auditions, master classes and audition classes in approximately 17 U.S cities and 6 international locations. Each season culminates in the week-long New York Finals, where more than 1,200 of the world’s most promising dancers receive in-depth mentoring and greater scholarship, professional, and performance opportunities. The New York Finals closing night “Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow” Gala features the students showing the most potential alongside the stars of today’s leading dance companies.
What designs did you have in mind?
We were looking for a blouse and skirt for Eden to wear as she performed on stage. Ruby had never done a ballet costume before and was willing to work with us.
What do you like the most about Silk Threads and its staff?
Ruby and the Staff were very professional and finished the project to the very end to make sure we were happy with the final result. The quality of the pieces were outstanding, from the fabric, hand embroidery and color.
Any tips for our readers?
Silk Threads (Ruby) is capable of creating high end designs not only for Indian Weddings but for any event. She can take a vision and bring it to life at an affordable cost.
Thank you Roberta and Eden, for the opportunity to work on
the Ballet costume – Eden, you looked gorgeous!
When you think about Indian-American fashion, you may picture traditional Bollywood saris, sequins, and midriff-baring crop tops with full-embellished skirts!
However, it may surprise you to know how much Indian fashion’s traditions and designs have made its way into the American mainstream. With a rapid increase of Indian-American population, as well as Americans’ fascination for colors and designs fueled by social media, it is easy to see how this influence in fashion choices was bound to happen.
One of traditional aspects of Indian fashion is the use of embellishments – from sequins, beads and stones, done over delicate thread embroidery. Embellishments, embroidery and sequins on clothing can now be seen on almost every runway – including in collections by high-end designers such as in Dolce and Gabana and Veronica Etro’s SS16 Collection (Pictured). These unique elements on cocktail dresses and formal gowns add that extra elegance needed to make the wearer the star of the night.
You can see unique interpretations of these elements on the dresses from Ruby Bhandari’s Ruby B Collection.
The trend continues in casual wear too.
Tunics and lighter fabrics are becoming essentials in beachwear cover-ups and night-out fashion in major resort/beach vacation destinations. They are flattering on every body shape, and glide perfectly as you walk.
Ruby Bhandari’s Ruby B Tunics linehas tunics that are perfect for both the beach and night out! You can even see the Indian inspired sparkle in this tunic here!
Crop Tops have become an American summer essential, giving us more of a reason to do those ab crunches! Pictured here is one of the more traditional looks by Silk Threads in which again, you can see the sequins and mirrors being used, along with thread embroidery.
Are these fashion trends something you’ve already adopted? We can thank the Indian-American culture for inspiring the east and west fusion of these modern day fashion trends.
Which one is your favorite?
There are quite a few traditions most brides and grooms know about – exchanging the rings, throwing the rice, throwing the bouquet, etc. – but may not know how they got started.
A little bit of research (and our bridal customers at Silk Threads) tells us the following about the most common ones:
But if you are South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, etc.), there’s a whole additional set of traditions which comes into play. If you have seen Bollywood movies or some TV shows (see our post on how Bollywood is impacting the modern wedding), you’d be curious about some of the customs you see going on during these weddings.. (Well, you are not alone – even we wonder sometimes!)
So to satisfy all those inquiring minds, we wanted to start a discussion around some of the events and traditions you may see at South Asian weddings.
First of all, wedding functions (which can be 3-6) differ from different regions and cultures within South Asia, as well as different religions. At each of the functions, there are different traditions followed. In addition, its not just the brides and grooms getting married, but their whole families are involved in the process.
A couple of our favorite pre-wedding functions (common to most South Asian cultures) are the Mehendi and Sangeet events. Depending on the culture and budget, they may even be combined. In this post, we will focus on just this function, and continue the series in other posts.
Mehendi or the paste from Henna leaves (and mehndi tattoos) has been made popular by music artists like Beyonce’, Gwen Stefani and Madonna, but its origin is thousands of years old – dating back to the 15th century, when the Mughal rules brought the mehndi plants to India.
First a turmeric paste (called Haldi) is applied to the bride’s face, hands and feet and then the application of Mehndi begins.
In most cases, skilled mehndi artists come to the event and apply various designs to the bride and her guests. Sometimes even initials or the name of the groom are hidden in the mehndi design on the bride.
A common belief is that if the mehndi color is very deep after washing, the groom loves the bride a lot. In addition, it is also believed that since this would be the last night the bride would spend as part of her birth family, she should spend it having fun with her family and friends.
Most of the time, the Mehndi ceremony is accompanied by music and dancing – sometimes there are two different events – one from the groom’s side and one from the bride’s side – but more and more, these are being combined. Thanks to the Bollywood influence, there are elaborate choreographed dance sequences performed by both the bride and groom’s friends and families. If you haven’t experienced one yet, we highly recommend attending one – will leave a lasting, colorful impression…
As a recent article put it, the closest analogy to the Mehndi Ceremony in the West is the Bridal Shower – a celebration of sisterhood for the bride. From that perspective, the Mehndi ceremony can be called World’s First bridal Shower!