So, it was my birthday. And it was a weekday. And I took an off :D For years, on my birthday, either I was answering a quiz or an exam or was preparing for one. Now that I am working and I have some liberty with how I plan my life (rolling eyes are we?), I decided to unabashedly take an off. And what did I do when I didn't go to work on a weekday? I ate and I shopped.

I went to Shahpur Jat (my favorite favorite place these days) and with great perseverance (mine and I's), I found and shopped from House of Blondie. And true to its unusual name, this place has quite a lot of unusual and really cute pieces, e.g., a peach shirt with a peter pan collar and cup cakes embroidered over it :D For me, I bought black and white dungarees though I really wanted to buy the cup cakes shirt too (apparently birthday have budgets too :/)

They are so much fun! And so comfortable. Do try out the age old style of dungarees! 

I miss childhood. I have never taken it for granted. Unlike many people who have so many stories to tell about how they wished to be a grown up when they were small, I don't have a single one to my credit. I have always loved the attention, the licence to screw up things, to just plant myself anywhere and not move for the entire weekend and to wear cute clothes!

But I am fully grown up (height and age wise both :/) and I often hear things like, "Its high time you start acting like an adult", "You are not in your hostel to wear a kurta with your pajamas" , "You should at least know how and when to defrost a refrigerator", "You still can't visit a doctor alone?", "You still need an alarm to wake up at 12 noon on a Saturday?". What do I do? I just ignore them at will and steal my moments of childhood. However I can. To whatever extent I can. Like this one below.

I love this skirt. Its so old school. Flared. The good-morning-ma'am vibe. And its so comfortable. And if worn right, can be quite classy too. I even wear it to office with a formal white shirt. People tell me that I look like a school girl and I am not sure if they mean it as a compliment or otherwise, but I definitely like the sound of me being a school girl. For I would give anything to go back to those days of being carefree, having stupid crushes, sharing lunches, bunking periods without repercussions, going home to mom at 2 pm, playing with friends everyday, watching cartoons and well... just being a child.

Skirt: Zara
White shirt: UCB
Boho shirt: Dorothy Perkins
Envelope: Donebynone.com

Kangana Ranaut on many occasions has worn the flared skirt too!

Source: Google images

Image source: Google images

Cheers to the inner child in us!

I love colors. But I love my whites and beige too. They are just so effortless, they shout out class. At least to me. When in summers, all I want to wear is white with white, white with beige, beige with beige. You throw in a little maroon or a golden or a silver and you have jazzed up your outfit. I recently, impulsively (again on a Friday) purchased a beige dress and look how I wore it on three different occasions in three different styles.

1. Dress with a beige blazer

Have a formal lunch to go to? Partner planned a surprise birthday lunch at a fancy restaurant? Where black is the go to color for such dinners, beige is the color for such lunches. Throw on a blazer on top of it and there you have it. The blazer during summers doesn't raise eyebrows because of its soft color. It only turns heads. Been there done that ;)

Dress: Zara
Envelope: Donebynone
Blazer: Forever21

2. Dress with a belt

Belt: Allen Solly

I have always been a fan of wide belts. Be it over pants, jeans, shorts or dresses. A tan wide belt is a must have in your wardrobe. It goes with about everything. Make sure to invest in a good one as it will be needed often and for a long time.

3. Dress with a statement necklace

Neck piece: Westside

Statement neck pieces and earrings can be your saviors. A plain dress or a plain top and you just have to wear them with a big neck piece or earrings (or both but be careful) and there is nothing plain about your outfit anymore. Have a collection of Indian and western black silver and dull golden collection of neck pieces (I have one in each color and stlye) and earrings and you are sorted for most of your too-late-or-lazy-to-put-something-fancy-together days.

Enough about the beige dress eh?! On another note, I am in love with braids these days. Do try them out. 

 Summers. Hot. Going out. Light clothes. In color and wight. White. Linen. Blue. Cotton. Shades.

Shirt: Forever 21

Pants: Only

Shoes: Heelz

Bag: Free with a top I bought from "Lila" in Shahpur Jat, Delhi
Rings: Chandini Chowk

PS: I love summers. Any day. Every day.

I read somewhere lately that majority of the human population on the earth is average. Which from whatever maths  I can remember from my engineering days should be true if we apply principles of Gaussian distribution. So with majority of population on the earth being average, majority of the days in our lives are also average. These days could involve us just shuttling between work and home or going out for dinners, weddings or shopping for day-to-day things. Rare are the days when we wear a lavish gown or a saree which aims to look like it came from Sabyasachi's studio. While we take extra care of these "rare" days, we often take the majority average days where we just need to step out for "nothing fancy" for granted. I for one like to dress up everytime I step out. And by dress up I don't mean something flashy, but something which tells me that I am putting some thought into how I look today. I read somewhere, "People are going to look. Lets make it worth their while". And I say, why not?

So what is the first step to getting ideas to put together a look which shows the effort you have put in your "an average day" look as well? I would love to say, "Checking out enigmatic's blog", but truth be told, its the celebrities in movies, public appearances and magazines we look at for inspiration. Some of you might not agree with me because more often that not, what the tinsel town wears is very aspirational and impractical. But I think there are some who are inspirational in a practical sort of way.  Kangana Ranaut is one such actress who from the very beginning has always been able to team up very practical clothes into very stylish yet perfect for an average day outing outfits.

There are some I especially like.

A shopping and dinner date:
Simple printed kurta with a long skirt and bag

A shopping date with friends or Friday office wear:
White shirt with knee length flared skirt and brogues

An outing with parents or relatives or just any outing on a summer day:
Extra long airy kurtaa with palazzos and punjabi jutti

A sudden invitation to attend a formal dinner or a lazy morning for office:
Silk embroidered kurta

A cousin's sangeet or a friend's marriage:
Silk flared long skirt with crop top

A romantic date:
Black raw silk dress with some pearls

A different blouse:
Boat necked with half sleeves

A formal function:
Formals in a color other than black, blue, grey

I have always looked forward to her movies even before she became Queen or Tanu. Because with movies come promotions and with promotions come more of Kangana Ranaut's amazing choice of practical styles. And she is one of those rare actresses who repeats her accessories, clothes (in different combinations), shoes etc.

I hope she comes up with more such styles.

Source of all photos: Google images