Spice Up your LBD

Almost all of us own a LBD (Little Black Dress). What kind of shoes do we pair it with? Usually, black sandals or pumps. If we are dressing it up we may even pair it will either a silver or a gold pair. Now some of us who consider ourselves real adventurous have even paired it with a pair of red shoes. Wow...........

But our Bollywood fashionista's have really spiced up their LBD's and I am absolutely loving the look. Check these out:

I really like how Twinkle has dressed up her black dress with a metallic necklace and clutch and teamed it with a pair of blue pumps. Very elegant and classy.

In Kambakht Ishq Kareena has paired her black dress with a hot pink pair of shoes. Note - she has let the shoes be the focus and has not worn any other accessories or jewelry. Absolutely love her look.

Now at the Kambakht Ishq Success Party, Priety Zinta took the look even further, she teamed her black dress with a to die for pair of bright orange Jimmy Choos.

You can only fleetingly see the shoes in this picture. Here is a closeup version

My only complaint with Priety's look - she should have ditched the velvet jacket and eased up on the Botox.

Source: Indiaglitz, santabanta

Kambakkht Ishq Success Party

Is Kambakkt Ishq really a success? The critics have panned the movie but looks the producer seems to be dancing all the way to the bank and hence the success party. Take a look at the fashions at the party.

First the stars:

Twinkle looks remarkable, she rarely disappoints. Love the style, fit and color of her Badgley Mishka dress. Also like it being paired with diamond and emerald earrings and nude shoes and clutch. Akki too never disappoints - he is always bad. Wearing a v-neck sequenced shirt and matching grey shoes????? Has his wife stopped looking in his direction?

Kareena is ok - nice shirt, neat pair of jeans, nude shoes ( you get it - they are in). But bows on your shoes - please no - they should stop at age 5. Kareena's side-kick Amrita is bearable here than in the previous post. She has again donned a Sky dress but toned down the accessories - thank goodness. Don't care much for her shoes either.

Can't tell if Katrina's green number is a maxi or a gown. It falls in the in between zone. She has done the no-accessories look which is ok but she could have at least gotten the dress sized to her length.

Sridevi her has the Match Much look going. Purple shirt with a purple Dior bag. Too much purple - either wear the shirt and add a neutral bag or wear a white/black shirt and carry the purple bag. I sincerely hope she was not wearing purple shoes as well.

Now for the Socialites:

I like Anu Dewan's Moschino dress and neutral pumps. I love her Bottega Veneta clutch. This clutch in any color is delicious.

I find Kaykashan's animal print dress teamed with a classic black Chanel look too safe. She can do better.

Source: Viral Bhayani, Filmicafe

Update on: How (NOT) to dress for a BBQ

Just yesterday, I made suggestions on how to dress for a pool party or a BBQ. Take a look at Amrita Arora's picture below - she seems to have followed my advice to a T - but with disastrous consequences. This is a great opportunity to show you how you can mess up style ideas.

My suggestions were:

Wear a maxi (in a solid color or in a light print) - She has maxi on alright but with an embellished neckline and a spectrum of color - What went wrong here - either have an embellished neckline OR a slew of colors - NOT BOTH.

Pile on kadas - sure she has done that, but she has used a kada as an arm band and some on her wrist. Either do an arm band or wear kadas, YOU CANNOT DO BOTH.

Wear metallic gladiator/sandals - two strap sandals are so 2005 - no matter which designer you wear. Ditch them please.

Additionally - she has done the following:

Maxi is too long - if you are going to team maxi with flats, have the dress end at your ankles.

Too much blush - very tarty

Red sunglasses - perched on red cheeks with a multi-colored maxi. Blinding effect. A solid black or tortoise shell pair would have been great.

Hair band/hair piece - too much going on. Keep it casual with a maxi - don't confuse your maxi for a gown.

Source: Mastione

Doing Casual Right

It is my pet peeve. Why do we seldom get casual right? We do just fine for weddings and formal events but come casual it is a mess. Even our stars with all the stylists and designers at their disposal seem to have a tough time with that.

Check out the following pics. Let's take a look at what works and what needs work ( I am starting from who I think needs the most help)

Katrina looks like she fell out of bed, picked up and put on what was on the floor and walked out the door. From her rumpled, un-cuffed shirt to the greenish white sneakers, she is a disaster. If you have to wear a black shirt blue jeans combo. I would:

Roll up the shirt sleeves to near the elbows

Pile on some chunky metallic kadas

And add metallic gladiator sandals.

Now how difficult is that? This would have defi taken her from drab to fab.

Kareena has most of her look down fine. White ruffled tshirt - check, shaded sunglasses - check. But silver sneakers - I think she was influenced by her Kambakht Ishq costar Akshay's silver shoes (see an earlier post). Girl, metallic - yes, sneakers - no. A pair of silver gladiators would have nailed this look.

Looks like both women wanted to wear flats - then something like this pair from Cole Haan would have worked for both Katrina and Kareena.

And then there is Bipasha. She has it right ( my only worry is that I could not find a full Length picture and could not see her shoes).

She has all the right trends in place. White sleeveless shirt, jeans, armful of bracelets and a messenger bag ( so in right now). The more fringe you have on your bag, the better.

Sources: nordstroms, nowrunning, filmicafe, bollywoodhungama

What to wear to a BBQ

Yes, I know July 4th has passed but summer has not. There will still be a slew of pool parties and BBQs. So the same fashion fundas will apply.

Since the maxi is so huge this summer, I would definitely suggest going with a bright colored or floral print maxi. Team them with, the also very in, flat sandals and tons of chunky kadas. Kareena Kapoor is very into the maxi trend. Take a look at her pictures from various events for ideas.

Source: mahiram.com, chicbollywood.com

Hello again

I have been away from the blog for the last 3 months as my life just kicked into high gear and got super busy. I have had several requests to restart it and while I was weighing my options, I got hit with tons of fashion questions on how to dress and what to wear for several occasions.

I got a ton of questions last week on "what should I wear for a July 4th BBQ". So this gave me the impetuous to restart with a little variation in format. I will post the fashion do's and dont's and faux pas, but if you have any fashion questions please email those to me at:

desidiva.fashion@gmail.com



I will post the answers on the blog for every ones benefit.

Here is to new beginnings.

Desi Diva

Lakhme Fashion Week - Manish Malhotra

I am a huge fan of Manish Malhotra's designs - love the colors he uses and his color pairing is unparalleled. I expected something more from Manish than his current showing, and I am sure these ladies did too.


From L to R : Sophie Chaudhry, Asin, Sridevi, Manish, Anushka and Deepika

Take a look at these pictures and I will explain why I am so disappointed with the collection.

These clothes are nice - but they are not Manish Malhotra nice - do you know what I mean? Where is the drama, where is the wow factor? You could buy this stuff at any Indian store. And what is with the cutouts in the peach chudidar - nasty man. And to top it all off he used Genelia and Tussar ( or whatever his current name is) as show stoppers, why? Why do this to yourself?

Source: Viral Bhayani; filmicafe