Almost Like a Magazine Cover

While writing about fashion, it's easy for me to feel like an imposter. After all, I have no fashion degree. Nor have I grown up around fashionable people. I have never owned a designer piece, and I don't remember buying anything that was not on sale. 

In the last few years, like a canvas that has been sitting blank and untouched, my wardrobe has been vegetating. And yet, I see one glimmer and am ready to put together an outfit or write an article on fashion. These glimmers could be anything - a well-dressed woman walking down a street, a new print in the market or a Netflix series with protagonists in clothes to die for. 

And before that glimmer gets a chance to fade, I try not to feel like an outsider. So, I write. I feel like a model - off-duty, yet stylish. And then I am photographed and put on a magazine cover. 

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What is it about sweaters?

Out of everything I feel while flipping through the pages of a fashion magazine, or while noticing fashionable people in the streets, that feeling of coziness upon seeing a sweater is the most perennial. It doesn't matter if it's worn by a female model, a male model, or even lying on a studio floor; it almost always makes me feel good.

So what is it about sweaters that stands out to me? Is it the nostalgic image of my mother knitting non-stop, her needles clicking rhythmically as she worked? Or is it the jingle of the iconic Monte Carlo TV commercials from back in the day? Or is it simply the touch of wool against my skin? I'm not entirely sure, but there's something about sweaters that gives me this warm and fuzzy feeling.

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Winter Coats, But Make Them Cheap

In my world, money has always spoken the loudest. It has been the driving factor behind most things - where to study, what to eat, where to rent when to start working, how to travel and so on. 

Naturally, money or the lack thereof, has also dictated my sartorial buys. This rings particularly true for all the winter coats I own. The day I decided to buy my first winter coat, it took me very little time to realise that I didn't have the budget for it. Disappointed, I decided to make do with the sweaters I had. And then, my colleague introduced me to the place that had answers to every broke fashion question I had - Sarojini Nagar. We went early in the morning to avoid the crowd, and she took me to the exact lane where they sell the trendiest coats starting at 300 INR! Before I knew it, I had three coats (if memory serves me right). Two of these coats still hang proudly in my closet, including the one in these pictures. 

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Never Not Sure Of

There are days when I have it all figured out - where to live, what to do on weekends, who to meet, the vacations to save money for. And then there are days when I feel as lost as a ball in dense shrubs. Days when I stare at a fully stocked fridge and still unsure what to cook. Moments when I have absolutely no idea how to spend an entire day.

Today is one such day, so I don't know what to write about. And then I stumbled upon these pictures from my library and I decide to upload them because this is one outfit I will never not be sure of. A grey chunky sweater, black pants and black boots. Nothing can go wrong.

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Simplifying Winter Dressing

For some people, putting together a winter outfit is more complicated than an intern trying to figure out their first job or someone trying to find a balance between their cravings for coffee and anxiety management resolutions. Here are three things that have simplified the art of winter dressing for me.

Owning versatile outerwear: Owning a few coats and jackets in colours such as black, grey, tan or navy has allowed me to throw them over almost everything.

Shoes that do the trick: Shoes with minimal design, e.g. black or white sneakers with very little print or typography, or flat boots can easily go with layered winter outfits.

Solid t-shirts and scarves: When it comes to solid t-shirts and scarves, I think we can opt for almost any colour. If it's muted, it will look like an organic fit; if it's a bold colour, it will add a pop to an otherwise monochrome or basic outfit. 

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Being Sad in a Sadder World

In times when everyone posts their best pictures and videos showcasing their perfect lives on social media, it's easy to feel lost. It's easy to believe our life is nothing but a big bag of meh (sorry, I couldn't find a better word). According to some, posting about sad things can bring a much-needed sense of reality. But I often wonder, if we talk about the problems and challenges of our lives on digital media, will there be any takers? Will anyone care to go through paragraphs of pouring hearts and streaming tears? At this point, I am not even looking for answers. It's all just a big blob of ramble.

And then I wonder if I even have the right to ramble in a world where children are being killed. In a world where islands are drowning, people are losing homes because of natural disasters, in a world where half of the population still struggles to live a decent life.

If you have managed to read so far, you must have guessed that all is not well and that the smiling pictures in these blogs do not tell the complete story. I am going through one of the most challenging phases of my life - in terms of health (both physical and mental) and my parents' health. Throw in some money issues to this, and I have a mix I don't know what to do with. But as I said, all these problems are nothing compared to what people in the world are going through. 

So at this very moment, I take a deep breath, feel guilty for having better problems, pause only to realise I still have no clue of what lies ahead, take another deep breath and publish this post. 

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Dressing up for winter

During winter, it's easy for my mind to wander off to the grey landscapes of old novels set in Russia or England. It's easier to lie for hours under the quilt, reading, listening to old songs while taking breaks, only to ponder the shapeshifting nature of life. 

What is not easy for me is to dress up, layer after layer, working with all the thrifted winter pieces in the closet. So, I have found a few ways to make dressing up for winter less painful. And here is the first one - I take a long coat and pair it with a summer scarf! I then find a pair of pants that are some shade of the coat colour itself. If I am wearing a grey dress, I can throw on a coat of some other shade of grey. In this blogpost, it's mostly browns. And I think it works.   

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