Sonam Kapoor photographed by Garance Dore!

I love the fact that Bollywood darling Sonam Kapoor has been getting so much attention Internationally for her fashion sense, and her appearance at Cannes this year was no different. I admire the way she takes risks with her clothes rather than playing it safe, and think she looks very cute in her white dress by the Olsen sisters brand, The Row with gorgeous jewels from Chopard.

This lucky girl had the opportunity of being photographed by one of my most favourite bloggers, Garance Dore who did a behind the scenes portfolio on Cannes for the Chopard website. Garance writes this snippet to accompany the pictures:
A mess full of joy and laughter reigns in Sonam Kapoor’s dressing room. She is in Cannes with her entourage of friends and family (her sister is her stylist) and it feels that thanks to this, Sonam avoids all the stress of Cannes. With complete trust, she lets us attend her preparation. And she really enjoyed trying ALL the Chopard rings... at the same time.

 The images have been taken from the Chopard website. All other images by Garance Dore for Chopard can be found here
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Prabal Gurung for J Crew

The designer Prabal Gurung is the latest to take part in the "high-end for high-street" trend that's been a favourite for the fashion world over the past few years. Recessionistas everywhere can now get Gurung's fabulous figure-flattering designs for cheap at J Crew, where a few days back his collection was launched. Pieces for some of the items are extremely limited (some designs had only 50 pieces manufactured) so I suspect that you will be more likely to be able to purchase them at eBay for a triple multiple of the price, which would still be a fraction of what an original Gurung creation would cost.

Prabal Gurung is incidentally one of my favourite designers to watch out for. Honestly, I don't own a single piece of his, although with my penchant for "buttons and bows" as a friend puts it, I'd love to own one of his creations for J Crew! Going back to why I'm such a huge fan, I feel like he is one of the first fashion designers from the Indian subcontinent (he is Nepalese by birth but started his career from New Delhi) who has been able to break away from the Indian look and feel of clothes and yet been able to have such a huge impact on the market for Western wear. I knew this budding designer had great things coming his way when Michelle Obama stepped out in one of his creations when she and Jason Wu appeared together to donate her inaugural gown to the Smithsonian. Although style stars like Demi Moore, Leighton Meester and Thandie Newton have also stepped out in Gurung's clothes, I think the first lady was the first who helped make him a household name. His collaboration with J Crew is, I believe, another huge step in the right direction. I really do hope for amazing things to happen to this very talented young designer! Here are some images from his collection for J Crew-

(Images taken from The Cut, NY Magazine)

Profile on Amir, My Personal Trainer

 

I'd been hearing  about Amir Siddiqui for a few months now from a friend of mine who swore he was the best thing since sliced bread. Amir is originally Pakistani but has lived in America most of his life and after spending a couple of years in Pakistan, recently moved to Dubai. My friend had been training with him on her numerous trips home to Islamabad, and while was not consistent enough to see results herself, swore that her friends had completely transformed their bodies under his able supervision. I have been training (with mixed results) with various trainers for YEARS now and have recently unhappily watched my scale inch upwards, gaining back weight that I'd worked my butt off (literally) to lose a few years back (You may remember an article I'd written for Khaleej Times on the matter here?) Over the past year especially, I've been plagued with knee pain that have limited my cardio sessions, ensured no running and have almost eradicated my lower body workouts.. And while no squats and lunges make me happy, my body has not responded as kindly as my spirit. I was on the lookout for a new trainer who'd be able to motivate me and get me back in shape and that's when I succumbed and decided to give Amir a call. I will give you my disclaimer here- I've been training with him WAY too short a time to either see any results or even sing his praises, but I can narrate to you why I was sold on him after my assessment with him. Amir (and yes, that's a caricature of him above!) met me and seemed to understand my problem perfectly. On meeting him I'd been doing the famous Dukan Diet for 3 weeks that apparently Kate Middleton had been on before her wedding (and wowza.. did you see her bod? And her sister's butt?!) but had only unfortunately lost a measly kilo in that period. He explained to me that I'd dieted my body into an extremely confused state and messed up my hormones with my crash diets. After making me take a long questionnaire about my food habits, workout routines and most importantly, my attitude towards food, he turned to me and said, "do you realize that I understand your problem better than you do?" and I really did believe him. Then another thing happened- I told him about my knee issues that I'd been visiting a physiotherapist for for a few months now. He checked out my knee, made me do a half squat, made me show him where it hurts, pressed a few points for a few minutes (very painful few minutes!!) and just like magic, the pain was GONE. I think I did about 50 full squats without feeling even the slightest pinch of pain! Needless to say, I signed up with him that instant. His method of training is something I haven't seen before and so is his attitude towards a lot of different health and nutrition methods. He is EXTREMELY well read and confident and I wanted to be able to post about my workouts and progress with him and I leave for the summer in 8 weeks which is a great chunk of time to get some results if focused and dedicated. However, in the meantime I thought you guys may be interested in listening to him talk about busting a lot of the myths revolving around diet and exercise and may be hear his views on the same.

1) The favorite advice on nutrition and diet that has consumed the dieting world in the last decade is that carbs are the devil and protein, the body's holy grail! What are your views on that?

Can I just start off by making clear that I am assuming your blog readers understand that I currently don’t have the time to add all the proper scientific references but that I CAN back up ALL of claims with basic science and research if they'd like? Alright, let’s move on.

Here’s the deal – being lean is about 2 things:
A - Your physical activity levels
B - Your total calories per day should be very slightly below maintenance 

For this question let me make this very clear: the thermodynamic caloric equation - calories in calories out -  is still the only viable and scientifically accurate means to assess what total calories should be for a given person with a given energy expenditure.
Meaning there is no way around it – you have to lower calories below your maintenance level (number of calories to maintain current bodyweight) to lose fat IF your metabolism is functioning normally – more on that later.
And the truth of the matter is that it doesn’t matter what you eat, as much as I dont like to admit it. As long as your calories are controlled you WILL lose fat. Kansas State University professor Mark Haub's Twinkie diet experiment proved this recently where he ate only junk food (mostly Twinkies and cookies) and dropped a substantial amount of fat and IMPROVED his blood profile.
My advice is to have an expert assess what your caloric requirement is first and foremost because if you go TOO low, your body will develop “resistance” – this happens to women that have done multiple diets over the course of years, and they end being unable to lose any fat despite how low they go or how much physical work they do -. I’ve had a client who was unable to drop fat on 750 calories per day with 2 hours of treadmill work (which I am against btw) per DAY! She was hovering around 97-100 kilos. I've had another client come to me with bone fractures, missed periods and an inability to lose fat even on 800 calories per day and she was only 60 odd kilos in weight and worked out for 8 hours per week profusely. She had developed The Female Athlete Triad - which is a combination of too much physical work and too little calories. 
Now does that mean you should allow yourself to go on a junk food diet as long as its calorie controlled ? Not really. If you care about your appearance then know that the effect on your skin and hair appearance and health would be detrimental. Not to mention your organ function will eventually become impaired and you will develop nutrient deficiencies over time.And the most important part to me - that your workouts will not be of high quality due to your bodies inability to recover due to the nutrient deficiency -  and there is nothing more important to an incredible figure than your workout.

Quality carbohydrates will also enhance mood, improve cognitive performance and enable you to achieve true intensity in your workouts – which is a BIG plus if you want to be able to consistently perform the kind of physical work that can change your body for the better. 

In essence, a balanced diet with equal amount of carbs, protein and fat is can work just as well as any for most people, most of the time. The thing to focus on is calories - not just carbs.

2) Recently you mentioned to me that the personal trainers claim of diet being more important that exercise is in your words, "a cop out!" Please elaborate on why you think that's so and what other trainers are doing wrong 
In a nutshell : What your body does with the food you eat depends on what you do with your body. Exercise programming has been dumbed down in the fitness industry. But there is an intelligent and scientifically valid method for designing workout programs.

Every single trainer that I’ve come across in Dubai uses random workouts. They actually train clients on the fly. No program, no progression and no method. I find this abhorring. The workout is the primary stimulus that activates and de-activates gene sequences that control how you look i.e body composition. 
The way they get “Results” at all is by pushing the client to eat less and less and train more and more. Not understanding the negative feedback loops in metabolism which will inhibit and BLOCK further fat-loss. The body cant just be pushed and pushed without it pushing back. It has to be nudged and prodded according to valid biological principles.
People who exercise hard literally have an altered biochemistry compared to those who are sedentary. This completely changes the rate of what and the extent of how they digest food. Your workout IS the key. The food is just the fuel that is spent according to how the workout dictates it should be spent and used. 

The issue then is that I end up having to train all these people who have been pushed so hard - in the wrong ways - by their trainers that they are now injured and "diet immune". So its a tough time all round. But Im up for it :)

3) The argument on Fats, ie: "Good" fats like olive oil and nuts... good or not so good?

Yes, there are good and bad fats. My top good fats would be fish body oil in supplement form and coconut oil for cooking. You might want to look into MCT’s to understand more about it. But heres the kicker, saturated fat has a whole host of benefits as well. I’ll actually write a blog post about that. Just keep in mind, there is NOTHING wrong with animal fat. Whether or not you “become” fat depends on – CALORIES. So enjoy your fatty steak as long as it's within your caloric range for the day. 

4) If you could recommend one supplement for an average person to take, which would it be? Vitamin D about 30 I.U per pound of body weight and Fish Body oil a minimum of 6 grams per day going up to pretty much any limit they’d like – I’ve used 30 grams per day and felt GREAT. No doubt about it. The benefits of both supplements are all over the internet. But quickly speaking, one of the cool benefits of Vitamin D may be the fact that it is anti-cancer and some doctors claim it may be able to cure cancer itself or at least dramatically aid in the fight against it - if you know anyone with cancer, you need to know everything you can about Vitamin D. 

Fish oil is actually AS effective as Prozac and is a potent mood enhancer. It fights inflammation - which means healther blood vessels and joints. And it also aids in fat loss. A must have supplement for sure. 

5) What is the single best tip you've ever received as someone in the health and nutrition industry? Well, I've learned mostly from my own mentor, Scott Abel to Focus on the human being and not the human body.
The client is a mental, emotional and physical entity and I need to be a biologist, physicist and psychologist at the same time. Luckily those are my 3 favorite fields of study.

6) What is the single best tip you've ever given a client trying to lose weight? 
Stop the day to day analysis. You cant solve a 12 month problem in 12 weeks. You’ll only end up hating yourself. 

7) Thanks for taking out the time to educate my readers. Can you tell me some more about yourself and your background please?
Well, I’ve studied biology in college – but didn’t go for higher studies due to some financial constraints and 9/11 issues in the U.S – which is an interesting story in itself. Am certified by the NASM and Abel Bodies Fitness (one of only 5 in the world). But in essence I’m an omnological autodidact. I want to learn everything about everything. Which is why my “method” always seems so different to people who have been with numerous trainers. I recently moved to Dubai and hope to really surprise people with what I’ve discovered about human physiology and psychology. Big dreams. Always.
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Please do give me feedback on what you thought about this post as I would love to be able to do some more posts with him in the future, some Q n A sessions as well as maybe some video posts where he talks about different subjects or shows you guys some workout moves. So feedback on this one is VITAL as I need to know if you're interested in learning more about health and nutrition or even my own diet plan that he's put me on and my personal journey!
Amir has his own blog at www.geniusofthebody.com and can be contacted at amir@geniusofthebody.com
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New Arrivals of Classic Chanel Bags!

Here are some of the new arrivals of Chanel handbags at Bergdorf Goodman's in New York City. Most of these bags are all classics and some are new takes on their classic designs. I particularly love the black tote in what looks like to be supple lambskin... I want to jump inside the picture to touch it! Unfortunately I wasn't sent the price tags that go along with these bags, but feel free to contact Linda (her details are at the bottom) for any piece you might be interested in.

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Please contact Linda at lindamdpreston@yahoo.com for prices, reservations of purchasing of any of the products listed above
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In LOVE with Asos!

As you've probably figured reading this blog, you'll know I LOVE to shop. I'm an absolute shopping junkie and there's nothing I love more... unless it's good food we're talking about, which is really ironic as it directly impacts my shopping abilities!! As you know I also love things that are unique so whether it's high end or high street, I like having things that are a bit.. well.. different. My favourite brand is Chanel and I get a lot of my stuff sent to me from New York as I find their stock a bit different from stuff they have here (not to mention finding sizes is not a problem as it is here!) And while I'm absolutely MAD about high street shopping (H&M is very conveniently located below my apartment building in NYC) I find the stuff in Dubai to be a bit drab compared to the stock a lot of the stores carry in the UK or US. To give you an example, I could spend HOURS browsing around Topshop in London whereas I've only been able to find one or maybe two things in the stores here over years! A few months back, I noticed a lot of bloggers wearing stuff by a brand called ASOS and after I kept repeatedly seeing a lot of clothes by them, I decided to investigate where their store was. Turned out they were an online store that not only sold their own brand of clothes but also stuff by various other designers including Karren Millen, Miss Sixty, Paul and Joe Sister, River Island, Whistles, etc. I was more interested in their clothes though so I haven't really poked about the other parts of the store too much, although I did manage to find a pair of Preen Aviators a few months back that were sold out in Selfridges and everywhere else, which ASOS had on sale.
As I said on the heading of this post, I LOVE ASOS- the website and the brand. I've ordered a whole bunch of things from them and their quality for the most part is extremely good and so is their range of clothes. I started by ordering a lot of t-shirts and basics and then got a bit adventurous with their clothes with some dresses, and I've always been really happy with what I've bought. Also, the stuff i don't like, I try on and then ship back which works out to be very convenient. If you like high street shopping and want to try something new, especially if you want to try on a new trend but don't want to spend crazy amounts investing in it, ASOS is definitely the way to go! Here are some of my fave picks from what they have online now. These are not necessarily some of the pieces I have or would buy, but that could be as I wouldn't wear a particular style or colour.. but I'd love to if I could pull it off!

Love this simple and beautiful dress.. can easily take you from day into night! The full skirt reminds me of a gorgeous Alaia number

Very Prada-esque and perfect for the summer. Am a huge fan of the full skirt as you can tell! Wish I could carry it off though!

Just got this tunic top with my last order and love it!

And I think this 2-in-1 floral dress is so girly and fun for the summer

All of these clothes range between 20 and 50 GBP which isn't expensive, especially for the quality of what you're getting. If you do decide to order from them, do let me know what you think! Just to clarify, this post isn't sponsored by ASOS or anything.. I don't think they know I exist.. except for their shipping department of course! Happy Shopping!
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Book Review- The Brightest Star in the Sky

 Marian Keyes is without a doubt the Queen of "Chick Lit." Her last two books that I'd read, The Other side of the Story and This Charming Man were fabulous reads that I literally could not put down. As an Author she has the unique ability to make her reader laugh out loud and/or cry from the very depths of their being- sometimes at the same time. Her stories are complex, yet simple, touching yet hilarious, unbelievable, and yet somehow utterly realistic and by the time you're done with a Marianne Keyes book, you're utterly in love with her characters and are miserable they're gone. With such an introduction to the Author you can imagine how excited I was when I saw her latest book, The Brightest Star in the Sky. I picked it up immediately, cracked it open and started to read what I thought, would be my pick for the best summer read. Boy, was I wrong.

As I mentioned earlier, Keyes' ability as a writer is to be able to come up with loveable memorable characters and make you want to follow their stories. Her latest book however, featured some of the most miserable and drab characters that I've ever encountered in what is supposed to essentially be, a quick, fun read. Not only were they not fun, but it's taken me around a month to finish this book. It was slow (painfully so) and starts off with a certain entity that goes into the building of 66 Star Street to find out about it's residents. You don't find out what the entity is till the end of the book, but by then, you're FAR from really caring to figure that mystery out. There are way too many characters in the book and it just jumps around so much that every time you start a new chapter, even though you're 3/4ths your way through the book, you think to yourself, "WHO?" I don't know if this is because the novel is over-populated or as I said earlier, that boring that you don't really care to figure out who is who. I don't know what miserable phase the Author is going through in her own life to make her produce something as bad as this. Laugh out loud bits? You'll be lucky if this book makes you crack a smile! All that got me through is the fact that I HATE leaving books halfway and especially if they're fiction, finish them no matter what. 

Am still searching for that fast-paced addictive summer read! The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and subsequent books in the series were my last year's pick. Any recommendations for must-read books for this year?

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Review of Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel

Last evening I decided to head to dinner with my family to the Shanghai Chic restaurant at the Ibn Batuta Gate Hotel. My sister and my mother had I guess, heard lots about the new hotel and this specific restaurant and we decided to try out something new rather than revisiting Bice, La Petite Maison or Zheng He's for a meal, which are standard favourites for everyone in the family, including my 5 year old nephew. Since my Mother and I go for a movie together every Friday, we decided to go to the Ibn Batuta Mall for a movie and head to dinner from there. Oh by the way, Ibn Batuta movie goers, and here I'm speaking to the ones with kids... please for God's sake keep your children in check! If your 3 year old is going to stand above my seat and yank my hair, don't be a shameful cow and ignore them and continue watching your movie!!! Yes, that's precisely what the woman behind me decided to do and when my Mother complained, she glared at her and sat back while her brat of a child yelled in our ear. Why are toddlers allowed in 3 hour long Hindi movies anyway?? Have decided to never go back there... Thank God for Mercato!!

 (Pic taken from TimeOut Dubai)

Anyhow back to the Gate Hotel and the Chinese restaurant... We should have figured that maybe the moron-trend would have carried on from our movie into dinner it being Friday the 13th and all that mumbo jumbo about the law of attraction and all. You know, like when you stub your big toe and get into a bad mood, you "attract" one horrid incident into your life after another? Well, after the obnoxious child and bratty mother (or was that the other way around?) we should have just packed up and gone home! But we'd heard that the Chinese restaurant had hired the chef from Zheng He's and really wanted to try some place new and have a nice dinner.  On reaching there we tried to ask questions of our waitress only to soon realize her broken English didn't carry her far enough to understand what we were actually saying.
Mother: "We hear the chef has come from Zheng He's?"
Waitress: "Yes! Shanghai!"
Mother: "No, no.. Zheng He's from Madinat!"
Waitress, "Yes! Shanghai!"
So apparently the Management thought they were hiring for a restaurant in China Town and didn't think the woman needed a language skill beyond Chinese. When we finally tried to order, we kept requesting the lady write down what we wanted as my Mother and Brother in law are vegetarian, my sister's on a diet and my nephew is fussy. Despite asking her 5 times to put it on paper, she kept insisting she'd remember, only to later bring out a dish that we hadn't ordered but had inquired about. The food was average, the cutlery strange and my soup spoon looked like a baby spoon which would probably take me half an hour to get through my bowl of soup. The service was slow and they took fifteen minutes after bringing out the main course to bring us plates, which meant our food was pretty cold by the time we got to try any of it. Oh and during this 15 minute wait, they decided to come out and talk to us about the dish we hadn't ordered (but they'd brought anyway) despite us repeatedly telling them to bring our plates first! Anyhow, the food was average and not exactly value for money. They didn't seem to think so though, as my Mother's card got swiped twice over and if it hadn't been for the SMS notifications she gets on her phone, she'd probably have headed home not realizing she'd paid double for a very average meal. They took another 10 minutes to try to figure out what had happened and bring her another slip of paper to sign to void the transaction.
After all that drama we were happy to be leaving and going home and had decided while we wouldn't return to the Chinese restaurant, we may decide to try the Indian restaurant there which seemed quite full as we were walking out. We handed our tickets to the valet which took 15 minutes to bring my sister's car, and 15 minutes after that showed no signs of bringing mine. After the half an hour wait, my Mother and I started to lose our heads to the valet drivers over there who seemed extremely clueless and didn't know what was happening. The valet desk was a MESS with keys and papers lying everywhere and they kept asking me for the smaller portion of my valet ticket which they hadn't given me in the first place. I even posted a pic of the Valet desk on my Twitter account as I was shocked to see how badly organized they were. Another 2 ladies were standing there yelling their heads off as well as they'd been waiting since before us and hadn't gotten their cars either. After another 10 minutes of yelling my Mum and I decided to go down with them into the parking lot to see what the problem was. Turns out they couldn't locate the car. We scanned their entire wall of keys for my car keys to no avail and were informed then they finally found the car but not the keys. The Valets seemed annoyed and pissed off with us and, apart from one apologetic soul, seemed irritated by OUR presence. The Manager of the Service was Filipino, the Valet drivers Indian, and there seemed to be lack of communication there as well, not only because of the language barrier, but because they had no walkie talkies or devices to be able to speak to each other. So if one guy went down one level in the parking lot to find the car, and one went up to the main entrance of the Hotel, 2 others had to be dispatched after them to find out WTF was going on. Not smart. Anyhow, long story short, one hour later they found the keys and the car, and when I was yelling at the Valet while getting into my car, he decided to slam my car door on my face. Oh and the poor ladies waiting for their car? The drivers had screwed the car up which had stalled it in the middle of the lot and it wouldn't start. Thank God I was able to get out with my Vehicle working fine!
On reading the restaurant review on TimeOut Dubai they didn't seem too impressed with the restaurant either, but have made no mention on the service in the rest of the Hotel. They probably won't be going back to Shanghai Chic but I don't think I'll be going back anywhere in or around Ibn Battuta Mall or Hotel anytime soon. I remember another friend telling me a story about how the valet driver in that very same Mall was using my friends car (a Rolls no less!) to transfer people from one part of the mall to another, as he'd been told by my friend that he'd return in 2 hours but was back in 15 minutes. I don't know what Valet company both the places employ, but they might want to rethink their strategy!!
If you want GREAT Chinese in Dubai, go to Zheng He's at the Madinat for a great meal that is slightly expensive, the Shang Palace at the Shangri La for something in between and Nanking in Bur Dubai for the BEST Indonesian and Indian Chinese for an amazing value for money meal! And most definitely give Shanghai Chic and the Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel a skip!!
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Giambattista Valli to design couture!

A few days back I was so thrilled to hear that one of my favourite designers, Giambattista Valli, will be showing his first ever Couture line in either July 2011 or January 2012. The Chambre Syndicale has invited him, along with 9 other guest Couture members to show as part of their Couture line up. These guests are chosen by the 15 houses that are established haute couturists (if there is such a thing) including Giorgio Armani, Chanel, Dior and Maison Martin Margiela. Did you know a designer has to be a guest couturier for a minimum of 5 years before they can officially be called a Couturier?? I can't wait to see what stunning creations Valli comes up with for his first show!
He had his first ever ready to wear show in Paris only in 2005, and in this short period has established himself as a force to be reckoned with! Although he hasn't up till now had a separate Couture show, he's designed often for the red carpet and bridal collections, often with STUNNING results. I remember seeing a picture of the very fashionable Charlotte Dellal in Vogue a couple of months back, and being amazed with her gown- a Valli cream coloured creation that took my breath away!

There is something about this dress that's stuck in my memory and is, I think, one of the most beautiful wedding gowns I've seen. Not only is the gown perfect, but I LOVED the look of it for the wedding reception. Since I couldn't find another picture of the transformed reception gown, I had to make do with a scanned picture of the Vogue article that I was talking about, which had that one on there too... You've got to love the internet!!! If you look at the bottom (and click on the picture to zoom in enough to read the accompanying article) you'll see that she just took of the layers of tulle skirt to show an elegant figure skimming dress inside that was perfect for the evening. Did I say LOVE before??!! J'ADORE!!!!

Ok so the chances of me having a white wedding are slim to none but this dress has haunted me for AGES (I just googled and saw that she was married in June 2010!) and you can understand now why I think Giambattista Valli is SO talented and why I can't wait to see his couture line! I don't know if you guys remember me posting pics of the Valli for Moncler collection here? Check it out to see what he's done with ordinary jackets. Yes I'm a HUGE fan.. can you tell?
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Customized Macbook Air!

I've said it before and I'll say it again.. I love products that are absolutely unique and have some personal touch to them. Remember my M&M's?? Well, since I personalized my chocolate, you obviously would think I'd do SOMETHING to my computer right? Right!
As part of my birthday present to myself, I decided to buy myself a New Macbook Air. My old one was the 13 inch but since I visit coffee shops A LOT (I'm practically furniture at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and Shakespeare outlets near my house) I wanted a smaller one that I could tote around to blog on as my iPad doesn't quite do the job. Enter 11 inch Macbook Air and Steve Jobs had me salivating to pick one up ASAP!
Since I wanted to play around with the look of it, I was contemplating between having 2 companies customizing the product for me. Colorware is a company that customizes the entire look of the product for you so you can pick your own colours and finishes and make your phone, ipad or computer look exactly the way YOU want it to look. A friend of mine had gifted me a blackberry that they'd customized into an orange-berry and I LOVED it and used that phone for the longest time! Another company that I love is Gelaskin who do stickers or "skins" on a whole variety of products, which is how I'd redone my old iPad and iPhone. Since Colorware is very expensive to use, I'd resisted getting a computer of mine done since it would mostly be used at home, but since I'd be toting my 11 inch quite a lot, I figured I'd splurge and allow myself to customize the computer since I'd been lusting after them for a WHILE now. Then I decided to splurge a little more and get the Gelaskin as well as I was ordering them for my new phones and iPad2, and they had a "buy 3 get 1 free" offer. Anyhow, I can pull off the sticker anytime I like and amazingly, the skins don't leave any gunk behind so I wasn't worried at all. This is what the finished product looks like!

I absolutely LOVE my little computer and think Colorware have done a fabulous job... and since colour-blocking is SO in, but latest gadget is also SO on trend ;) I think the Gelaskin is also such a fab addition to the look. I'll post up the picture of my other devices soon so you can see how the skins have completely transformed the look and feel of them! By the way, if you already own a device and want to have it customized, Colorware allows most of the products to be sent in and shipped back with it customized. However that service is available for the US only, so if you're visiting the States over the summer, definitely something to think about sending your favourite Jumbo-bought (natch!) gizmos for a quick facelift to them! A little nip and tuck could take you a long way!
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Simpsons Couture!

While searching the net to look for an appropriate "Lanvin for Kids" accompanying picture, I came across the Simpsons spread that Harpers Bazaar had carried back in 2008 and thought it was SO fitting and SOOOO cute! While I posted the Lanvin one, I just HAD to post the rest of them up too!
Loving Homer doing the Karl Lagerfeld look best! The spread was called, "The Simpsons go to Paris with Linda Evangalista"

And yes I'm behind on my Paris blog posts, but nothing I could post could surpass the cuteness of the Simpsons in Paris! Did you spot Maggie sticking out of JPG's Birkin?? LOVE!!
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Lanvin for Kids!

Parents of ultra-stylish kids rejoice! Alber Elbaz is now all set to design a Lanvin Kids line! The collection will be out in November in time for the Spring/Summer 2012 collection. The 25 piece collection will be girls-only, so all stylish little boys will unfortunately have to get their designer duds elsewhere. The collection will be sold in New York, LA, Paris, Beijing and Hong Kong, and looks like won't be making it over to Dubai... although I'm sure all our local fashionistas will have access to all the Lanvin boutiques worldwide and can have them shipped over.
I can never really talk about kids fashion without thinking of my friend Eka's darling daughter, whom I've crowned the most stylish little girl in the world! If you've come onto this blog recently and haven't read about her, you MUST click here to have an overdose of cuteness! And who said fashionistas aren't born but are made??
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(Picture from a spread in Harpers Bazaar, August 2007)

Missoni... Now available at Target!!

Here comes yet another high end designer-wholesale retailer tie-up! Missoni, the Italian brand known for it's colourful garments as well as knitted textiles and prints, will have a line designed especially for the American superstore Target. Vogue magazine just announced this collaboration and it's interesting to see how this new trend of tie ups is taking on a life of it's own. Unlike the manic hysteria that takes place in a few other collaborations where  a limited number of items are made in a limited number of pieces, this will be one of the largest projects that Missoni has undertaken with around 400 products to be re-designed in the company's signature print. The products included will be women's, men's and kids clothing as well as bedding and dinnerware for the home!
Sounds super exciting and I'll keep you guys posted as and when more information becomes available!
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The Royal Reception!!

So apparently 2 billion people watched the Royal Wedding go down on the 29th of April, but only 650 were invited to the Royal luncheon following the service and only 300 were invited for the celebrations later that night. Details emerged that Kate Middleton wore another dress by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen for the reception, and her picture (above left) were circulating moments after she made her grand entrance. Here are some other tidbits that I've gathered from different sources about what all went down-

Prince Charles' speech at lunch apparently stole the show. He gave his speech while standing on a platform and remarked, "The thing about growing older is that your children get taller than you so they can see your bald spots. Now in my case, I can see his."

The Telegraph reports on what happened later that night- "It looked absolutely stunning," said one guest. "There must have been at least 30 round tables, with 10 people on each, decorated with beautiful white flowers and candles.

"When we had arrived earlier, we were each given a little envelope with our table name on it, and the tables had a personal touch too - they had clearly been named after places that were special to the couple and their friends."

Table names included "Lewa" -- after Lewa Downs, the family home of Miss Craig, at the foot of Mount Kenya, where Prince William spent several months during his gap year and where he returned several times during his courtship of Miss Middleton.

Another table was "Tetbury" after the town in Gloucestershire which is close to Highgrove, Prince Charles's country home, and several Welsh-themed table names in a nod to their current home in Anglesey where the Prince works as a search and rescue helicopter pilot.

There was also, of course, a "St Andrews" table, after the Scottish university where the couple began their romance.

On the menu for the evening was a 3 course dinner by Chef Anton Mossiman including terrine of dressed crab and tiger prawns, Aberdeen Angus beef fillet, Welsh lamb from the Highgrove estate, spring vegetables grilled and blanched and a trio of chocolate puddings.

Prince Harry gave the best man speech as well, often calling his brother, "The Dude" as a pun on his title of the "Duke of Cambridge." He also told Kate that he felt sorry for her for not marrying the good looking brother, referring to himself! Harry, also famous for his impersonations, did a high pitched one of Kate calling William "Billy" and Wills referring to her as "baby" to much amusement of the guests!

Eventually, guests were herded into the Throne Room, which was decked out with a dance floor, stage, bar, strobe lights and sofas. The entertainment was provided by English singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding and according to the Daily Mail, Prince William and Kate set their first dance as a married couple to a cover of Elton John's "Your Song." However, according to the Telegraph, it was Goulding's hit "Starry-Eyed." Their last dance of the night: "She Loves You" by The Beatles.

Later, Prince William gave a speech describing his bride as his "rock" and telling her how beautiful she was, right before the guests started to leave at 4 AM.

Other reports suggest that Harry danced on windowsills and stage dived into the crowd, and another suggests that apparently William and Kate did a dance to "You're the one that I want" from the Grease soundtrack! I don't know how true those reports are, but overall it really does sound like SUCH a fab wedding reception, and I really envy the lucky few who got to be a part of it.. not to mention, the lucky bride who snagged herself a Prince!!! Who says Fairytales don't come true??

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This song gave me goosebumps!!

I don't know if you guys have seen this version before, but I just came across it yesterday and it gave me GOOSEBUMPS! Thought the music was beautiful, the Indian touch just right, and her voice, AMAZING! I thought it was a fantastic tribute to Indian music... what do you guys think?

Hermes Heaven in Paris!

Guys sorry I've been MIA for a while but just been extremely tied up. I have quite the backlog of Paris posts to catch you up on so I'm going to try posting them as soon as I can!
One of the things I enjoyed most in Paris was obviously the shopping! Even though I didn't buy too much (quality over quantity always!) I snapped up a lot of things to show you guys, including the latest Hermes store that has recently opened up in the chic Saint Germain area of Paris. Saint Germain is to Paris (I feel) what Soho is to NYC... very chic and trendy but also very artsy and funky at the same time. I could be totally wrong, but at least that is the vibe that both me and Payal (who lives in NY) got of the place. This gorgeous Hermes store opens up to such a glorious sight that you'd never imagine from the outside that it could be so huge within. The lady at the boutique told me that it used to actually be a swimming pool and sort of showed me around a bit. It's a good thing too, since they had very little stock of anything really, and I'd felt terrible walking out without getting SOMETHING! So, I got out having all these lovely pictures that they let me take! I really felt that THIS is what Hermes heaven must look like!

The entrance to the store

 

 

 

Don't miss the Hermes horsey on the side!!

How incredibly adorable is that?!