Happy New Year: ‘Rescue Mission’ 1

As we step into the New Year, I would like to thank you all for your support and encouraging words with the blog. When I started this blog two months ago, I was very excited about ‘lookbooking’, but also very nervous. Thanks to your kindness, I am now looking forward to all the exciting blogging possibilities for the coming year.

I wanted to start the New Year with this particular blog because I believe that while we must enter the New Year ready to grasp all the new opportunities it offers, we must also renew, refresh, and revive what is already a part of our lives and take it with us on our onward journey.

I have definitely inherited some of my passion for fashion from my mother. Growing up, I was in awe of her Indian wardrobe and its colourful contents of saris and suits. She would often take some of her older clothes with her on trips to India and return with new outfits that were different permutations of an older outfit or two. As a teenager, I dubbed these her ‘Rescue Missions’, where she would salvage some part of an older outfit by pairing it with something new. I must admit I thought it was a waste of time and would tease her about these ‘projects’! However, as I grew older I realized that Indian clothes are so beautiful (and often so expensive) that they cannot be left to languish in a suitcase simply because the style may have gone out of fashion. The gorgeous handiwork that makes Indian wear so beautiful rarely changes; it’s the cut and style that fluctuates and then the outfit is relegated to the back of the closet and forgotten about. During my time in India, I decided I was going to embark on some of these ‘Rescue Missions’ myself!

The Sari featured in this blog was originally a plain pure georgette lilac sari with Lucknowi Chikan and Mukaish work, paired with a matching plain lilac blouse. It was part of the trousseau of clothes given to me by my mother-in-law for my wedding 15 years ago. Beautiful sari – yes, beautiful work – yes, did I still like the colour – yes, was I ever going to wear it with the old blouse – no!!! The final straw was when I saw the current cost of a new pure georgette sari with Chikan and Mukaish work! I decided I was going to rescue my old sari and reintroduce it to the front of my wardrobe. I bought a new blouse in a different colour, found some contrasting borders and this was the result! I love the pop of colour that the bright pink has added and I have thoroughly enjoyed wearing this sari in its new avatar. I would love to hear your thoughts on my ‘Rescue Mission’ and I hope this post encourages you to give some of your older clothes a second twirl!

(Accessories: Earrings and Bangles – Silver Queen, Santa Cruz Market, Mumbai)