It is remarkable how few brands understand the idea behind blogger collaborations. So when I do find someone who “gets” it, I’m a fan for life. Having worked with Smriti earlier ( featuring Cobalt Little Stella ) and making the Raisin Gigi – with her fat little bottom – my daily go-to hand bag ( see the Blush Gigi on their website in the Made To Order section ), it was only natural for me to jump at proposing a collaboration when Chiaroscuro bag’s newsletter dropped into my inbox announcing the adorable Bobbie. I love the grain on the Burnt Sienna Bobbie but I really liked the subtle dark blue of the Indigo Bobbie. It would go perfectly with the Andaman Sea while I hopped around beaches during #EyesForThailand
Only once I got back to my desk in Gurgaon, after wrapping up the Thailand vacation, did I realize that I might have subconsciously associated “Bobbie” with the Dimple Kapadia starrer Hindi film “Bobby” and gotten inspired to do the shoot in a swimsuit! ( I know it’s a no-brainer to shoot wearing a swimsuit when planning to shoot at the beach, but hard to miss the association considering how affected I’ve been by the film all my life. )
I love Smriti’s work and I love how each bag is presented on the Chiaroscuro Bags’ website. Each bag is created from start to finish by one artisan / craftsperson and the tag bears their name and a polaroid of them holding the bag in their hands before they ship it off to you. ( Don’t miss the Raisin Gigi in gold that Smriti has recently created – I’m not-so-secretly coveting it since she posted a photo on the brand’s Instagram page. )
At Naina.co, we love supporting locally-made, good quality brands that also “get” how “this blogging thing” works. We love Chiaroscuro Bags and Smriti! And we love hearing when people who read this blog and follow Naina.co on social media, write back to us telling us they bought a bag from the brand after finding out about them from a blog story we did. It’s a WIN all around.
Without much further ado, here are the photos from the shoot. The images were shot over a couple of days at the Baan Mai Khao Condominium and the Mai Khao Beach on Phuket Island, Thailand.
Swimsuit is Shivan and Narresh. Shirt Diaries of Nomad, shorts Americal Apparel. Photos of me by Akanksha Redhu. Stand-alone photos of the bag shot by Naina.
Chiaroscuro Bags : Website | Shop | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Follow along on my first ever trip to Thailand here : #EyesForThailand
All personal style features here : #CoverUp
4 comments
Skin retouching looks very unnatural.
OK, thank you for the feedback! Cheers!
Liked the way you have planned and penned a sponsored post. Lots to learn. Some places the picture have pixelated and grains can be seen. Whats the size of the pic that you upload on your blog?
Hi Anindya, thank you for stopping by! As always! Yes the photos are low resolution – which is a recent change – because of the very large number of photographs on my blog, it had slowed down considerably. Deciding between high quality images and the viewing experience, we settled for the latter. Internet speeds in India still do not allow quick loading or viewing of websites like mine and most of my audience is from India. In our experience, most will not notice the pixellation or even click on the photos to see larger versions 🙂 As a photographer, I’m not a fan of this decision but one’s gotta do what one’s gotta do!
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