Mainly, my hair is longer – I plan to let it grow as it pleases. Till I get tired of it AGAIN and then we shall see. I am also appreciating my smile a lot more. To a large extent, I am well aware that having good posture, a healthy lifestyle, decent mental and physical health, are the main indicators of how attractive someone is. A genuine smile or laugh, a nice warm hug, a tight handshake, an unadulterated guffaw. These are the things that add to whatever biology and genetics gave me. I’m lucky that my parents’ genes translated into my body and face. After a very crippling and debilitating adolescence where I believed I was the ugliest of them all, I have never had any doubts that I’m fairly attractive even without my mouth open and without a smile.
Add the smile and talk to me and you’re in love.
My skin is terrible though. Maybe I will do something about.
As you might already know, I don’t prefer to dress fancy. I have dressed fancy and will continue to do so, but those are more related to making an appearance at an event or being paid to dress in garments for a specific photo shoot etc.
Daily-wear or work-wear is quite another department in my life.
I prefer comfort. Convenience. Pockets.
The above is what I wore to one day of fashion week this time. I was there to photograph the Rahul Mishra fashion presentation – Rahul hired me. I was on the job. I needed pockets. While I was tempted to wear a dress from Rahul’s label, I wasn’t sure any of the embroidery would be able to handle the ten to fifteen kilograms of weight that I would be carrying on my shoulders.
My backpack had two full-frame camera bodies ( Nikon D800 and Nikon D810 ), one small mirrorless ( Fuji X100 ), two professional lenses ( Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 and 70-200mm F2.8 ), extra camera batteries, a metal water bottle, other sundry items like keys, an extra phone, etc.
The jacket ( gifted by Jameson – originally Zara ), has been worn regularly since I got it. I love Olive Green as a color and it is a comfortable jacket. Great to wear when I know I will be carrying the heavy backpack – helps pad the shoulders a bit.
I wasn’t sure how cold it was going to be but I knew that Rahul’s show was in the open and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium is an open area with green around it – hence bound to be cooler than other parts of the city.
So, I wore a full-sleeves cotton shirt ( worn many times over the years since PostFold sent it to me ), tucked into denims ( KORRA ), and carried the jacket, just in case. If it got warm for the jacket, I’d have a full sleeve shirt to protect me from the mosquitoes.
The white sneakers are another staple since PUMA sent them over. Slight gradation in the sole, the laces can be tightened as much as you prefer. I tighten them up all the way when I know I’ll be working. It’s good to have footwear that has a tight grip on your feet, else you’ll develop cramps in the wrong places over time. I was also wearing thick socks and a silicone bump for plantar fasciitis.
Above and below was for the Netflix Triple Frontier preview evening. DHURI cotton jacket, FabIndia silk shirt ( the same one I had a fiasco with – still wore it and then ended up putting it in the dustbin after returning home ), black jeans, CLARKS heeled shoes.
I don’t wear heels but my physiotherapist suggested I needed to stop wearing footwear that’s entirely flat because I’ve developed recurring plantar fasciitis. Lucky break because these shoes turned out to be the most comfortable heels I’ve ever worn. I bought these from the CLARKS store in DLF Promenade. Were on sale, less than INR 8,000 if I recall correctly.
I’ve been wearing these off an on when I know I’m not working and I will not be spending more than 2-3 hours on my feet. More close up photos of the shoes at the end of this post.
Above, from a day out at the National War Memorial. You will see that the denims and the sneakers re-appear quite a bit. Nice deep pockets on the jeans is a huge plus. These ones also fit better than most others I’ve tried. These are my FORMAL denims. Bought these from KORRA many years ago. Top is a knit from Benetton India.
For slightly more formal evening wear : carry a nice thin Pashmina shawl. Even if I don’t end up wrapping it around my shoulders, I can always just let it hang around my neck like a long scarf. Looks elegant. Below, for an art opening / exhibition, I threw the Kartikeya jacket over a rayon shirt. Also wearing jeans bottoms.
Below, close up of the CLARKS shoes. I’m usually a European 39 when it comes to shoe sizes but at CLARKS, I was fitting into a 38. The 39 was far too loose for my feet. Definitely much better quality than the other brands I tried out the same day. I was looking for covered-toes / brogues / slight heel footwear for women. Was also open to men’s footwear if they were available in my size. Steve Madden’s staff was entirely disinterested – I looked around myself and was unable to spot anything. The Charles and Keith staff was excellent but only after trying out varioud shoes did I realize that they don’t use leather at all. I’m not in favour of adding more plastic to the environment – pleather / PUC is plastic. I prefer leather anyday. ALDO had nothing. Mango had nothing. Zara I don’t shop at. Even Hush Puppies had nothing. No one seems to be doing brogues anymore.
And I did not want to order online from smaller boutique brands – I wanted to try. Shoes are not something I take lightly – my feet and their health are important to me. How would I shoot if my feet were always aching? And good footwear isn’t cheap. Instead of spending less money on a larger number of bad footwear purchases, I’d rather spend more on one pair that will last long.
Let’s see how long these CLARKS shoes last. If you see me wearing them ALL the time, you’ll know they’re winners.
Also, this was the first time I went to fashion week without foundation on my face. I put mascara on my eyelashes and did my brows but that’s it. I was apprehensive at first but then I looked fabulous anyway. And I know no one’s really looking at anyone else’s skin at fashion week. Not when there’s free booze.
