There is something about old pictures of moms that speak glamour. They would be wearing just a simple silk kurti and still look drop dead gorgeous! What is this?? Maybe its the spell of an era begone or the fact that girls always take after their mom’s style one way or another. whatever the reason, I have to admit, my style is shaped by my mom in a few ways. But why do I call this post a faceoff? Keep reading!
I remember slipping into my Ammi’s pencil heels and invading her bag for the red lipstick right as she would return home from work. I would wait till the evening so I could dress up and walk around the home like her. In fact if it weren’t for her, I would never have the confidence of wearing stilettos as effortlessly as she did. As I look back into her subtle elegant style, I am awed both at the fashion savviness of the 80s and how well she made sure to carry herself effortlessly yet gracefully. This is a little homage to her style in comparison to mine, and you will be surprised to see despite having quite a different fashion sense altogether, the basics of my style are inspired majorly by her. Here is all the time she flaunted every look better than I can! Have a look!
Traditional Formal Wear
Gota and Kiran were the things back then, hence she had plenty in her closet, As for me, I picked up on the latest 80s trend and unintentionally ended up making something similar to what she is wearing here. I won’t mind such coincidences in the future as well. I like how she draped the dupatta around her shoulders to make sure the gold embroidery and gota work is apparent. I tried the same though but think she wins here! She still has this dupatta in perfectly impeccable shape with the same glittering Kiran and gold embroidery and guess who has claimed it? My pleasure!
Monochrome Plain Outfits
Ammi has always been fond of monochrome dresses and now its a bit challenging for her to find such outfits because of the trend of printed fabrics everywhere. Her preference was towards lightweight silk and chiffon outfits, and she tells me how her closet was decked with more silk than cotton. On the other hand, I am most at home in a cotton top for daily wear but I equally enjoy wearing plain kurtis because you can mix and match some interesting items/accessories with them. Hence, the color and style choice is the same, fabric choice owing to the popular trends is the only thing that has changed.
Brights Colors and Patterns
She mainly gravitate towards bright colors and patterns and she loved putting the pieces together into outfits that are easy to move around in. Hers here is a rich quirky colorful cotton outfit with net dupatta and mine is a cool summary print kurti with chiffon dupatta. Her look is now pressing me to invest in a monochrome floral qameez shalwar ASAP!
A Formal Dramatic Style
I purposely selected this photo because I love it and realised how easy it would be to replicate it whenever I wear a sari. I draw a lot of inspiration from the 80s these days and her hairdo and jewelry speak 80s out loud. I have no experience of wearing a sari, but all my dibs are at Ammi’s sari collection which is incredibly gorgeous. While I was going through her old sari photos, I noticed she didn’t stick to just one sari style or fabric but very elegantly donned chiffons, silks, and banarsi at the same time. I still have to convince myself about saris because I feel it takes quite an effort to carry it, so until then I would stick to formal dramatic gowns.
Fondness for Warm Colors
I am fond of warm colors especially for formal outfits, so is she and it’s evident in her countless old photographs where she chose maroons, pinks, browns and green over greens, blues, and indigos.
Jewelry
Ammi is all for pearls and jhumkay and I am all for jhumkay but more for chokers and antique pieces. Interestingly I would dress up in her pearls all the time as a kid and felt out of the world back then, but now pearls don’t excite me much!
Feminine Style
Her beach look is way more feminine and cool to eyes than I could ever flaunt. She is all for pinks no doubt!
Ammi’s sense of style has always been graceful, minimalistic, and comfort driven. These are all the elements I resonate strongly with and probably this is what has shaped my own style sense gradually. To be honest, my teenager was a little haywire in terms of fashion and it was a seminal time for me to come to terms with my own style but I found a lot of inspiration in Ammi’s closet to shape my own style and perspective. It’s also true that our style preferences are sometimes quite different, for instance, she suggests me to go for simpler outfits, and I push her to be more daring in her choice of prints and colors, but somewhere over the years, we have met in the middle subconsciously. This is how a generation-long fashion gap between a mother and daughter bridges!
I would love to hear if your style inspiration is also driven by your mom!
Until next time!
She can be reached at https://linktr.ee/hinailyas
