Review For The Article : Revamp Your Wardrobe

While going through the article “Revamp your Wardrobe” by Reward me I was thinking how mankind revamped the world-wardrobe in the last two decades! Fashion dates back of ancient times, have now become a booming industry all over the world. How, revamping one’s own wardrobe is a big deal? It is just putting our thinking cap on & be a little out of box .I could not think of any other topic to be as creative as this one. So, this is the first reason why I got attracted and chosen this one.

 The article is very short and crisp and sharp turns have been taken to change the dimension of the boring attires. Some trends that ruled the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week Spring/Summer ’15 are reflected in the article which again is similar with the trend showcased in Paris, Milan and London Fashion week. For color scheme the article suggests bold colors. 2015 color scheme prediction is Orange, electric color mix with understated vivid hues, soft pastels and neutral shades. To draw the colors from the nature would do a trick to revitalize mood swings and to have a fresh contended mind – all set to go from work to dine.

Trouser suits, cropped pants and wide- leg pants are one point destination for the office goers, matched or mix-match with shirts, tops, coats or blazers. Alternatively ankle length skirts or maxi skirts could also be suggested if bored with trousers. According to 2015 fashion forecast “Skirts will make a big trend in 2015. The ones with long slits, wrap skirts and pretty much all kinds of skirts are going to be hot in 2015. Crop tops will also make it for big trend this year, and they work both for relaxed casual looks and for cocktail wear,” designer Kiran Uttam Ghosh told IANS. If paired with shirts or geometric designed tops would go perfect for even office wear.

 Digital prints are of course the trend this year. A mix of prints ruled the S/S 15 runway. The geometric patterns, tribal prints and illusionary prints are said to be back with a bang. Urvashi Kaur, Hemant & Nandita, Payal Singhal and Anupamaa Dayal presented a vibrant color story on runway at WIFW S/S 15. High on drama the collection with a mix of prints and colors which was a visual treat can dramatically overrule the boredom of a fashion conscious professional.

For fabrics silk, sheer with floral prints and delicate motifs can do wonder in everyday life. Bold silhouettes and sharp tailoring to look smart could also be an option. This androgyny trend was brought back at Spring/Summer 2015 by Sneha Arora, Varun Bahl and Dev r Nil while they presented a line of suits in dandy look. The pickup line surely was ‘Rock your work wear look with interesting silhouettes’.  Right accessories and proper shoes with matching or contrast shoe colours would definitely complement the look.

In this regard some tips can also do wonder. For jewellery even for dresses to mix gold and silver. Incorporating neon Mint green, fuchsia pink and sunflower yellow are all the rage this season and were featured prominently on this year’s runways. While adding playfulness zippers in an outfit, closed or open could play like a trump card. Double sided ear rings, a small tattoo can bring colour in haze. Wear a shirt on a top, keep the buttons open and use a belt instead. It would give a feel like a jacket and look different – try out if it can bring some breeze in a dull grey day.

Photo courtesy: Indo-Asian News service

‘Fringes add a bohemian charm to an outfit with an understated flamboyance. The trend is going to be seen on everything – dresses, skirts, jackets, bags, shoes, scarves and pretty much everything in your wardrobe’ as forecasted by a daily Newspaper. They also claim ‘Bold African geometric prints, fluffy clouds prints, artistic ink splatters and over scaled blurred imagery are all huge trends in terms of printed fabric’

 “I am participating in the ‘Ready For Rewards’ activity for Rewardme in association with BlogAdda.”

   https://www.rewardme.in/beauty/fashion

LUXURY DINING

The term “luxury” has been defined in various ways, including in very rational terms, such as

Prestige-seeking behavior. Prestige-seeking behavior generally stems from social or self expression motives that include a desire for conspicuousness, uniqueness, social interaction, emotions and quality. Other theorists frame luxury with an emphasis on aesthetic values related to uniqueness, quality, hedonics and the extended self.

Oh no! Why am I giving an academic explanation of “Luxury” while writing about Luxury Dining? Actually when I started thinking, end number of concepts, incidents crowded my mind. To channelize the juice properly I first dried it up.

I heard from my father to have mutton & rice as a dinner was a luxury dining for him as my grandmother was a widow and very rarely  agreed to cook meat for him. For me, when I was young eating out or my birthday treat with a lavish ten-fifteen course home cooked meal was a luxury dining. Even now sometimes when I cook more than what I need and present that to myself nicely, I feel like I am having a Luxury Dining.

For a young boyfriend to spend an evening dining with his girlfriend could be very luxurious.

"A perfect date it would have been, 

with flowers in her hair

The sun would shine upon us so, 

I think at her I'd stare

I'd marvel at her thoughtfulness, 
her words would be so kind I'd feel the happiest man alive, as we sat and dined."

Weddings for upper middle class families all over the world are perfect examples of luxury dining.

Now time has changed. An important aspect of luxury food experience is no doubt restaurant dining. Billions of money is spent for this all over the world. But what are the expectations from Luxury Dining? A research suggests, “Quality of the relationship” between the restaurant and diners provides the primary determinant of commitment, loyalty, and word of mouth. The study suggests a restaurant experience rests on three information categories: functional (technical quality of food and service), mechanical (ambiance), and humanic (employees), though humanic clues may be more impactful than mechanic ones. As beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so the quality of a restaurant is in the experience of the diner. And so any attempt to rank the world's best restaurants is bound to produce as much disappointment as elation .The winners are the proprietors whose top places guarantee tables fully booked for years ahead.

Apart from Europe the prominence of rising culinary ambitions is visible in Peru, Russia, Mexico, Brazil and many other countries. This reflects the future of fine dining and the restaurant business with new clientele.

In 2008 UNESCO incorporated oral culture in their Intangible Cultural Heritage list intending to safeguard immaterial cultural heritage. French Gastronomy is one of such food cultures inscribed. According to UNESCO some of the reasons why it was selected : important elements include the  careful selection of dishes from a constantly growing repertoire of recipes; the purchase of good, preferably local products whose flavours go well together; the pairing of food with wine; the setting of a beautiful table; and specific actions during consumption, such as smelling and tasting items at the table. 

The gastronomic meal respects a fixed structure, commencing with an apéritif (drinks before the meal) and ending with liqueurs, containing in between at least four successive courses, namely a starter, fish and/or meat with vegetables, cheese and dessert.I consider this  to be Luxury Dining.

Now when I think about Luxury dining here in India what comes in mind first is all dressed up, eating on a table with fancy tablecloths, beautifully folded napkins, and a multitude of silverware on the table, a menu that is high quality and beautifully plated. Of course not less than a five course menu. What is common about Luxury Dining whether East or West is that the bill extracts a big chunk of hard earned money from everybody’s pocket. What we look for in return probably is something superior in kind, quality, and appearance; outstanding, very good to look at; showing special skills, detail, or intricacy especially in artistic work; subtle delicacy.

Some specifications of Luxury Dining.

Dress Code: Semi formal and formal dress code is followed, no slippers, denims, shorts.

Atmosphere: One should feel pampered, sitting arrangements should be comfortable with eye pleasing decorations  and ambiance should be properly designed with a soothing music. The pacing of the meal is leisurely but consistent. Only sounds should be forks and knives upon china.

Plating: Presentations is an important part of fine dining. It’s art combined with food. Along with plating extra ordinary clean and elegant flatware, hollow ware and stemware is a must on the table.

Food: High quality food with visual presentation is a must. Expectations are in respect to delicacies with subtle taste which would be something outstanding. Luxury Dining demands the showcase of the special culinary skills of the Chefs.

Service: Is always beyond taking orders and serving the food. Server should be faultless, precise and exquisite. At least one smartly dressed server would be dedicated to a table. They escort patrons to the table, holding the chair for women should have knowledge about the menu, ingredients, cooking methods and are willing to answer all the questions and ready to make recommendations. Clearing the table of crumbs in between courses, replacing linen napkins if a patron leaves the table, serving food directly on the plate at the table is what is expected.

To quote Pakistani food blogger Farah Kalam“Restaurants need to be very careful labeling themselves as ‘Luxury Dining’ as in a Luxury dining there is no room for excuses!!! It is beyond a term, a complete experience and anything less than that is just an expensive dining.”

In course of writing what came to my mind is the Roman stoic lifestyle and Catullus. The "life of luxury" is an important dimension to Catullus' poetry, as the former Roman stoic ideal lifestyle gave way to extravagance and ostentatious display of wealth in the Late Republic and Early Empire. Nightly dining parties and finery of all types marked the luxurious life of the elite class. The vocation of the poet in itself implies comfort and leisure, so that Catullus may write: "At leisure, Licinius, yesterday/ We'd much fun at my writing-tablets/ As we'd agreed to be frivolous./ Each of us writing light verses/ Playing now with this metre, now that,/ Capping each other's jokes with toasts,"

 Is Luxury Dining suffering an Identity crisis?

In recent years, the rise of street food, upmarket fast food and quality casual restaurants have triggered a marked casualisation of good food.

Many restaurant owners think: the food's at a very high level, but everything else isn't. When people think of fine dining, they think of waiters in suits, tons of cutleries, being expensive. We tried to break all that down. We want guests to have a laugh and enjoy the food. We have to be accessible. If people come in jeans and jump suits, their money is as good as anybody else's.

To criticize Luxury Dining : What is not liked about Luxury Dining  is the stringent menu and the dictatorship of the Chefs as to what we should eat. Even many criticizes about their attitude as they love to consider themselves more as artists rather than service providers.

I conclude the article with a classic example by Josh Ozersky:

“Now that I am old, I probably can’t take it for granted that everyone remembers the iconic scene in Five Easy Pieces, when Jack Nicholson wants to order a plain omelette with tomatoes instead of potatoes, and a side order of toast. The waitress, a stand-in for all the inflexible authority figures that loomed so large at the time, tells him he can’t get toast as a side order and that there are “no substitutions.” Nicholson calmly adds to his order a chicken-salad sandwich on wheat toast and tells the waitress to hold the chicken — between her knees.”

Ugh my hair, It’s not fair, It’s so puffy, And scruff

And so long, So wavy, Soo golden, But a pain to brush
The heat doesn’t help, Whant am I goanna do, With my head of hair……..

Looking back at my young age,we didn't get improved shampoo or conditioner those days to de-tangle my hair.I only had a helping hand to help control my hair and when I became capable hair left me. In this connection let me try to understand some facts about hair. Unlike other tissues of the body, scalp hair and body hair are not essential to our physical well-being. The loss of scalp hair by the physiologic process of balding (androgenetic alopecia) does not make us ill. The graying of hair by the physiologic process of aging does not induce any metabolic changes in our bodies.

Why, then, do we care so much when we lose hair by balding or lose hair color by aging?
We care because scalp hair isn't just any tissue. It has special significance for us that is manifested in social, cultural and religious settings. Our hair-especially our scalp hair-is one of the principal presentations of "self" we make to the world. In modern cultures, this presentation of "self" is enhanced by a variety of products marketed by a multi-billion-dollar hair cosmetics industry, reflecting the importance we give to presenting a properly prepared image of "self" to ourselves and to the world. Hair transplantation and other surgical and pharmacologic methods of hair restoration were developed and came to maturity along with other medical advances of the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries. Surgical and pharmacologic hair restorations were rapidly accepted by the public.  Survey data indicate that annually more than 360,000 persons world-wide avail themselves of surgical and/or medical hair restoration procedures. 

We don't often think about the symbolic importance of scalp hair in our daily lives. Hair is, for most of us, a "fact of life". We may suddenly find ourselves thinking about it when our hair begins to thin. Faced with the loss of an important part of our social and cultural "self", we find ourselves making a decision: should hair loss be accepted as a "fact of life", or is hair restoration an option we want to consider? The loss of scalp hair will not make us physically ill. However, loss of scalp hair may have emotional and psychological consequences.

I am not indifferent to myself, neither to the world. And that is the reason why I became so interested to take up this Happy hair challenge.Other than ageing hair fall, dullness, dryness & breakage of hair have many other reasons. I personally had to go through lots of stress both at personal and professional front. Both emotional and physical stresses have been associated with hair loss. It is possible that stress induces hormonal changes that are responsible for the hair loss. High fever, acute trauma (surgery, physical injury or psychological trauma), severe dieting (inadequate protein and iron intake), underactive or overactive thyroid, diseases such as diabetes and lupus, chemotherapy, medications, Burns or radiation therapy etc.are generally other reasons.

Now what is the Therapy for these types of hair loss? Mostly reassurance, if the loss is due to a birth, illness, or a self-limited problem, it will stop and will not progress to baldness. New hair shafts will come in and in a few months the hair loss will diminish. Eventually the hair will grow back and become normal. Obviously if the loss was due to a medication, the drug should be stopped.

For the growth and to maintain it we need to take care of our hair. Because of our hectic schedules, we don’t get the time to make and use homemade remedy for hair problems. So we rely on drugstore shampoos and conditioners. There are many products in the market which claim to reduce hair fall and make the hair healthy. Some contain active natural ingredients while others contain balancing chemical formulas to help you restore your hair. Again not everything works well for everyone.

Today, my review is about a hair product. So, I think I should mention my hair type. As I stated earlier I have curly hair. Though my hair is extremely curly, my hair used to be soft and smooth until recently. It has become rough and coarse with hair breakage and hair fall these days. I guess that’s because of the excessive stress combined with the pollution in Kolkata. When I came across Garnier “Triple Nutrition Range” recently, I had to give it a try, and I am glad I tried it out. This range is made up of natural ingredients which I mentioned in my earlier post.

The shampoo is runny in consistency, white in colour, and a few drops are required each time. Unlike other products, I required a very less quantity to wash my oiled hair. Most importantly, I had little or no hair fall during and after shampooing. It added a bounce to my hair. It is very well priced for a product that is so effective. The split ends evaded in 10-12 uses and my hair feels nourished. It perhaps strengthened my hair roots, hence my hair-fall got restricted now-a days. Since the shampoo itself brings a smooth outcome I sometimes do not require conditioner even. Here is my updated photograph after using the shampoo and the conditioner.
The positives of the Shampoo:

•  It is a reputed brand
•  It is affordable
•  Hydrates and nourishes hair
•  Frizz control and tangling problems do not arise
• It requires a small quantity
• Well packaged
•  Made up of natural ingredients and has rejuvenating fragrance
•  Gives a silky look and reduces breakage

The negatives:

My scalp becomes oily very often and I feel like using it daily.It is runny in consistency so there is a tendency to roll down out of my palm.

I WOULD HAPPILY LOVE TO GET ADDICT TO GARNIER...........

ref:http://www.hairfoundation.org

      http://www.medicinenet.com