Dress Style

Dior

Threeasfour

Marni

Max Azria

Lanvin

Lanvin

Limi Yamamoto

Limi Yamamoto

Phillip Lim

Phillip Lim

Phillip Lim
Christian Siriano

PPQ

(images from Style.com)



Buns (those made of hair and NOT the kind that have their own day in Sweden) were a huge trend on the runways for S/S 2009. I'm not one to follow runway trends, especially when it comes to hair and makeup. Main reasons, I don't look anything like any model on the runway, the make up and hair trends tend to translate poorly onto my complexion and hair, besides I keep cutting my hair shorter and shorter but as anyone can see from my photos, I've been wearing a bun for quite a while now, probably since last fall. So all the buns on the runways made me smile a bit, as if many designers were nodding their head to a pretty well recognized and old Swedish hairstyle. (I've seen girls rock buns in Stockholm since the day I moved here)
What got me thinking about buns, besides my personal obsession with them, was a girl on the subway yesterday morning who had attempted the Chrisitan Siriano version, which in my opinion is not only the most aesthetically appealing but daring and might I say difficult. I salute her for her attempt, and apart from the messy back portion of her hair, the front was not too far off from the real thing. I don't think I could have pulled it off as well as she has, so cheers!

my second point, and a much more personal and exciting one has a lot to do with my culture and origins. Being born in Punjab, India, I rarely see my culture on the runway. Yes, occasionally I see sari inspired silhouettes or embroidery resembling very traditional Indian handwork but it rarely goes past that. Needless to say, I was jumping for joy to see the fresh face of Lakshmi Menon on some of the biggest catwalks of the season. She's gorgeous beyond belief and she's older then the usual (same age as my sister)

The biggest Indian influence I saw on the catwalk happens to hit closer to home, a Punjabi tradition atop models heads at PPQ.
They were seen wearing buns tied at the top of their heads, covered in little square pieces of fabric which were held down with rubber bands. This is a form of a turban known as a 'Patka'. Patkas are worn by Sikh boys before they reach an older age and begin wearing Turbans. I can see why a British designer might be influenced by these seeing as how London has the largest Indian population outside of India, but it still was a bit strange to me, credit for trying something different but I'm not sure I liked how it looked....