Gorgeous Handloom Tussar Silk Saree from Jyoti Chandhok - The Maharani Diaries

It may almost be the end of January, but honestly speaking, it usually takes me around about this time until I finally swing into my groove.

Having just returned from a beautiful and relaxing holiday in Africa, I feel incredibly refreshed and excited to kick-start the year with some brand new and inspiring content.

I’m looking forward to 2017 for several reasons. Firstly, this is our second official year of blogging and secondly, we’re growing. You heard correctly. Our brand new website is launching soon and I can’t contain my excitement, but more on that later.

I wanted to brighten up your day today with a lovely styled fashion shoot I worked on with some talented ladies in London last year. Featuring the humble style-staple, the saree and a couple of gorgeous blouse designs, the inspiration behind the shoot was obviously Spring.

The genius of the saree lies in its versatility. There are over 100 ways to wear the garment and now thanks to fashion influencers, designers and Indian cinema, women are embracing the saree in more ways than before. You could perhaps go to the extent to say that we are witnessing somewhat of a renaissance for the saree.

Spring is around the corner, giving us the perfect opportunity to experiment, adapt to these new saree fashion trends and re-invent our style.

“The saree is also a very forgiving garment because depending on the personality of the wearer, a saree can adapt to anybody’s body size and shape.” – Sabyasachi Mukherjee via Border & Fall

Recently, I raved about how much I love House Ofhttps://www.houseofblouse.com/ Blouse. Rachana and Roopa Reddy have nailed it with their Bangalore based start up. I discovered them about 2 years ago when I was struggling to find the perfect saree blouse and I can assure you, I wasn’t disappointed. You can read more about House Of Blouse in our exclusive interview feature here, but for now I wanted to briefly share my experience.

After spending several hours trawling through the various saree blouse styles and fabrics on offer, I selected my base neck and blouse shape. The next step was to find the perfect fabric and customise it. For instance, you may want a high neck or perhaps you’d like to adjust the sleeve length. It’s perfect for the style conscious maharanis.

House Of Blouse Designer Saree Blouses - The Maharani Diaries

Finally, using the measurement guide, enter your measurements and within a few clicks, your blouse will be shipped out. There is of course an option to purchase pre-made blouses or you could browse through the galleries to seek inspiration from hundreds of customer’s creations. House Of Blouse is also bang-on with their saree fashion trends with their amazing website featuring pages of bespoke handmade sarees to choose from.

I’d say the most challenging step is getting someone to measure you, but aside from this the entire process is seamless. Can I also add how exceptionally good the customer service is! I was blown away by the amount of care taken by the team to ensure that I received these beautifully handcrafted saree blouses in one piece. Both blouses fit like a glove and the best part is that they can be mixed and matched with a variety of skirts, sarees, pantsuits and more. No more trips to India. Yay!

Designer Saree Blouse Inspiration - The Maharani Diaries

So the idea of this shoot was to find creative new ways to mix and match patterns and style them against a variety of lightweight textures. I wanted to show how simple it is to pair two very different blouse styles with bespoke saree’s provided by the lovely Jyoti of Jyoti Chandhok. 

For the first look, we kept it neutral to ensure that the floral yellow georgette blouse shone in the beautiful sunlight. Jyoti’s white and yellow, tussar silk, hand-woven saree was inspired by ‘Basant,’ Spring season in India. She said that the saree would make for the ideal haldi function outfit for the bride to be.