Maybe I wish I was Indian....

I have always been intrigued by different cultures. When I was about 10 a friend of the family bought me a saree, I loved it. Whenever friends came round I would wear it, if we were going out somewhere nice I would wear it, I wore it until I couldn’t fit in it without it ripping. I then did my art GCSE on Indian jewellery. In general life I would be very excited to meet south Asians and hear their experiences of the country (sorry, I grew in a very white area!). It wasn’t just India I did this with, I had wanderlust from a young age. However,  I think south Asia probably wins on the pretty shiny things front. I live in East Ham now, right next to Green street, so I get a daily dose of gorgeous jewellery and saris. 

Last year I got the chance to actually go to India, I was in Kolkata and I loved it. My sister was also there at the same time but in Mumbai and then travelled further south. We both came back having stocked up on gorgeous bangles and loving the country.

Obviously I couldn’t talk about pretty Indian things without talking about mehndi/henna. I think tubes of henna came in handy during my teenage rebellious phase because its like a tattoo, and these were the days before quirky temporary tattoos. I still think henna is superior to most other forms of body art. I was never allowed to have the henna tattoos done on holiday because they were too expensive, the first tube I had was one a friend bought back from Spain when we were about 14. Obviously, now I’m in East London I can just pop down to the high street and buy a tube for £1 (so far its not poisoned me).

My sister and I thought we would try out using henna in a different way, drawing geometric shapes rather than swirls and giving it the look of a ring. I liked the idea of giving tribute to beautiful Indian traditions and a more contemporary twist. 

I cannot wait to go back to India, have you ever been? 

Thanks for reading, it gave us a good opportunity to play dress up!