Landmark is having their annual sale! Of course you knew that if you are a book-lover in this city. But did you know that they don’t just have their regular (great!) books on sale but also a load of cool stuff as well? Check out what I picked up for the princely sum of Rs.199. That’s the lovely Dipali who showed me the bag and agreed to model it for I Style! as well.

EcoFrendz is a brand that has retailed bags from Landmark before but I’ve never seen some of these designs on display before. The bag I bought is khaki coloured cloth with a black cloth strap. Now normally, I’d pass off this stuff as being too stereotypical social worker stuff. But look at what’s on the side. It says ‘Let’s go places’ and it even has a real compass hanging down the side! I can see myself carrying this with jeans, salwar-kameezes as well as a skirt!

Now I’m a sucker for toys like that, it’s kitschy, it’s cool without being flamboyant. How’s that for I Style!?!

Oh my stars! Help me someone, I’m still recovering from the split sides I have from excessive suppressed laughter. Who is the cause of my cheery mood, you ask?

Meet the man himself – Mr.Mannequin!

He doesn’t believe in needles or anything permanant scarring his peaches n’ cream complexion. But the gods of fashion dictate that tattoos are in a la Jolie (or considering the neighborhood, Rakhi Sawant). So Mr.Mannequin sports a tatoo painted on a …what do you call it? A body-suit with only the sleeve? Tattoo on, tattoo off…now you see it, now you don’t. Actually you see it all. Including where the sleeve ends and his not-so-pink white arm starts.

Oh but wait! It gets better. Blonde we are, as blonde as the Hilton girl, as gold as Goldilocks. Let’s add a tie to the tee-shirt. And oh, snorkelling might be fun, you think?

And just in case you lovestruck ladies are wondering where you can get to meet this delectable creature, trot over to Lokhandwala market. He’s the style icon for that peculiar breed we call Lok-hunk-wala.

Curiouser and curiouser. ;-)

The thing that makes a city interesting is the fact that there could be a surprise waiting for you at any corner. I often think I’m jaded with the proverbial ‘I’ve seen it all’ attitude to things that are supposed to catch my interest. And then I’m proven wrong.

Here’s what I spotted on a late evening in the local train. Orange transparent plastic sandals fastened on with a fat ribbon in a matching hue. How could I not stop and stare?!

Anjani, the owner of those tangy toes (I love aliterations!) works in merchandising a fashion retail business. She was also gracious enough to let me take a photograph for this blog. She isn’t a Mumbaiker (still bothered by the weather and the crowd) but she isn’t new to the city either. But in my mind she represents the colourful panorama of this city, shifting smoothly between outsider, newcomer and seasoned local.

Ooh, the sheer audacity of the design, the spunkiness of the colour..it totally made my otherwise dreary day! Notice the contrast between the shoe and the surroundings – a typical dark-and-dingy platform on a Mumbai railway station.

In fact, now I think I’ll start a section where I report interesting fashion ’spottings’ in the city. (See an earlier sighting here!)Thank you, Anjani, for inspiration and for the colour!