There is rarely a dull moment when taking Nia out in public here. She attracts loads of attention as a fair-skinned, blonde child (a rarity here, I’ll admit). It’s almost guaranteed that if she starts showcasing her big personality in one way or another that a small crowd will start to form.
Take saree shopping, for example. Nia has been bugging me and bugging me to get her one, especially since I purchased 2 of my own recently. So while Nick was off on his scuba trip to the Red Sea, I decided we’d go out dress shopping. I should clarify here that while she calls them all sarees, none are technically sarees. To be a saree the dress has to be one continuous piece of material. But Nia (and me, if I’m being honest) use the term saree as a blanket word to cover all the different types of dresses Indians wear.
Take this outfit, for example. It has 4 pieces. A dress, leggings, a KURTA (the top shirt with slits up the side) and a DUPATTA (the scarf/shawl). This is something Nia will wear to casual Indian affairs. She was a big fan of it and already debuted it at school this week.
So back to the whole “drawing a crowd” thing that I was talking about at the beginning of the post. Of course she wasn’t content to just try each outfit on in the dressing room and then switch to the next one! Instead, she ran out into the store to test the ‘twirl factor’ of each dress and look at herself in the big mirror. Which of course led to compliments from other shoppers, which encouraged her to continue performing until Mean Mom shooed her back into the dressing room.
At one point when I came out of the dressing room to corral her I found her posing as a mannequin in her dress in the shop window! While it was very funny, there was already a crowd forming and I needed to put an end to the fun or we’d never get out of there.
The pink dress above is another version of a Kurta. The ensemble has a dress with leggings underneath, a jacket and a Dupatta. She already wore this one out to an Indian festival this week. It was perfect for dancing!
This next dress was Mommy’s pick. She was only so-so on it but I loved it. And I’m buying, so guess who wins??? :) This ensemble is called a Lehenga Choli. The Lehenga is the skirt. The Choli is the top. And, you guessed it, the DUPATTA is the scarf/shawl that can be worn in a multitude of ways.
She will be wearing this to some upcoming Indian weddings that we’ve been invited to. Isn’t it adorable? I just love the colors on her. The two dresses that I purchased are also Lehenga Cholis, although adult ones have more midriff showing. I’m not ready to debut them yet, but you will see them in upcoming photos for the Marine Balls I’m attending.
When it was time to decide, I told her that I was only getting her the 3 outfits above. In my estimation, it was a good variety of pieces and would cover us for any type of event. Of course she wasn’t happy with that. She insisted that we get her favorite “Wedding Saree” (so named because she thought it looked like a wedding dress). I held my ground, mostly because it was $100 (lots of hand-stitching) and it was white, so it would surely be destroyed in no time flat.
She was committed though and to my shock and disbelief, she told me that she wanted to use her $100 of birthday money to get this dress. I questioned her several times, making sure that she understood she was choosing to buy clothing instead of toys and that I wasn’t just going to give her another $100 to spend later. She was clear though and determined to buy that thing. So buy it we did! I will admit, it’s gorgeous on her. We’ll see how long it lasts…
So there you have it. I’ve got a mini fashionista on my hands. Was a fun mother/daughter bonding day though. Now we just need to get Daddy some Indian formal wear and we’ll be all set for our wedding!
