Anarkali dress and a wedding party

Maybe in my previous life (if I had one) I was an Indian. Otherwise how to explain my love for many things Indian, including clothes. This type of dress is called Anarkali and its name it got from a legendary Mughal dancer of the Akbar court who used to entertain the noble men wearing a dress of similar shape (tight in bust area and flowing down the waist in the shape of an umbrella). Anarkali means "pomegranate blossom" and the girl got this name thanks to her beauty. Her end was tragic however: she had a love affair with Akbar's son Salim and when it became known outraged Akbar ordered to immure her alive in a wall. After Akbar's death Salim built a tomb to Anarkali's memory and on her marble tombstone there are such words inscribed:

Ah! If I could behold the face of

My beloved once more, I

Would give thanks unto my

God, until the Day of Resurrection

Majnun Salim Akbar (Your Lover Salim, son of Akbar) 

(source - Private life of the Mughals of India by R. Nath)

Yesterday I was invited to a wedding party and so I wore this bright anarkali dress in which orange, red, black and green colours are combined.

Accessorized it with several bangles and a large ring in Indian style and a pashmina shawl.

A few photos from the party

happy newly-wed 

I'm posting this on Patti's Visible Monday because a dress like this in my opinion will make visible any woman. Please visit her blog to see other visible women :)