Color Me Happy.

Holi is the Holiday I'd most like to petition people to celebrate closer to home. It's a festival celebrated in parts of India and Sri Lanka marking the beginning of spring by knocking the grayscale of winter out with splashes and tosses of vibrant colors. People arm themselves with pigmented powders and dyed water and basically start a huge, neighborhood-wide, color-me-happy-war. I want that here.

Wait just a second! There will be a Holi celebration in Queens on March 7th. Go forth!

Dye Job.

In India, the most mundane tasks are beautifully colored. This video on the process of dabu dyeing fabric is a gorgeous example.



The women singing as they work is really something to see.

Roy, Oh Roy.

Rachel Roy is a unique presence in the fashion industry. She's a successful female designer who started her fashion career behind the counters at '90s mall staple Contempo Casuals while still in high school in order to help her family pay the rent. Her father, a first generation immigrant from India, charged her room and board and thus instilled his gorgeous daughter with a work ethic that has always been her signature, second only to her smart design sense. Roy's style is singular and chic in a versatile way. Her pieces alone are practical and wearable for real women, but her sense of styling presents them as cool covetables for the young among her loyal fanbase. This season's collection is well structured, clean, and interesting in an easy way. The looks exude strong sexiness, aggressive femininity, and sophisticated cool.

Roy's multi-culti models rock the heck out of their black lips and bobs. These are have-it-your-way clothes. Stand and demand.

Photos: Don Ashby for Style.com

International Laundry Day

As I've posted before, I quite enjoy the sights and smells of laundry day. That combined with my ridiculously unending curiosity led me to ask this question: What is laundry day like in other countries? To find out I did some Sunday investigating. Here's a peak into the laundry rooms of some of the far corners of the world:

In Mumbai the hand washing operation is staggering:

They really beat the dirt out of those clothes.

Here's a drive by view of laundry time on the street in China:



Boys in Africa do some bucket washing near a watering hole:



In Iceland, white laundry blows in the wind.



Apparently, in Japan you hang your laundry on your roof with your children on your head.


Sun drying saves energy in Spain:

Such gorgeous colors in this video.

Finally, if you are Uncle Buck you do laundry in the microwave.

I'm pretty sure he would do that in any country.

On Lak Down

Indian model Lakshmi Menon is bringing her Bangalore beauty to the mainstream. Fresh from recent ad campaigns for Hermes and Givenchy, Menon had a busy Spring show season, marching the runway for Sonia Rykiel, Stella McCartney, and Vera Wang among others. The recent October issue of French Vogue made good use of the model's angular, tough girl features by casting her in an opulent hip-hop themed editorial shoot styled by Madame Carine Roitfeld herself.

While her exposure is increasing, Lakshmi's no beginner. She's been modeling for over six years and already sees right through the fickle business. Her aspirations are more financial than fame-based. She admits she's posing for the handsome salary and fully intends to leave modeling for a more meaningful career in the future. For now, enjoy the view.

Click images above to view their source.