Grandiose styles for you winter

Come win ter, Dhaka transforms into a city of joyous festivities. It is undoubtedly the best few weeks of the year. We either plan major events, like weddings, concerts, parties, balls, or we seek outdoor activities like picnics, nature trips on boats and land. Whatever it is that we do- we need to be dressed for the occasion.

Take out your light winter shawls. They are the most versatile piece of accessory for our weather. The key is to make sure it is soft and light, well it doesn't have to be a sahtosh but you can make do with pashminas, woolen kashmiris, or cotton wovens. I don't think you should forget your ponchos short or long they are still very in for this season. Wraps are also a smart option as it has an open front, which allows us to swing the ends across our shoulders. This gives it a gentle appeal, bangali yet very contemporary.

Saris will most definitely be one of the most important outfits as evening wear. Paired with the most elegantly styled princess cut, corset or choli blouses. This season chiffon and pure georgettes will continue to be the favored fabric, but blouses will be heavier and highly embellished. It is also advisable that you may want to look different from the pack, so take out those classic weaves in silk.

Salwer suits shall continue to be an important ensemble. Short, medium, or long, is really your choice but it will be clearly more form fitted. It is good to note that doppattas or scarves can really get more interesting with texture, feel, and weave, you can go heavier too. More formal cuts, with stand or shirt collars are going to be a popular style this winter.

Its trendy getting superb party clothes. A must have, since you have got to get styles to flaunt. I believe you are going to look like angels this winter. Fantastic, drama in volume remains a trend to be picked and used as a good model to follow. The key is that in glamour - nothing is understated. Everything is over the top and in excess ala 1930's Hollywood glamour. Romantic styles, soft rounded draped, ruched, frilled, laced, pleated. Beading, coins, metals in all shapes and sizes on sheer, net, tissue or muslin. Voluminous skirts and gowns. panelled aline or ghagra style skirts. The strongest silhouette, “the hour glass shape” nipped at the waist with flared full skirt. Hand made patch work, thread work applied on volumes swaying and shifting are also desirable styles this season.

Ruffled necklines are also back in a big way, with leg o mutton, butterfly or blouson sleeved tops which are breath taking and truly couture. For the dresses, va-va-voom body hugging, skimming shapes that end in great flamboyance. Formal evening styles in luxuriant fabrics. Silk, taffeta, velvets, muslins, finished in moulds, turns and twists. Casual day wear in folklore peasant styles. Ethnic inspired journey into the past. Crafty details. Scallop edges, crochet, fringes, and faux trimmings at hems. The waist is an important focal point, nip it with belts or draw strings. A cosmopolitan twist to folk dresses is the new shape you can clearly bank on.

Colors this winter are going to be rich, dark shades, wine red, berry pink, violet in its darkest shade, black, teal, dark purple, olive, moss green, and aubergine. Some of the other colors to look out for should be more black, skin colors, beige, sand, and mouse browns.

Accessories to die for this party season
Jeweled open sandals and slip on's. In wedge heels, stilettos, kitty, or flats. The elf looking pointy souls are out - instead go for more rounded feminine shapes. Antique colors in copper, bronze, silver are just great for evening or bridal wear. It should be accessorised with interesting shapes that cares your feet from toe to ankle. Dangling chandeliers that swing. Chains with bells and chime like elements are true ethnic applications that create a bygone anklet effect for your feet. These are good for any occasion and will enhance and draw attention to your beautiful feet.

Bags in silk or metallic leather in smart small delicate shapes are the happening bags of the season. Again embellished with metallic coins antique zardozi, sheesha, plain beading or faux stones. You simply cannot go wrong.

This winter groom yourself. It would be a shame if you wear the smartest clothes with unattended hair and skin. Back to your face glamour with blood red lips and nail lacquer. Shine, gloss, shimmer are all good ways to vitalize and glow in your own light. Remember your self-confidence and powerful presence can only enhance your beauty.

Jaundice in the New-born Baby

DO not be alarmed if the whites of your baby's eyes and their skin turns a slight yellow after 3 days. This is a condition very common in new-born because your baby's liver cannot work fast enough to dispose of a pigment called bilirubin. Premature babies are more likely to suffer from jaundice. It usually clears up after a few days and this can be aided by exposure to sunlight (through a window). Sometimes when the bilirubin levels are very high a baby may need to be exposed to controlled amounts of ultra violet light in the form of phototherapy. Ultra violet breaks down the pigment levels in the skin. This is carried out in hospitals. Your baby will be placed in a special crib sometimes in Special Care. This is a routine treatment and is very effective.

Under a different sky

By Iffat Nawaz

Hidden smiles
IT promised to come. And so it did. Not with the grandest of arrangements, but pleasant for the season's first. It fell with grace, with all its confetti life drops, white, white as snow should be, and it was - beautiful snow.

I never romanticized the winter, I never desired snow, the freezing weather, the icy paths that always scares me. It is too much of a threat, falling and slipping and then what…pain and cold just is not a good combination. Neither are 3 inch heels against frozen roads, so my tiptoed steps are just way too risky and the falling snow is nothing but an unneeded luxury.

But something happened yesterday. The Metro can only take me so far during my commute, and the rest of it is just consists of long walks full of random thoughts, random interruptions by homeless people and traffic patrols who take their job more seriously than needed. When I stepped out to the road full of the colorful hat and expensive coat wearing crowd, the snow was already falling in monsoon speed. Sticking to the ground, sticking to my coat, my hand, my eyelids, the top of my nose, my bottom lip…the snow now wanted to confront me, for years of neglect, for years of discrimination that I have showed against it, there was no way I could escape the sore cold topic that day, so I surrendered. I guess I had to face her some day. Yesterday was the day.

So I reminisced my first snow in USA. I had heard so many great stories about “the first snow,” mine, was also one of them, or could be if I colored it up with enough awe and fervor. I was younger, less afraid of slipping, early teen enthusiasm was hard to beat, and my younger brother was this tiny cute thing who would follow me around wherever we went. Him and I rolled around the snow, went to a play ground and got on the swing and pushed each other harder and faster till we would fall off, giggling and shivering. We attempted to make a snow man with our amateur south-east Asian hands, and gave up and had a snow fight. But for some reason for me it just was not quite the same as getting soaking wet in rooftops during monsoon rains, so every time someone mentioned snow and its beauty I would argue and bring up rain and its exoticness.

So I conversed with yesterday's snow. I told her I gave her a fair chance, I did my share of the “first time” experience, my first snow man, my 20th snow fight, even have sacrificed gloves and hats to her, I told her it's okay if she is not loved by all, most love her and that should be good enough. I told her to move on, to ignore me, to not decorate my black coat with all her star like white sparkles. But she was persistent, falling harder like Bengali rain, creating a glow all around, a holly glow, one of those dream like haziness, and I looked around and saw everyone smiling even through they were covered with snow, an inner child had awoke in every man and every woman as if, the magic of snow as others would say it.

But I am a girl from the land of mud, not slippery white slopes, but she still followed me, all the way home, my chin now frozen from the cold, my hair white on black, I ran in, shut the door, rushed to the room to shake it all off, but before I could do so, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, my red face, my white snowy body, gleaming, and there it was, a smile on my snow covered lips, smiling without even knowing I was, and I felt shy, and smiled again looking out to find her outside my window still pouring.

So she won. I lost, and I am looking forward to our next fight, especially the sweet ends with hidden smiles.