I Feel like a Bollywood Princess...

I don't really consider myself a collector of anything. I'm not really one to spend much, or any, money on knick knacks to decorate a room with, and there isn't really one go-to thing that everyone knows to buy me for special occasions. In fact, the things I like tend to be so random and change so often that my Mom has basically refused to pick out any presents for me herself ever since I reached my teens.

But, upon reflection, I realized that there is one thing that I have amassed quite a collection of, and it's a slightly unusual collection too. What I collect is clothes. I mean, I like clothes in general. But specifically, I seem to collect traditional Asian outfits. Many of  my outfits were gifts, although some I picked out for myself. I think the collection that I have now represents about 5 years of acquiring them at random times. While my brother was visiting this weekend, I got out all of my outfits and had a little picture-taking fun so that I could share them with you all!

I wasn't actually able to get all of my outfits photographed, due to the large quantity of complaining on the part of my photographer over the sheer number of outfit changes that this shoot required. He's not as fond of fashion as I am!

I am the proud owner of a yukata, along with a pair of geta, which you can't see because my feet aren't in the picture! Please forgive any sloppiness--I haven't worn this one nearly as much as some of my others, so every time I do wear it, I have to look up instructions online!

I love each of my saris, but this one is probably my favorite! Even though the purple apparently reflects off of my pale face? I've worn saris enough that I consider myself pretty much an expert at folding and tying them, and no, I'm not too concerned about them falling off spontaneously.

 

I present this photo from 2008 as proof that I occasionally do wear saris in random places, such as my college campus!

My fourth sari. Isaac was running out of patience after three saris, so I dug back in some old files for a photo of this one. I wore this to a friend's wedding, and I'm pretty sure someone else dressed me that day because that's a different style of wearing a sari that I'm not sure I know how to duplicate. Plus, I figured, with four saris, I have almost enough outfit changes to be the star of a Bollywood music video! Hurray!

I have 4 of these type of outfits, and I must admit, these are the ones that get the most use, by far! I often cheat and pair the tunics with skinny jeans, but I wore them to class all the time in college. The long tunics are both elaborate and comfy, and when it's winter, I just layer them with a long-sleeved shirt underneath!

As a Chinese major, I really ought to have a cheong sam or qipao. My family doesn't love this one quite as much, although Angel loves it tremendously; both of these reactions are due to the thigh-high slits on both sides of the skirt. Most of the time I wear it with jeans or leggings so make it a little more comfortable.

In searching for old pictures of my other outfits, I even found a mostly silly but slightly educational video my sister and I made a few years back about how to put on a sari, and I am debating with myself about whether to post it or not....