Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Gowns and Winter on the Desert

I wasn't prepared for the winter here in Riyadh. I thought Fred was just exaggerating when he told me before that he used two Korean blankets on winter nights. Now, I realized how true it is and how lonely it was not to have someone to hug on a cold weather like this.

The other night, the temperature fell to -1°C. I usually go home from work at 10 pm and that night, I had to walk briskly from the building to Fred's car because it was shiveringly cold. Brrrrr...I have to endure this cold weather until maybe first week of March.

I think I badly need knitted gloves. I browsed through the fashion magazines for winter fashion collections to check how Arab women here in Saudi dress during this time. Of course, they have their abayas over their clothes but I think that underneath those abayas are fashionable and signature dresses. Having met some Arab women here, I can say that the portrayal of them wearing Dior collections in the Sex and the City 2 movie has some truth in it. I was surprised to see these pages from Layalina Magazine issued on April last year. (April is neither hot or cold here, they say.) The models are donning fashion designers' bridal collection. There is something common with these pics. All models/celebrities seemed to be wearing inner clothes under their gowns and dresses. But they do not. The magazine's layout artist purposely put those inner wear because conservative dress codes of some Arab countries require that women don't expose too much skin, even if it's on print. 

These are bridal collection from known fashion designers.

Gowns as overalls. Despite the inner wear effect,
these Hollywood celebrities still look stunning wearing these.

Just like the models and celebrities above, layering clothes is a must for me now. It is kinda inconvenient but I need to do it to make myself warm. A combination of blouse and pants, an abaya and a coat or jacket is my dress code these days. Better warm than sorry (for the cold), right?

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Ikea on New Year's Eve

We almost spent the New Year in Ikea! We went there past 8pm of December 31 and since it was our first time, we got lost on our way. It turned out to be a New Year's Eve adventure because the road we traversed is dark and ours was the only car passing that way. When we looked behind us, it was total darkness! That dark road led us to the highway going to Ikea and we promised ourselves to ask for directions before going to a place next time.

We went there to buy for our exchange gift activity with our friends here. We also bought some things for the house. I really like it there. There were so many designs for housewares, utensils or pieces of furniture. It was alright to take pictures but I wasn't able to take many out of courtesy to the shoppers.

Green bowls and plastic whatchamacallits ( are these plastic spatulas?) :P

multicolored shower curtains!

cute kitchen stuff!

A simulation of a kid's bedroom. I noticed I like green things for the house!

Fred and the kids outside Ikea
After shopping for gifts, we went to buy ice cream in a cone worth SR1 (Php12)! The food and drinks on the snack area are unbelievably cheap! The drinks are also refillable. What a treat for their shoppers.

For more pics and home design inspirations, visit their website or view their catalogue here. Warning though, you might get addicted to browsing. :P