Bhutan Street Fashion in Huffington Post

Bhutan Street Fashion ( https://www.facebook.com/pages/BHUTAN-street-Fashion/132246446792978 ) a page created by us on Facebook got mentioned on Huffington post ... now that's a BIG DEAL for us :) 


Excited !! 

Rural Inspiration ^^

Mr Kaka's beautiful ancestral home 

On my recent trip to Haa I was welcomed to visit one of our colleague Mr Kaka’s ancestral village home. This truly was an experience, every corner you look around inspired me , everything screamed vintage and old school charm. His house had high ceiling and the kitchen has this mystic charm with the walls covered in black soot.

Chencho, Kencho and Mr Kaka 

What caught my attention was the maroon blanket cape and the warrior gears. Well the photographer/designer in me started getting all antsy and a small impromptu photo session started in the alter room with fellow colleague Kencho Namgyel and Chencho.

warm tea :)

After snooping around the house I discovered some real cool trendy leather saddle bags and I thought they looked pretty runway. A cup of warm tea was followed by  a reluctant good bye,  I still cant get over the bags that I just left behind …… I hope Mr Kaka sells them to me ..

peekaboo sunset all the way to the guest house

The Photo shoot hahahha

What amazing horse saddle bags ... I have never seen something like this 

This could easily be on the DnG mens Runway on any international ramp 

That’s it Folks ^^ 

STEVE JOBS .truly an inspiration

"
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Thimphu streets empty now that's a rare thing :)

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
Steve Jobs’ last word to the graduating class: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish”
—-

RIP Steve Jobs. You were a real inspiration to me…

You are a King’s son by RUMI

You are a king’s son.

Why do you close yourself up?

Become a lover.

Don’t aspire to be a general

or a minister of state.

One is a boredom for you,

the other a disgrace.

You’ve been a picture on a bathhouse wall

long enough. No one recognizes you here, do they?

God’s lion disguised as a human being!

I saw that and put down the book

I was studying, Hariri’s Maqamat.

There is no early and late for us.

The only way to measure a lover

is by the grandeur of the beloved.

Judge a moth by the beauty of its candle.

Model : My neighbors son back in my hometown :)

UGLY is BEAUTIFUL the shoot :)

Well the concept of using Fashion and spreading a social message struck me when I was walking around and saw a lot of garbage’s near the roads around my house area and the streets . I was toying with the idea of doing a different kind of photoshoot that would help spread social awareness, be creative as well as be less cost effective and that’s when the concept of UGLY is BEAUTY was born in my head. Emails were exchanged and many coffee sessions at Art Café with Yangchen Dukpa the editor of Bhutan Youth newspaper finally resulted in the Fashion Spread.  The clothes for the shoot were made out of newspaper, plastic and old fabric as lining. A week was spent doing four different set of wardrobe.

Everyone we knew warned us about the stench in Memelakha and true to their words it was disastrous. I felt like the smell went right up my nose and hit somewhere in the ceiling of my head, even my non existent sinus opened up. We were welcomed by a swarm of flies that came straight at us. Dressing the now almost about to faint models was another challenge. There were dogs everywhere of all kinds saw apsoos, a pug with long legs and old frail bulls. The place almost felt eerie in the sense it looked like everything that society did not care about was dumped there (animals and garbage namely). After an hour into the photoshoot we got used to the place even the swarming flies did not have effect on us, even our two new member two young boys from Bhutan Youth office who were there to assist us now want to pursue outdoor fashion photography as a alternative source of income, that’s how we inspired each other during the shoot.  In a strange way the place almost felt contemplative, everywhere you look around in Memelhaka from the garbage to the abandoned animals it make you think deep. One look at the mountain of garbage and you wonder if all those things used were even necessary in the first place.

The highlight of the day was the bathu (dough noodles) at Hongtsu and our young models, style assistant and driver of the day Yangchen Dukpa singing the entire journey one song after another. Life truly is living in the moment.

Through this shoot we also wanted to present forward the commodification of women by media, namely western. The idea that the media tries to put forward “defect” thereby trying to convince us that we are lacking something.  Although it’s a very subjective topic and it differs form people to people. We wanted to bring out the true essence of a woman much as the lotus that even in a murky pond still looks radiant, beautiful and with a sense of dignity and authority over her. To be very honest some of my most inspiring role models have been the women in my life, my mother, friends, nieces, aunts, kindergarten Teacher or a lady selling doma with a baby strapped at her back and another nursing her breast in the streets.

Me and my close friends together have set up a page on facebook “ BHUTAN street Fashion “ and we have received an overwhelming response with mails and encouragement pouring from members home and overseas. But with adulations comes the brickbats too. People should learn to distinguish the fact that we represent the street trends in Bhutan and not the Zorig Chosum . Some mails were even racial and life threating much to our amusement. In the end all we would like to put forward is that nothing you see on our page is scripted or unreal it’s the masses, the people who go about their daily lives in style and that is what we capture. Thank you so much for your support and our team shall bring you many more events and photoshoots in the near future free of prejudice, colour, caste or creed. 

The Sketch before making the recycled dress. 

My last dress before the shoot PHEW!!! i need to breath, back aching @@

weekend getaway ..far from the maddening crowd ^^

such beautiful roads we just had to stop :)

An angry cow , gets all defensive for no reason ... so territorial lol

Come to me .... i swear i just want to pat you

Taking in the beauty of the place, my frens just couldn't get enough :)

That was a winner, ate that cucumber within seconds

She was selling the best passion fruits i have ever tasted n a long time , slurp!!

Ok it wasn't all play.. we did follow up on our pending office works, mails to reply etc etc just for an hour.

Bored of repeating the same old things weekend after weekend, seeing the same faces, the same pubs and clubs. This time we wanted to make a change so we took off to Wangdi to spend the weekend at my friend's resort Punatashangchu Cottages ( The best in Bhutan i must say in terms of hospitality and location). 


As our car went slowly past the meandering countryside roads lisning to our favorite music and talking about all the people we just left behind in Thimphu lol. Between intervals we stopped at beautiful moss laden roads admiring the mosses hanging from trees and the orchids clinging on them, and for snacks there was no shortage of country folks selling their fresh crops, vegetables, fruits and YESSSsss!! roasted maize it was such JOY just a bite of the maize made us realize that there was joy in small inexpensive things in life. 


In Wangdi we visited one Karoke bar ( No kidding much chic and better equipped than Thimphu Karoke bars). We also visited a local night club called EXCAPE it was in a basement of a five storey building next to the highway. The music in the club was stuck in the 90ies and it smelled of mildew but the best thing about the club were the simple crowd with no airs and ego and the owner he actually greets every customer when the party is over, his favourite line " Thank you SOOO much for coming" , Thimphu Club owners could take tips from this man. 


All in all we had a BLAST!!! Rural getaways I must say is SO in hahaha 


PS : I LOVE Punatsangchu Cottages Resort :) 

If you dont get lost , chances are you will never be found ^^

 " I wish this summer never end " 

Me me me

The view from my Cousins ... have spent  endless summer mornings eating breakfast and looking at this view from the balcony 

The famous "make a wish" myna bird .. if u see them in pairs it lucky :) old school stuffs 

Sitting wishing waiting ..sigh my nephew!! wants to be, can be and will be an ARMY :)

Are you the new member of the family =^_^=

I come from a family of travelers and risk takers. That explains why my extended family are spread all across the globe. They never let their emotion take the best out of them... I am most glad my parents arent the paranoid kinds that we have to be around them 24/7 they let us sail and find our own mark just as they had done so when they were young. My dad is from a far flung place in the Kham region in Tibet and my mom has her ancestral in Kham as well. I still remember my dad telling me " well you have finished school now go look for a college yourself."  Gave me some money told me to travel by train as it was economical, At that time I swear I hated him hahaha. But when I look back its these faith and trust that they have in us that has made me a stronger and risk taking individual. Mundane ( for them at least )  stuffs like celebrating birthdays were a no no in my family my dad woud reason " you have a loving family, clothes on your back, roof above your head, what more could you ask for. Lets all celebrate a common birthday during LOSAR" and a grand family BIRTHDAY it sure was.

 I grew up hearing stories of Uncles who would do trade with Indians and they could barely speak English or Hindi they would point at the things they wanted to trade. They always let us know that nothing in this world is permanent, just as they had lost family members, properties and a life back in Tibet  during the invasion you never know about the uncertainties of life, maybe that's one reason we were raised a bit differently than the other kids I know. As a child education was very important for our parents ( I shed buckets of tears when I was dropped in a boarding school in India lol ) and if there was anything we wanted we had to earn it but if it was something they couldn't afford then we would be greeted with a big NO!! welcome to reality. Being modest and always being loyal were like the key fundamentals of their life principles. 

Thanks to my family extended and otherwise being spread all over I have had an interesting life, summers eating lytcies underneath the shade of the tress in Dheradoon, endless holidays in Rumtek, Sikkim etc etc .. and i know i could be anywhere in the west and there will be someone to take care of me.  

My parents life has taught me that if you are not will to take risks and get away from your comfort zone you will never discover the real you or reach your true potential. " Your work is to discover your world and with all your heart give yourself to it " Buddha, and " if nothing else work come HOME we are there " Daddy Dearest :) 

I love my BIG Adams Family ... you know who you are. I just want them to know that " Not all wanderers are lost " 

pics are from my recent trip to Rumtek Sikkim ... meeting my Khamba Indian Homies ^^