Home made Love: Red Abaya and Tassel Earrings

This past week I traveled to New York City for a lovely tea party honoring two amazing bloggers, my beautiful and insanely stylish friend Jean from Dross Into Gold and the adventurous and eclectic Judith from Style Crone. I was so honored to be invited by Jean for this amazing party hosted by designer and artist Carol Markel of Femme et Fleur.

This is the outfit I put together for the party.  Photos were taken by my husband Anthony in New York at a park near where we were staying. Love looking at these and remembering the aura of New York (miss it!!).

I had been contemplating making this linen dress that has been in my head for months and I finally had an excuse to go ahead and make it. I was trying to decide on a color before I found out about the party and once I knew I was going I had to go with red. Red is just a color I am always in love with, my couch is red and I love red lipstick! The color of passion. My mom sort of held my hand throughout the process of cutting out the shape and how to put it together because I only ever made one thing before this dress. The design was simple enough though, and I just had to put in the time. It came out pretty well for my second ever creation. It's interesting that I made it with my mom because it almost felt like a Abaya or Kaftan arab dress inspired by her motherland Lebanon. The head wrap style and accessories echoed the feeling. I felt amazing in it and it kept me cool in the heat without sacrificing the more modest look I feel most confident in. I styled it with some earrings I also made on the bus ride into New York. I started making these tassel earrings last summer but it felt like the perfect time to finish them up to go with this dress. Talk about last minute, but I'm happy I went ahead and made them. I missed the feeling of creating things you imagine in a more tactile way. Hope you enjoy this summer look!

I will post some pics from the party up next. I had an amazing time and loved seeing Jean, meeting Judith, Carol and the many fabulous women I will gush about in my next post. Stay tuned!

Linking this post with Judiths June Hat Attack on her blog Style Crone. Happy headwear art!

XO
Feda

Outfit Details:
Headwrap: White Tassel Scarf from H&M  (recent purchase so you should find it there)
Dress: handmade
Earrings: Handmade/Upcycled- silver piece was from an earring set I was gifted- from Spain
Rings- all collected over the years.
Afghan large stone rings are from Avizeh Jewelry
Silver Filigree ring from Zamarut Jewel
Bag & Shoes- TJ Maxx a few years ago

Summer fun with my niece Ayah and Anthony!

Continuing with some older posts because I'm a bad blogger! I'm finally getting some time to blog so forgive me while I post, post, post.

Over the summer I did a special shoot with my fashionista neice Ayah. She is such a talented little artist and she got the fashion bug like crazy. This girl has given me so many makeup transformations and she is always painting/drawing/creating!!

I had an idea to do an outfit shoot together and she loved it. Of course she put together her outfit herself and I helped her with the boho turban. Funniest thing is she somehow convinced my husband Anthony to join us! Anthony has a sense of style but he's very lazy when it comes to clothing so me and Ayah picked out his outfit to match us. So his outfit is a joint work of art ;)

Yes, we're silly!!! Hope you enjoyed!

XO

Dark Wings

Your deepest presence,
Is in every small contraction and expansion.
The two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as bird wings.

Rumi

This quote is really where I'm at these days mentally. Trying to just be, and to feel my essence in everything I do. Breathing is such a miraculous thing I often take for granted. It is not only necessary for living but for maintaining balance. I've been getting back into yoga and the instructor often tells us to focus on our breath during the more strenuous poses. It's crazy how well it works, even when you feel you're about to fall apart. I'm trying to incorporate this more into daily life as well and this quote is such a beautiful way to think about the present moment. I've always had a thing with birds and wings <3

Black has felt like home to me lately. Which is so different for me because I never used to wear it at all, but I'm enjoying the feeling of change and experimentation. I dress to my mood and what I'm intuitively drawn to. I love that this top literally made me feel like I had wings. I'm reading this book called, "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle. Today I read such a beautiful passage about a duck. It was describing how humans tend to cling to the past in an unhealthy way. He talked about how ducks sometimes get into short quarrels. They do their thing, figure it out, and then each duck flaps its wings and returns to being, like nothing happened. The process of the duck flapping its wings is sort of its release from the moment. It's letting go of what happened and by the time it lands it's back to just being. I see this happen with my birds too. They have these momentary quarrels and then they're back to their playing, flying, eating, and chirping in a second! He goes on to talk about how our memories are there to help us learn from our mistakes and to grow. They are not there to trap us into a mental prison that prevents us from living and being present/happy.

So back to the outfit. These pants are really strange and I'm aware that they are saggy in the crotch area looool. They are meant to be worn under a traditional Pakistani outfit but I decided to experiment and wear them like this. Even though it looks weird, I still think it's funky as hell! When I worked with stylist Nicole from this shoot, she did something similar in one of the outfits and I've been wanting to experiment with pants like that ever since. I'll be hunting for some the next time I go thrifting for sure.

I really enjoyed the release of dressing up in these colors and feeling the wind beneath my "wings" in this kimono cover up thingy. By the way, this is my first sewing clothing creation!!! I took a few sewing classes with my mom and I finally learned how to sew. (If you're in my area check out In Stitches Sewing) I'm really happy with how it came out and it was super affordable for my low budget style. It took me a few hours but the actual design is easy to make because it's basically a box! We used a pattern she had and modified it to what I was looking for. It was a bit too baggy looking and my teacher suggested sewing a line on the sides to slim it down, instead of taking it in, so it wouldn't loose the wing effect. I'm glad we did that because those wings are my favorite part.

Stay present!

Feda

P.S. Let me know if you want a post on how to make something like this. It's very beginner friendly :)

Outfit Details:
Winged kimono: Handmade with love.
Turban: Scarf wrapped like a turban by Lucky Brand from TJ Maxx
Button up shirt: H&M
Pants: Hand me down
Ballet Flats: also Lucky Brand from TJ Maxx
Chunky Turquoise Necklace: Tibetan shop 
Hamsa necklace: Pendant from Michaels craft store and I added the chain and painted the stone turquoise.
Little turquoise spike/pendant H&M
Sometimes people ask me about my lipstick. This is a Wet N Wild pencil in Mink Brown with a Wet N Wild matte lipstick in Mocha-licious in the center and blended out to make the pencil more creamy. It comes out like a really dark brown with some reddy/cool/brown in the center. I love this combo!

Inspired: Florals!

Sources from L to R, T to B. 1- unknown 2- Anthony Nocella for Free People 3- Photographer: Begum Yetis 4- Susanne Bisovsky 5- Deborah Shea Doyle for Faces of Egypt 6- Photographer: Armin Morbach 7- unknown

I'm starting a new series on the blog called INSPIRED! I find inspiration everywhere and in everything. That's part of the reason my blog is called what it is because I like to take inspiration from different places. I find inspiration in emotions, light, color, patterns, nature, stories and I hope to share that in this series. I'm a big pinterester for that reason! It helps me organize my "thoughts". My pinterest account is fedfooda if you're interested in following me :)

Floral is something I always come back to for inspiration in my clothing. Lately I've been really in love with the Russian babushka style scarves. I love the vibrant color in the roses and the intricate ethnic feeling details that bring you back to an older time. In the past I've worn floral in a bright and bubbly way but I've really been into black and white and an overall darker mood these days. I'm looking forward to exploring and experimenting with a darker floral experience this spring and summer.

Are any of you enjoying floral prints? How do you incorporate them into your personal style?

Stay inspired,
Feda

Feda in the City: Spring is in the Air!

Took a trip into Boston to get a shot for the Emirates contest. Standing in front of the tallest building in Boston, the John Hancock Tower. I was feeling bright and cheery for spring so crazy color lady came out ;)

Photos taken by Anthony!

Happy Monday!
XO

Outfit Details:
Patterned scarf/turban: thrifted
Red Scarf: Target (gift from my sister)
Orange dress: thrifted by Calypso
White Jacket: thrifted by TCEC
Necklace: Spain
Tights: hand me downs
Boots: TJ Maxx

Fall Vibes Editorial

Through our stages, we learn to live like warriors. 

Our lives lived in layers.. 

A story of decay and transformation.
 

This story was created by a talented team of artists:
Model: Tayla Fernandez
Styling: Nicoletta Lyons of Lolas Urban Vintage
Makeup: Joy Granara
Hair: Gianna Gennari
Photography and Concept: Feda Eid

My favorite work to date! This was my first time arranging a team for a shoot. I don't why it took me this long to do. They did an amazing job and the teamwork really shines through these images. Each element adding to the overall picture. THIS is what I love to do!! Let me know what you think and as always much LOVE,
Feda