It's MIFA

Malaysia International Fashion Week (MIFA) is one of the most fashionably important event in the Malaysian fashion scene. Local designers especially budding designers can showcase their work on the runway.

On 7 Nov, I was privileged to attend Pretty In White's bridal collection by Celest. The show was held in Pavilion, KL. Models strutted the runway parading beautiful bridal dresses, cheongsams and evening wear. Celest incorporated few influences such layers of ruffles (latin), lace collar (victorian), fringes (cow girl-ish) into her designs. These made the bridal dresses trendy and modern thus suitable for those who wants the most fashionable bridal dress for the big day.

As for cheongsams and evening wear, the designs were contemporary with a twist. Expect the unexpected so to speak. Structural cuts, layers of ruffles, laces are few embellishments featured in cheongsam collection.

After the show, all guests were invited to a cocktail party at The C Club. New friends were made, name cards were exchanged, photos were taken whilst enjoying the delicious food in a modern setting of The C Club. It was an unforgettable yet fun experience.

Yabadabadooo......

Halloween is a time to unleash your creativity and to have fun, besides the scary tales and horror movies. Normally, I hardly get invitations to Halloween party. This year, I was fortunate enough to attend a Halloween party organized by The Peak Xperience.

I have no problem with the costume because I have 'Betty Rubble' (from the Flintstones) costume. The costume was made by me two or three years ago for company's annual dinner and dance. It was a fun experience to make the dress.

Other cool costumes are angel (remember Claire Danes in Romeo & Juliet), Greek goddess, Egyptian (think of Cleopatra), 20's flapper lady and perhaps French maid. For something extravaganza, go for Queen Amidala from Star Wars.

After the party and all, Betty costume is kept in wardrobe not sure when it would be useful again. But I will never forget the good time I had whilst wearing it.

Living La Vida Chic

When life has become so routine, boredom creeps in slowly. This is the time to take action; to add some spice into life or to let boredom takes over life. Few tiny steps to spice up life through fashion are:

1. dress up for work or any social activities. If you look good, you feel good.
2. change hairstyle
3. purchase new accessories. It's a cheap way to expand your wardrobe/collection.
4. dress up based on a theme or trend at least once a week, eg. you can have a Girlie Day whereby you wear the most girlie outfit you have in your wardrobe. Bring out the girlie side of you which may have been hiding for so long. Enjoy and have fun with it.
5. try new colour
6. try new trend or style that you have been contemplating. Fashion is about experimenting styles.

Whenever I am feeling blah, I will make an effort to dress up a bit - add an accessories into my outfit. I have my session of retail therapies to de-stressing myself after a hard day or week at work. I usually purchase accessories such as necklaces and belts.

I am working on point #4 as I am not sure what theme to try. So far, I've tried vintage dress. Need to parade my purchases from flea market ;-) Will think and plan point #5 and #6. Looking forward to trying them.

I've got a feeling that life will slowly getting more fun in a fashionable way. Enjoy and live life in a stylish way.

Back in the shopping scene

I've just realised that I've neglected my blog for quite some time. It's time to make up for the lost time. It's time to blog actively again (keeping my fingers crossed).

Where have I been or why I have gone missing? Started new job in September and have been focusing on the job too much - working late etc. The workaholic in me possessed myself for a while till lately I think I need a break. Any kind of break would be lovely. Retail therapy would be superb.

I've just returned from a short and sweet retail therapy session. My favourite boutique is having 10th Anniversary sale and everything is on 20% discount (better than no discount at all). This time around, I've developed a theory; purchase items that you like the most and one of a kind at 20% discount. Purchase items that you like but can live without them (the ones you have been contemplating and making a long list of pros and cons) at 50% discount. For 70% discount, buy new style clothing items that you wanted to try but have limited budget to buy on full price during non-sale period. This is an affordable to experiment fashion.

I've got a feeling that I will be overspend this month. What the heck. If it is really worth it and I can benefit a lot from these items, I think my money is well spent. I guess, I can't shop next month or the next few months depending my shopping expenses for this month ;-)

Unsung heroines I - boutique assistants

There are many unsung heroes and heroines out there but in this particular entry I would like to highlight unsung heroines in the fashion industry based on my own experience.

In the past I have been very fortunate to work direct or indirectly in the local fashion industry. I worked as a boutique assistant and was lucky enough to experience both fashion retail and couture in well-known shopping malls in Klang Valley and KL.

The most common tasks are serving customers, record sales, stock keeping and housekeeping of the boutique. The difference working in a retail and couture is that couture offers custom made clothes. Working closely with a designer enables one to learn more about the 'behind-the-scene' work which a retail unable to offer such as taking measurements of customers, simple alterations and beadwork.

A boutique assistant's job looks easy but it is not as easy as it seems. A boutique assistant serves many kind of customers from friendly to fussy customers and at the same time to provide equal excellent customer service at all times. One has to memorize and familiarize all the location of the stock in the storeroom inclusive the code of the items and be able to locate and pick up the correct item as requested by the customers. Speed and accuracy are important in this aspect.

Some boutique assistants' job inclusive of beading clothes. Guidance will be given by the designer but most importantly are the interest and patience to learn and to bead. This is a long and tedious work but the outcome of it is undescribable. One can see the transformation of a plain piece to a beautifully beaded piece.

Appreciative gestures such as thanking and be friendly with them are very much appreciated by them. These not only give them more motivation to work but also make their work more enjoyable. Such customers would leave a good impression and boutique assistants would go the extra mile in serving them. I am sure such service would make one's shopping trip more pleasant Go and spread joy and friendliness while shopping!