Nasassistic

By NASA MARIA ENTABAN

Photo by ONIN LORENTE

alltherage@thestar.com.my

AFTER 10 years in the fashion industry, fashion director and Hanger magazine editor Sueann Chong feels like she is right where she should be.

For the past year, she has spent her days doing exactly what she loves – running Hanger, an unconventional bi-annual fashion magazine.

The 30-year-old animation graduate has gone from lugging piles of clothes around malls to use at photo shoots to conceptualising, planning, and directing her own shoots.

“Hanger is different from your regular fashion magazine. It’s not just about street fashion, not just another guide,” says Chong. “It’s youthful, playful, not serious, and I like to think that it gets people thinking when they read it. I like the fact that it doesn’t take fashion too seriously.”

The almost 200-page magazine is a pretty ecclectic mix of fashion categories, and doesn’t quite play by the rules. Almost everything can be found in it, streetwear, high street, avant garde and even couture are thrown into the mix to create unique styles that may be, at first, a little difficult to digest for regular folk.

Chong believes in the idea that fashion and style are very personal, and that the rules of mixing and matching, as well as sticking strictly to current trends – should no longer apply in today’s world, to today’s youth.

“In places like Japan, people can dress and wear whatever they want, no one will think it’s ridiculous or weird, but when someone does something quirky here, it’s a different story,” says Chong, who began her career in fashion as a “fashion assistant”.

Sueann Chong

“Everyone has to start somewhere with fashion, who are you to judge what is wrong or right?”

Having worked at a variety of publications including Cleo, OK! and Prestige magazines as well as style website Tongue In Chic, Chong’s experience includes fashion and beauty writing, styling, directing as well as conceptualising themes for fashion shoots.

The fashion enthusiast has come a long way from the days when she used to walk through malls carrying heavy shopping bags around – none of which belonged to her!

“You learn how to be careful with other people’s things. You have that fear of losing something or getting robbed,” says Chong, laughing. “It’s even quite embarassing to be walking around with all these designer bags but its not your stuff!”

Although she admits to being a bit of a chatterbox from an early age, one of the most valuable lessons Chong has learned over the years was interacting with different people.

“In OK! magazine I was a fashion and beauty writer for three years, and it was different because we had to do photoshoots with more personalities,” she explains. “There was the lookalike page, which was fun to do, because you’re dealing with emulating someone famous’ look.”

“Models are so easy to dress – they’re easy to borrow clothes for, they know how to pose and they instantly feel comfortable in front of the camera.”
Where regular people being featured in the magazine were concerned, a different sort of approach was required, one which Chong mastered almost instantly.

In the makeover sessions, I learned how to talk to people, get them comfortable. There’s a lot more interaction that goes on, they need that coaxing and boost of confidence, but once they start warming up, it’s quite cool to see how they change,” explains Chong, who also judges fashion shows and gives talks to fashion students.

At the moment Chong is putting the finishing touches on the next issue of Hanger, and making sure the rather ecclectic content and concept of the magazine remain balanced.

“You want to include different facets of fashion. You can’t have too much of one thing that would then steer it in a particular direction. You have to keep your people who like streetwear, couture, one of a kind pieces happy.

“We’re sort of like a jack of all trades trying to be master of all,” she says, grinning.

By NASA MARIA ENTABAN
alltherage@thestar.com.my

NADZIRAH Hashim and her sister Diyana love shopping, and both admit to having overstuffed closets.

Over the years they have amassed a pretty substantial amount of clothing, accessories, bags and shoes and like many fashion enthusiasts, stored these items away until they could figure out what to do with them. That is, until they decided to start Friendly Fashion.

Friendly Fashion is a website where users can sell, swap or give away “pre-loved” fashion items like clothes, accessories and shoes.

“I have too many clothes,” says Nadzirah, 26. “You’d be surprised how much stuff you can accumulate in a month or two. Some items you might just use once or twice only!”

When this happens, what becomes of your clothes? Most of the time, they end up sitting in your closet collecting dust or growing mould and eventually, they get thrown away.

“So, we thought – let’s be a bit more conscious about our clothing and the amount of waste one accumulates, and recycle your clothing,” says Nadzirah.

“You don’t realise how many clothes you don’t wear anymore; some are even in perfect condition!”

Diyana (lleft) and Nadzirah

With Friendly Fashion, the sisters hope to encourage the expansion of pre-loved culture in Malaysia and reduce waste when it comes to apparel.

The site, launched two months ago, already has over 200 members from all over Malaysia who are interested in selling, swapping and buying pre-loved items.

What Nadzirah loves most about the site is that the user demographics is so diverse, just about anyone can find something for themselves, whether they’re a size XXS or XXL.

“There’s a wide range of things, and it’s easy to search for specific items. Of course, it depends on how much detail the user puts into describing the item, too,” says Nadzirah.

On Friendly Fashion you can type out keywords like “zippers” or “buttons” and any colour you can think of to help you find your item of choice.

“There are a lot of pre-loved blogshops but it can be a little hard to find them, so we thought why not give individuals a platform for this, but also link people to these blogshops and websites as well,” explains Nadzirah.

“It’s just to make your life more convenient, so you don’t have to search for blogshops.”

Another appeal to Friendly Fashion is that it is completely free. When bazaars come into question, one has to rent physical space in the bazaar and sit there for hours without any guarantee that anyone will buy your items.

Friendly Fashion is free and uncomplicated to use

“Right now, you have to wait for a bazaar to happen before you can sell your stuff. We don’t take a cut from any sales, and delivery is handled by the buyers and sellers,” notes Nadzirah. “Our job is to moderate the site, maintain a certain quality to the pictures and step in should there be any problem between users.”

There are no set rules to putting your items on the site – but Nadzirah believes most people will be able to use common sense when setting prices and uploading photos to the site.

“Most people will sell their clothes if they’ve worn it, say, two to five times. If you’ve worn something more than 30 times, you can sell it, but sell it cheap or give it away for free,” she advises.

She admits that so far the biggest challenge has been getting good quality photos, and, making sure users don’t use photos they’ve taken from other websites.

“People can be lazy. It’s not fair to those who are putting in the effort to take their own photos, so when this happens we send them a message and tell them in a ‘friendly’ way not to do it.

“Also, the better the photo, the more appealing it is to buyers,” says Nadzirah.
Apart from women’s apparel, shoes and accessories, the site also has sections for baby clothes, men’s clothes and clothes for your pets.

“At the end of the day we want our community to participate and interact with each other, apart from the swapping and selling, there’s a lot of fun stuff going on like sharing inspiring content and discussions on trends and style,” she adds.

* Check the site out at www.friendlyfashion.my. They also have a Facebook page under the same name.

By NASA MARIA ENTABAN
alltherage@thestar.com.my

ONE event that always gets me excited is the Raffles College Of Higher Education graduation show, as the young designers always come up with the most creative and current collections.

The 27th Raffles College fashion graduation show, themed “Hijau”, showcased the final-year projects of 13 advanced diploma in fashion design graduates, all of which were unique in their own way.

Underwater and animal-inspired looks emerged in several collections, while hues of the season like coral, baby blue and mint green blended in with standard dark colours.

Out of the 13 graduates, three designers stood out and impressed industry experts who judged the event recently. These designers – Joyce Lim, Gynn Ling and Sitti Balqis Natasyrah-Guidotti – received partial scholarships to complete their Bachelor’s degree at the college. The designs were judged based on storyboard presentation, commercial viability, workmanship of garment, and the graduation show’s catwalk presentation.

Lim and Balqis tell us what their collections were all about, and shared their inspirations for their work:

Joyce Lim

Circus Of Life

Bold colours like hot pink, bright yellow, post-box red and royal blue set the circus-like feel to this collection.

Lim says her inspiration for the collection was a circus clown, hence the liberal use of colour blocking and mismatched colours.

“Clowns are sometimes seen to be emotional, sad and scary,” she explains. “I have coulrophobia (fear of clowns), therefore I want to take this opportunity to overcome it by showing the positive side of clowns which is very bright, playful and also cheerful.”

A piece from Joyce's collection

The colourful and loud garments shown are close-fitted, wearable and versatile. Lim explains that they can be turned inside out and worn either way.

“As I’m translating the collection into sportswear, fabrics that I chose were stretchable like jersey and jersey knit because these fabrics have the potential to provide mobility and comfort,” she shares.

Lim’s collection is structured, while the bright colours may distract a little, a closer look reveals a keen attention to detail and elements like structured collars and pockets show off her flair for precision and perfection.

Sitti Balqis Natasyrah-Guidotti

Existentialist

Balqis drew inspiration for her collection from the Existentialist movement, and actually went to Paris to conduct research on the subject.

The use of dark colours and asymmetry give the collection a post-apocalyptic feel, and according to Balqis, the asymmetrical element is meant to symbolise transformation, change, and an open mind.

Balqis' favourite piece from her collection .

“Our mind is like a parachute, it only functions when it is open!” says Balqis of the concept of her collection. “Jean-Paul Gaultier taught me to be truly free-spirited, doing things for the love of ideas with no discrimination.”

At first glance, the pieces may give off a reckless feel with the all asymmetrical lines and loose-fitting pieces, however details like the weave cap sleeves, leather gloves with fur cuffs and lace gloves with metal cuffs show that a lot of thought went into detailing.

“The pieces are ready-to-wear, one of my favourite items is the leather jacket with the assymetric cut line. I like simplicity and sophistication, without too much drama,” she notes.

Here are some of the design collections from the other graduates:

Vincent Wong's collection 'Confession of Sin'

Evelyn Chia Yi Wen's collection 'Effusion'

Samantha Voon's collection 'Resurrection'

Harvee Kok Leong Vee's collection 'Paradox Illusions'.

Janeicarlane Gapang's collection ' Ice on Fire'

Alicia Chew's 'Desire' collection

By VIVY YUSOF
alltherage@thestar.com.my

EVERYONE has days when nothing seems to be going right. Your usual morning coffee tastes different, your boss does not smile at you, your phone seems to be beeping and ringing more than usual making your patience level go down the drain.

To top it all off, your usually shiny hair isn’t cooperating with you. The top of your head looks flat and your hair is just limp. At the same time, you have to meet an important client that day, or if fate really wants to be funny, you’ll even bump into your ex and his hot new girl.

Just what you needed.

I can’t stress enough how important hair is to a woman. It is our crowning glory and it’s so sad that many people take it for granted, walking around the malls with greasy hair or obvious “just-got-out-of-bed” hair. Not the Kate Moss-inspired just-got-out-of-bed hair, but something that resembles Christmas tinsel that has gone haywire.

Women need to pay attention to their hair because that’s the first thing people see. I also have a personal favourite reason – women are generally shorter so men can see the top of our heads. Don’t let them see “snow”!

Take cue from Blair Waldorf in Gossip Girl, who is never seen with a hair out of place. Okay, so we don’t have 50 stylists following us to work every day, but we can learn a thing or two about having impeccable hair from her. Take, for example, her creative use of hair accessories.

From simple bows to more daring head gear, these accessories have all been paraded on the runways at fashion shows, be it in Malaysia or from fashion capitals of the world like Paris, Milan and London. Attention to detail is important, and this shows that even ready-to-wear designers think about hair accessories to give models a more complete look.

Here are some of the choices we can check out:

Headbands

Originally designed to keep hair away from our faces, headbands are now considered statement pieces for our hair. Experiment with colours, embellishments, studs and whatever else you please. While we’re still young and trendy, bring on the crazy with headbands.

A Sereni & Shentel creation

However, do be wary of the hard bands as they could pinch the back of your ears. Make sure they sit comfortably on your heads and don’t give you a headache even after only two minutes of wearing them. If you get headaches easily from wearing headbands, try looser ones with black elastic bands that go around the back of your head.

In Malaysia, the brand most synonymous to headbands is none other than Sereni & Shentel. These two ladies from Sarawak managed to get their headbands featured on Gossip Girl and Desperate Housewives! Other local brands you should check out that offer an array of headbands are Alainn, Eclipse and Per Te.

Hairclips

Remember the days in school when you wore Hello Kitty fabric hairclips at the side of your head? Well, today, some people still wear things like that, but the choices are more “mature” and trendy.

They have nice clips with sequins and bows. The ones with flowers can be cute, but they can also look a bit tacky if you choose the wrong one. Also, no matter what Sex And The City’s Carrie Bradshaw says, dead birds do not look good as hairclips.

Designer Jason Wu used feathers as hair pieces in his recent fashion show and it reminded me a little bit of the gorgeous feather hairclips by our own local brand Per Te. Karl Lagerfeld used drops of pearls to complete his underwater theme at the Chanel fashion show. Simple, yet unique, they can do wonders to your hair!

Twillies

Twillies are my personal favourite. Similar to headbands, twillies are a softer version that you can tie around your head. They are usually made from silk. Socialites around the Klang Valley love to adorn their heads with printed versions from Hermes and Louis Vuitton.

Vivy Yusof (wearing a Azura Azwa band) with Malaysian hairstylist Vlee at a fashion show.

For a 1960s retro look, back-comb your hair and create a bouffant with your twilly.

Tie a twilly to the back and have the ribbon hidden under your hair if you want a more subtle look. If you want to stand out, tie it to the front and let the bow or bunny ears reach out to the crowd as seen at Moschino and Marc Jacobs fashion shows this year.

Foreheadbands

Alright, so I don’t really have a clue what these are actually called, but you can sort of make out which ones I am talking about, right? These are the kind of headbands that covers almost half our foreheads, like the ones Nicole Richie wears.

This style is definitely for fun and daring people, as it gives off a more hippie look than an elegant one (unless your “foreheadband” is made out of pearls or flowers). I love this style, but be careful as it does have a tendency to ride up, and bring your hair up as well. And you wonder why people call you “mushroom” after that.

Turbans

Turbans recently came back in style in Malaysia thanks to singing sensations Yuna and Noryn Aziz. A cooler take on headscarves, turbans are suitable for Muslim ladies who want a modern way to style themselves while still following Islamic guidelines.

Award-winning fashion designer, Datuk Radzuan Radziwill is an advocate of turbans and has an array of them in his collection. Also, newcomer AzuraAzwa is also a brand that is becoming popular with their knot turbans made in so many colours, you would spend hours choosing! They have graced pages of magazines with their collection and for those who aren’t ready for turbans, they also do the headband versions.

Fascinators

When I watched the Prince William and Kate Middleton wedding last year, I could only think one thing – can guests actually see things at church with the ladies in huge hats blocking their views?
Fascinators are somewhat traditional headpieces for Britons, and so far I have not seen them being a craze in our homeland. Except maybe at polo events.
I’m not sure if Malaysians are ready for fascinators as our chosen headpiece, but they are available here. Prove me wrong and wear one today!
q All the local brands Vivy mentioned are available on www.fashionvalet.net, a website and company that she runs.

Andrea Wong

By NASA MARIA ENTABAN
alltherage@thestar.com.my

STYLIST Andrea Wong is a perfectionist. To prepare for photo shoots she goes through numerous racks of clothing items, endlessly mixing and matching until she finds the perfect combination to fit the theme and feel of a shoot or campaign.

The 28-year-old fashion expert is well known in the industry for her impeccable taste in high fashion, her instinct for style and her work as a stylist, coordinator and writer for Harper’s Bazaar magazine.

Looking at Wong now, who of course is always trendy, one would never guess that nine years ago she didn’t even know the difference between Tom Ford and Tom Jones.

“I wouldn’t say I had no interest in fashion, but I wasn’t really someone who bought magazines,” says Wong, laughing. “I liked fashion as much as the next girl, but not so much that I would follow the ‘seasons’ – I didn’t even know that there were seasons!”

The media and communications graduate did not plan to go on the fashion career path. In fact, when she first sent her resume to Harper’s Bazaar, it was for the post of marketing executive.

Although she was only 19 at the time and had no fashion experience, Wong landed the job of fashion coordinator instead, thanks to a sort of “test” project which required her to create a style page for the magazine.

“It didn’t even occur to me that it was something I could do!” recalls Wong, who in addition to coordinating fashion pages, eventually became a writer for the magazine as well.

Her responsibilities as a fashion coordinator included compiling fashion and runway photos, obtaining products from stores to include in the shoot, coming up with themes for the fashion pages and writing snippets.

From handling content for the style pages, covering fashion events and shows and directing shoots, over time her job scope expanded to “personality styling”.

“As a stylist, you not only need to put the clothes together, you also need to know how to style the model. You also need to know the lighting and how to work with the photographer,” explains Andrea, whose first big shoot was assisting in an Omega watch shoot with American supermodel Cindy Crawford, with fashion director Kenneth Goh.

“You have to have vision, you have to see how everything will look together, and you also need to know about hair and makeup, and keep up to date with what’s current.”

“It didn’t even occur to me that it was something I could do!” recalls Wong, who in addition to coordinating fashion pages, eventually became a writer for the magazine as well. Her responsibilities as a fashion coordinator included compiling fashion and runway photos, obtaining products from stores to include in the shoot, coming up with themes for the fashion pages and writing snippets.

Apart from that, a stylist must also have excellent attention to detail.

“When the lining of the skirt is showing, for example, you need to rush over and fix it. All these little things that you don’t even know you’ve picked up over the years contribute to everything,” she adds.

After five years in Harper’s Bazaar, and having risen to the post of fashion editor, Wong decided to quit and work as a freelance stylist.

“I met people from other magazines, and they now call me to help them with their styling. I also do campaigns for some brands. There’s actually a shortage of stylists here,” she says.

“I love doing freelance because it feels like I am actually doing something for myself. I work with a team, but things are done how I want it to be, within what the client and magazines want,” she explains.

One of Wong’s recent projects was completely new to her – having connected with Miss Universe Malaysia national director Andrea Fonseka along the way, she was invited to style the 2012 Miss Malaysia contestants’ photo shoots, and be a guest judge on a few episodes of the reality show.

“That was stressful, tiring and fun! It was a new experience of being on TV,” recalls Wong. “I wanted to bring the high fashion spin to the pageant, and it was a lot of fun styling the girls. Towards the end I noticed that as I got to know them and their personalities came through, I started styling personalities, not just contestants.

“In terms of the poses that I picked for them, I was picking them based on how they were as people, rather than just on how they look.”

At the moment Wong continues doing her regular fashion shoots and styling sessions, forever monitoring trends and getting excited about new styles to hit runways and stores.

THESE days, boutiques in the Klang Valley are filled with colourful outfits. Colourful attire and bold prints are all the rage right now.

To give you a better idea of what’s out there, here are a few of this season’s trends you simply must try, before fashion moves on to the next big thing.

Be bold

Cheerful hues are in, and daring colour-blocking is the way to go this season. Spice up casual clothing like loose pants, cardigans, long skirts and wrap dresses by wearing them in solid colours.

It’ll be a challenge to not come out looking like a circus clown, so try and limit yourself to wearing only three colours all at once. Think coral, sage green and tangerine, or a red-black-brown combo, or even hot pink, brown and teal – these colour combinations will give your casual gear a glam twist.

You don’t even have to restrict this trend to your casual dressing – experiment with multi-coloured bodycon dresses, chic skirts in different colours and tiered blouses.

Peplum plus

This trend, although a little tricky for those with wider hips and waists, is everywhere. Stars like Emma Stone have rocked the look on the red carpet.

Anything with a short flared ruffle that sits on your waist is what defines the look – it’s on dresses, skirts and even shirts.

Just remember that with this trend you must wear heels, as it can make you look a little stumpy. Also, choose your colours wisely – perhaps colour-blocking with peplum can wait until next season, as Stone’s red top and hot pink skirt was a little too daring a combo!

Go big or go home

In the spirit of living large and sporting cheerful trends this season, bold prints are making their way into our stores fast.

From crazy geometric shapes to art deco graphics (think early screensavers/wallpapers) to huge floral patterns to exaggerated animal prints, these bursts of pattern can go on shirts, blazers, bags, skirts and even tights.

For the conservative dresser, this trend may take a little getting used to, so start small – maybe experiment with a vibrant print top or bottom, but not together (at first). When you’re used to the idea, let loose by mixing and matching pieces with bold prints.

Loungewear
Wearing your pajamas to class/work? It is somewhat acceptable this season, as many designers had their models walking down runways in what looked like collections inspired by pajamas and bathrobes. In short, stuff you wouldn’t normally want to be seen wearing in public.

For those of us who love our polka dot and stripe-y pajama pants, it is now alright to wear them outside the house, as long as they’re paired with a sleek shirt and perhaps, a belt to finish the look.

Even onesies aren’t restricted to infants anymore, although they really don’t flatter most shapes.

By NASA MARIA ENTABAN
alltherage@thestar.com.my

FOR us non-supermodel, regular women types, there is no “one-size-fits-all” when it comes to fashion.

Everyone has a different body shape and sometimes it can be hard to find clothes that fit well for those of us who aren’t thin, slender and hipless (one of the reasons why I can never find anything to buy online!).

Sometimes it feels like there just isn’t anything out there for what seems like the majority of women. After all, how many of us actually are a size 2 (US) and tall enough so that we don’t have to shorten the jeans we buy, and have a chest we can squeeze into any top so that we don’t look obscene?

This is where good fashion sense and creativity kick in.

These days, there aren’t too many clear-cut rules when it comes to mixing and matching, and styling. Depending on the occasion, dressing up isn’t as complicated as it used to be what with trends like “indie”, “grunge”, “retro”, “punk” and so on gaining acceptance in the fashion world.

Here are a few tips for different body shapes that can help you dress to impress:

Key jeans

Finding a pair of jeans that fits, flatters and flaunts your assets is tough. Anyone who’s ever struggled to find “that” pair of perfect jeans can relate to this dillemma.

Fortunately, clothing brands like Levi’s are introducing products that put emphasis on shape – not size – to help women everywhere find a mould that suits them.

Levi's Curve ID ankle flare feature

Through their Curve ID range which caters to different body shapes, the “slight curve”, “demi curve” and “bold curve” are designed to help women with varying hips, thighs, and waist sizes find that perfect fit.

Over the seasons there have been changes and additions to the collection, the most recent one being the ankle flare, a style which can work with a casual ensemble (T-shirt and wedges) or for semi-formal events (heels and a dressy top).

Petite style

You may not realise it, but quite a few of our favourite stylish celebrities are petite, and they know how to work with what they have. There’s Salma Hayek, Natalie Portman, Sarah Hyland and Eva Longoria, to name a few.

One useful tip for short girls is monochrome – wearing the same colour from head to toe will help you look more put-together. Wearing similar shades from top to bottom make the outfit “flow” in a way and your figure won’t be “chopped” in half, drawing attention to your height.

Wearing one colour from top to toe is a great way to dress for petite girls

Wearing nude shoes is also a must-do for those who are petite, as are long earrings and statement necklaces.

Shape enhancers

While hourglass figure-types have no trouble nailing the tiny waist look, other body shapes may need a little assistance.

For example, if you’re rectangular (relatively equal bust and hip measurements, but don’t have a defined waistline) or pear-shaped (smaller shoulders and a larger lower half), the cut-out element would work well for you.

Cutouts can really enhance your shape

The strategically-placed diamond shapes can be actual cut-outs, or a piece sewn on to give the illusion of a smaller waist – this trick works brilliantly on almost anyone, and there are heaps of stores that sell dresses with this feature.

Balancing act

Apart from the hourglass, petite, rectangular, and straight, athletic builds, there’s also dressing for the triangle (proportionally smaller busts/narrower shoulders and larger hips/thighs) and inverted triangle shapes that can be tricky!

The key is to try and balance it out by playing up your smaller areas, or toning down your larger areas.

Cap sleeves work great for those with smaller shoulders

For the triangle, wear pieces that draw attention to the bust and minimises hips and thighs, for example tops with V necklines and cap sleeves which will make your shoulders look wider. Avoid tops that are too long (like tunics) and anything that will highlight a small bust (tight, sleeveless tops, for example).

As for the inverted triangle, try not to look too top-heavy by playing up the hips with horizontal-lined skirts (only if you have narrow hips!) and wearing strapless dresses to show off your shoulders. Avoid at all cost: off-shoulder type tops, shoulder pads and high necklines.