Hafiz Mustapha aka ‘CuteCarry’ has made a name for himself online as a fashion blogger who gives tips and advice to the style-clueless.

During the day, he works in public relations; by night, Hafiz Mustapha sits at his computer, updating his fashion blog, www.cutecarry.com.

Hafiz has always loved fashion. When he was in primary school, there were no malls in his hometown of Kuala Kangsar, Perak, so he would take the bus to Ipoh or Taiping often, to stroll in the malls and do a little shopping.

”Even at that age, I had a passion for fashion,” recalls Hafiz, who’s website carries the tagline ‘Confessions of an Asian Styleholic’. ”My friend and I would head out to shop for jeans. It was always a special feeling when my aunt and grandmother would take me shopping during Hari Raya and the school holidays.”

However, like many youths who are passionate about something unusual, he gave up his dream to live in the ‘real world’ for a few years. Hafiz graduated from university and worked as an accountant in Penang for four years.

Eventually, Hafiz realised he wasn’t feeling inspired in his line of work, and made the move to Kuala Lumpur to work as a PR practitioner.

He started cutecarry.com (which is in English andBahasa Malaysia) three years ago, to blog about his first fashion love — bags.

Hafiz loves accessorising - check out the studded belt he's wearing here

”Apart from talking about my favourite fashion pieces and giving style tips, one of the main reasons I started the blog was also to highlight Malaysian designers,” says Hafiz.

”There aren’t many blogs out there that put emphasis on local designers so I made it a point to highlight them whenever I can.”

He didn’t realise it at the time, but many teenagers had discovered his blog and started looking for style tips to copy from the site.

”I started getting emails from depressed teenagers who were getting teased by their schoolmates for dressing badly,” explains Hafiz. ”People would actually tell them they aren’t stylish and some of them even got harassed by email.”

”I felt really touched that they wrote to me asking for advice, and some of them even sent me their photos to help me advise them on what looks suit them.”

Eventually Hafiz became something of a ‘Style Guru’, giving style tips to people of all ages – even housewives out to impress their husbands.

”They even asked for advice on beauty, such as how to style their hair and so on. Many of them have even called me and asked to meet in person, so I meet up with them and accompany them on shopping trips.”

During these sessions Hafiz serves as a grooming consultant, saying ‘yay’ or ‘nay’ to their apparel choices and giving tips on how to mix and match.

For his younger readers, he operates mainly through email and his Facebook page, and regularly updates his blog with ‘What not to wear’ posts.

”Some of my readers think they are overweight and don’t want to be stylish, which is something I don’t agree with! I tell them they shouldn’t wait until they are at their ideal weight to be fashionable, they should try to be fashionable at all times to inspire them to eat right and exercise often,” says Hafiz, whose favourite Malaysian designers include Key Ng and Wanpa.

Not too long after he started the blog, Hafiz started getting attention from the designers he was featuring, and industry people.

Invitations to attend fashion events and launches started piling into his mailbox and before long, he found himself walking red carpets in designer outfits he had only admired from afar up to that point in time.

Even actress, model and producer Kavita Kaur noticed his blog and called him up for a special audition to co-host a fashion show with her.

”She read my blog and invited me to audition for Fesyenista, a show about Malaysian designers, premium and new designers,” says Hafiz.

Being all too familiar with the Malaysian fashion scene, Hafiz got the job, and is currently in the middle of filming the TV2 show.

Eventhough he has attended many a red carpet event and is on first-name basis with well-known fashion designers, Hafiz says his first love will always be helping the fashion clueless out.

”Even if its just a minor style tip for a small function in a ‘kampung’ somewhere, I love replying emails and knowing that I’m able to help someone out.” says Hafiz.