What Propels You?

Of late I have been pondering over what propels me and I am guilty of being propelled by fear. Sadly, not a noble fear of the Lord like a good christian girl should be but actually fear of failure.

It’s a fear of failure that propels me to complete my work, to attend classes, to arrange for project group meeting, to arrange for core group meetings.

I am sick of responsibilities when the people who are supposed to share them with me are not active or taking initiative to do so. I shall go on no further but I am honestly just tired and I often catch myself thinking why did God allow this to happen to me and the answer is probably because he want me to learn something from it. And I think ok something must be very wrong me with because things just don’t happen smoothly, I must not be learning the lesson that I need to learn. But I also think why must the problem lie with me? Can’t it be that I am also a victim of circumstances?

Well I’m sorry to go so deep and emo into the post so I shall reflect upon the happier things this week. I suddenly feel like this is my memory basin from Harry Potter movie, the one that Dumbledore has and stores his memory in so as to look back when he wants to. My blog is pretty much something like that except of course it’s heavily censored for public viewing. Haha.

So i’ve been busy this week because it’s formative assessment week with 3 presentations, 1 individual, 2 group and 1 essay draft submission. The individual ccs presentation went pretty ok. The first group presentation with Bini and Julie went well too so we are all really happy. Our tutors gave us pretty high grading. Circe (our guest assessor who is our head of fashion) even commented that our location of choice 313@Somerset (which costs $32 k/month btw) seems to be a poor choice because our high end concept store should be somewhere in Ion instead! Gee. What a compliment! 😀

The second marketing presentation with Shella, Shi Hui and Bini went pretty badly because we had a poor choice of structuring. Broke our hearts because we changed the structure several times and we were pretty clueless as to how to go about it. On hindsight I have a tinge of regret of not putting in more effort to seek help from friends with marketing expertise. Sigh. Will strive better next term!!! Will go all out super power bam dam slammmm bow wow our class. HAHAHAHA.

And as for essay draft, submission was friday afternoon and I only started actual writing on thursday afternoon and completed in about 4 hours, not including research which I had already done 2 weeks before. So that was uber yay for me because i usually stay up all night to do essay. But ironically even though I completed my essay right, I still stayed up till 4am so I couldnt get up for the 9am make up class…

Which is for V&P and we had our formative assessment for the actual class today from 4-7pm which dragged till 7.30pm which went pretty well. Jon Chan praised me for being responsible. heehee. Poor him because he was sick and he had to go through a whole class of individual assessment. Our teachers all seem to be getting sick one by one! Hopefully they all recover over project week because sick tutors = unhappy = poor thing students.

After a busy week, Bini and I went to catch I am Number 4 it was awesome!!! I love sci-fi action movies. And Diana Aargon is so lovely there I tell you but too bad her character quite 1 dimensional and flat.

I want to thank God for all my lovely friends in school. !!!

I am quite excited over the idea I have for my V&P submission due next wednesday. I shall now go do my research file. Yay! Byeeee.

Tea with James; Most Amazing Interview Experience

I had the most amazing interview experience this evening!

As mentioned previously I applied for a part time job to work with Mens Fashion Week organizing committee. So they arranged for me to meet with James, who is one of the key organizer.

Meet James:

James (Image from facebook)

Over pinkguava soft drink at Raffles Quay’s Cedele, James asked about my working experiences and classes in Lasalle. That lasted for about half an hour and then he asked me about my views of what are the recent hot topic business issues in fashion. I shared about LVMH buying over 20% shares in Hermes and that causing a stir in the Fashion business world. He then very generously started to share his insights and knowledge about the issue. He went on to topics such as Globalisation and the emerging China market with a case study of his experience from Prada’s fashion show at China. I felt like I was having a personal consultation with a tutor! 🙂

I am very thankful for the very insightful interview experience! Hopefully I will be able to work(part time) with them soon. More updates in future. 🙂

xoxo

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!!

Ok, it’s 3am right now so it’s post V-day here in Singapore but allow me to consider this as a V-day post lah ok! 🙂

What’s V-day without flowers? In my case, a flower my sister brought home from school for me! Its supposed to be given to “mums” but my sister gave it to me, ha! 😛

So some gratuitous photos with the yellow flower (sadly a bit dying already after a day’s hard work).

Flower from @teolujia jie jie!
Ooh what's up yellow flower?
Smell, Smile, Flower!

It was a pleasant V-day for me. After morning lecture, lunched with Bini @ 15 min. I had Ham & Mushrooms Pink Sauce Pasta which is yummilicious but oh-so-filling! Then while waiting for 4pm’s guest lecture, we headed to Orchard and had tea at Canele at Paragon.

A flower I folded for Bini~ ^^
Bini all dolled up for V day!
Twixt for the Cameraaa

Two important lessons tmr, rehearsal for Cultural & Contextual Studies (CCS) individual presentation followed by Studio class which is the most demanding of all modules. I have been very slow in starting my personal work and I get willingly distracted by Facebook, Twitter… I need to learn to discipline myself and say NO to distraction, get all my work done and then reward myself with social media! Ah… the troubles of a teenage girl in today’s world.

Last note, my mum went for a small op today to remove a small growth under her eye and it’s like a fuss-free out-patient op which we’re all glad it’s over and she’s fine!!! She did it in the morning and was up and about even cooking dinner! Hehe praise God!

Edit:

I remembered I wanted to write a cheesy “Poem for my future boyfriend”. Gonna be totally impromptu so here it goes:

Dear My Future Boyfriend,

Although I have no idea who you are right now,
I hope you are doing well.
Whether you are at school or at work,
I pray that God grants you the strength and energy
To carry through each day.
I will remember to give my best in the things I do,
To improve myself with every lesson learnt,
So I can be the best I can be when I meet you.
When we meet,
I hope we won’t need fancy promises,
extravagant dates or gifts.
Love to me, is a Commitment
Not just a feeling or emotion.
Someone who will be consistently by your side
No matter the weather or how you feel.
Well, before I meet you,
I shall work to improve consistency in my life.
So I can be that special someone for you,
As you will be for me.

xoxo

Loss of Innocence

Loss of Innocence By Never Let Me Go
Recent violence in Egypt
Chuck & Blair on Gossip Girl
Fashion spread by photographer Terry Richardson

I think I have reached a state of saturation of violent/sex images from watching/reading news and fashion that seeing such images just doesn’t have a strong impact anymore. I am not saying that I wish to see worse things happening but rather I am so jaded from seeing such images. Jaded from what is happening in the world. Innocence once lost cannot be returned. How does one see from rose-tinted glasses again when the glasses are broken? I wish, I hope for a well of innocence again, of a renewed sense of joy, happiness on seeing colourful balloons, desire to taste cotton candies and be excited about life again.

On another note, Bini told me today that she thinks I’m the type who will attract the bad boy type of boys because I look like a lamb, very docile and submissive. I think I may appear very cheery and happy most of the time and I admit I can be very naive and ignorant (and I like to be in case you are wondering) but I am definitely not a lamb and I do not like bad boys type.

Bien’s CNY Adventure

Hi! How was your CNY? Mine will spent mostly at home because Jia En’s grandma recently passed away so it’s not convenient for her family to visit relatives. Jia En’s also lazy to visit people! 😛

But on Saturday, Jia En brought me out for Benjamin group CNY home visits!

Me posing with CNY kids on biscuit tin at Aunty Mei Yoke's house.
I love hanging around!
Jia En poses with the ultra tasty chicken snack!
Benjamin group portrait!
I'm chilling while Jia En and Ming Min chats @ Tamp1 J.CO

Have a great week ahead! Hopefully you have more adventures then I do! Seriously, Jia En is quite boring, I need to tell her to be more adventurous!

xoxo
Bien

Adventures with Bien

Hi my dear friends~ Let me introduce you to Bien~ She’s a toy my dear friend Bini gave to me so I named her Bien after Bini and me (En for Jia En)!

She will travel to places with me and I will occasionally update the pretty sights we see (and when she asks to be featured in the photo)! Hope you will enjoy Adventures with Bien! ^^

Bien resting while Bini & I lunch at Aroma foodcourt~

 

Bien likes this Art Panel that says DON'T PANIC
Bien & The Harmless Monster

The exhibition Bien and I visited is a Fine Art Exhibition “Works In Progress” featuring works by Lasalle’s Level 2 Fine Art students at Lasalle Praxis, running till 12 Feb 2011! If you can’t make it, check out more pictures by James Bent on his blog here: http://voyage.lamodeoutre.com/praxis-space-fine-arts-l2-work-in-progress-exhibition/

Mariel Clayton – Doll Photographer with a subversive sense of humour

I was looking through my google reader just the other day and I came across an article on Mariel Clayton’s work depicting Barbie as a psycho-killer.

A picture for your reference: Ok warning: image is macabre.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

I actually really appreciate Clayton’s work. Although the works are really sadistic and macabre but for someone who’s seen macabre art (and news for that matter), her works aren’t that horrific. The amount of details in the images are evident of the effort and work Clayton takes to produce each image/scene. The images leave me with sense of admiration for her craft.

I like the idea of subverting Barbie – the perfect doll – to a crazed persona because Barbie is an idealistic, unrealistic fantasy that is marketed to young girls. I think Clayton is saying that the attractive Barbie, perfect girlfriend / mother material can also be a psychopath killer. Why not?

And another:

I thought this was really funny. It says: Barbie – The Final Chapter. After years of bingeing, purging and boob jobs. Ken tells Barbie he’s leaving her for another younger, thinner… man.

Alright, to wash your mind of those scary images above, check out Clayton’s cute albeit lethal Barbie image.

The title says “Happy Chew Ears!” How cute! Ok wait… on closer look is that actually a plate of ears?

If you are keen, you can check out more of Clayton’s work here:

http://www.thephotographymarielclayton.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marielclayton/

You can even purchase her prints here:

http://www.redbubble.com/people/sniperphotog

She covers a range of interesting themes in her websites, do check them out! 🙂

To illustrate the influence/impact of Barbie on the modern world of fashion, I’ll end off the post with a Barbie doll-like image of Alessandra Ambrosio on Love Magazine:

Of Job Search and Blogging Ideas!

I am always procrastinating the work that needs to be done until (almost) the last minute which is not good! I want to be more disciplined and start to do work earlier! Especially when I keep saying I want to excel in my studies this year. Or all of my degree education for that matter.

Or another relevant note, I have been procrastinating looking for a job for about a week plus now. I want to apply for Venice Biennale 6 weeks internship which provides for accommodation and 40euros daily allowance but the catch is that applicants must pay for their own tickets. I also want to visit my sister when she’s interning in Korea. Thus I am looking for a job to pay for the approx. $1,500 round-way ticket to Italy and the approx. $700 round-way ticket to Korea!

So far I’ve applied to a few places. (So proud of myself. LOL. Probably the only productive thing I’ve done so far for CNY.)
– $450/month Internship with Media Flair Communications
– Temporary Administrative Assistant at MBS
– Internship with Richemont

Except for the first application, I don’t know how much the others will pay. I really hope I can find a well-paid part time job! I think the other two will be quite tough to score as they are probably finding for full-time interns. But I will keep my fingers crossed! This is because I’ve done Administrative work at Tilt before and it’s really possible to work from home and dropping by the office occasionally.

On yet another note, I have been thinking about including more Art and Fashion related posts on my blog. I think I will continue to keep this as a personal blog but include more posts about topics/events/exhibitions that interests me! So this blog will become more of a personal/art/fashion blog. We’ll see! 🙂

HAPPY RABBIT YEAR!

HAPPY CHINESE RABBIT NEW YEAR!
May God’s blessing flow into your lives, homes, work, school, relationships and everything else!

On another entirely differently note, messiness will forever be a prick in my life.

I abhor and can never understand why anyone can put up with messiness.

YOU CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
1. PACK
2. INSTALL CUPBOARDS TO TIDY THINGS UP
3. USE THE CUPBOARDS
4. PACK

xoxo

Black is becoming Boring

Hi! I don’t usually post about fashion related topics on my blog, ironically since I am studying fashion. Talking about studying fashion, I find it rather contrived when people use the word “reading” fashion/law/whatever course instead of using “studying”. Just saying. So going back to the point, I was checking the blog contest comments sections to check out the recent posts and I was quite disappointed to see a new post that is vying for the Balenciaga bag. Haha. However I am glad to have read the post on monoxious.com because it’s a fashion-centred blog managed by two pretty girls who have an obsession with black.

Let the pictures do the talking. 😉

Dawn, the younger of the duo. She’s like a pretty Japanese doll!

Arissa. Channels a more edgy vibe.

Dawn in an enviable black dress and obi belt.

Arissa in a stylish ensemble.

Oddly enough it’s the first time I chanced upon them although they’ve been writing since 2009. I think it is probably because they seldom attend local fashion events. Or maybe I am not as up-to-date with the local fashion blogging scene. Maybe both.

I enjoy reading their blog and I like seeing their outfit posts, their choice of clothing, bags, shoes and accessorizes. Even the choice of brands or place of purchase are relatable, like m)phosis, far east plaza, bugis street. They feature Ann Demeulemeester (had to google for the surname) knock-off shoe, mulberry knock-off bag and Alexander McQueen knock-off bag. Maybe knock-off isn’t the right word. Although it’s what they use on their blog, I like to think “inspired” is a better word. I adore the photos they took with lovely graffiti/city skyline/flower fields/forest-y/pyramid/busy street backgrounds. It’s a very cosmopolitan, global village feel.

They even featured quite a fair bit on black edgy fashion items like chain necklace, leather pants and the like which I personally adore and if given the budget, I would probably by now own a rock-star worthy wardrobe. That’s why my bio on twitter reads closet punk rockstar. Hurhur. 😛

But somehow seeing them in my personal fashion style – edgy, rocker/biker chic – I feel a sense of loss. I don’t know how to put it across or explain it. Maybe I am just tired of wearing black all the time. Maybe I have outgrown metal/rocker/biker chic style. Maybe I have a growing fondness for spring colours and motifs. A growing fondness for nude/neutral palette.

So I guess the whole point of today’s post is an increasing realization of how the black rocker chic style cool factor is waning for me. In fact black now channels a pretty everyman worker feel to me. No offense but black is a professional office executive colour.

I only started to be more selective with what I wear when I was 18 going 19. My FM4A classmates actually commented that they notice a rocker-chic girl image from how I dress and I was very surprised and pleased to hear that. Although I really think it’s more like muted/stripped down/simpler rocker chic style. HAHA.

So now I am left wondering and redefining what is my preferred fashion style. As of now I think it’s simple/modern/classic and I have an increasing desire to include more nude, neutral, pastel colours into my wardrobe, one piece at a time.

Ah… the love, the life, the woes of a fashion student.

Sometimes I think being in fashion is a contradiction for a christian. In an industry where looks, appearances are everything and where people are seen as superficial. God tells us beauty is not seen on golden braids but in the heart (my paraphrase, will dig up the verse another time) and that man looks at the appearance but God looks at the heart. Many times I think fashion is a very self-centred concept and an industry that breeds selfishness where people care more for the next fad and the next IT bag. What about God’s love for the poor, the needy, the widowed? They are almost completely over-shadowed, forgotten in this glitzy glamour world of fashion.

But the fact is that I know for sure Fashion is the industry that I want devote myself to work in this world. I love it and I enjoy it. Many times I feel that it is superficial and I am conflicted within. Can any christian tell me how not to be, in face of seeing provocative, sexy, sensual nude images flashing in fashion magazines, in lecture and better yet as a key image for a semester long project? The subject of nude images are mostly female so perhaps the temptation is lesser but nonetheless we/I am going to be increasingly desensitized by sex and whatever it sells. Can that be acceptable? The answer is no. What am I to do about it is the question that follows. One that I am still discovering.

I guess God’s purpose for me in the world of fashion is something I am still discovering and while I unravel the mystery I am continually reminding myself to keep my eyes on the cross. Okay I totally didn’t mean to end this post as a holy-moly one but I did. ^^V