Raya Remixed

Raya is getting into its second week of celebration and this time around it's slightly tweaked for me and family. We opted to celebrate Eid Mubarak near our home and performed the prayers at Masjid Wilayah KL (a definite first for us). There were so many people including foreign workers. But the view inside was amazing! Had only managed to snap using my trusty, fell-for-the-nth-time iPhone 5.

Clean clothing for the Seoul

Dressing up in a “sleek” and polished manner is not always my forté as my taste in off-duty clothing veers towards the campy side. I sometimes loathe myself wearing things that I think too feminine, but keep cheating myself nonetheless thinking it is workable and man-able. Therefore there is a need to constantly remind myself that I NEED TO STOP buying women's stuff!

CAMERAderie: The Faces of Seoul

Travelling is a great way to indulge in local culture and to get to know the locals (from the peeping nature of my camera lenses, that is). It's no longer news that I'm a socially awkward person and sometimes I have to 'force' myself to interact with strangers. If need be I would communicate, (asking for directions, for example) but as last resort I would use my camera as an excuse to converse, or introduce myself and ask permission to take pictures of random people on the street. Such is the creepily voyeuristic personality that I possess haha.

In this case, I have snapped photos of Seoulites throughout my travel. Is it just me or the ladies are incredibly camera shy? Nevertheless it was a good experience, an inevitably awkward one I might add, to photograph a passersby portrait. What do you think of the images? I know they're horrendous as I have zilch knowledge to learn photogs skillz (sorry Filzah I might've let you down, come be my personal photog forevaaa), but if you ask me there's no more room for new cognitive function and skills in my brain other than my medical ones. If I had more free time (which is quite impossible given my current working status) I'd make photographing people's faces with accompanying commentaries a regular addition to Dunia Fashyon, but we'll see...

Seoul shopping

My travel itinerary is not complete without a particular segment for window shopping/wallet-damaging session. In Seoul everything looks particularly expensive (not just clothes necessarily), especially the usual international fast fashion chains like H&M or Uniqlo. My tips is to go to the high streets of Myeongdong or Shinsadong (in Gangnam area) rife with Korean high-street brands (still a tad expensive but they have the quintessential K-Pop sleekness if that's what you're after), and needless to say cosmetics/skincare retailers like Nature Republic, Innisfree, The Face Shop, Skin Food, Missha are in abundance and priced better compared to the Malaysian counterparts. But for those who incline towards 'rarer' designer items, head on to the Dongdaemun area for cool and relatively affordable young Korean designer labels all housed in one modern complex called Doota. And certain neighbourhood like Itaewon boasts a slew of indie shops offering interesting curiosities that might not be available back home. 

Seoul searching

Anyeonghaseyo!

Focusing my recent travels on destinations that are famous for its nature has made me miss the moments of city hopping, subway riding and clothes shopping at major towns of Europe during the good old student days. Needless to say when Yat masterminded the trip to Seoul, Korea, I obligingly followed his lead but yet, simultaneously devised my own plan to discover the exciting shops of Seoul (which at some point are already expected by my travel mates). 

Don't Thisappear

There is a good amount of respectable local fashion stores that are sprouting these past few years despite the well known fact that it's not an easy feat to sustain a fashion-related business in the country, let alone to push the fashion boundaries further with unorthodox business strategy. We all have heard about one of the alternatives in fashion Lah Lah Land closing its physical doors, and quite some time ago MUSA with its hyper-experimental merchandising strategy that unfortunately did not fare well with Malaysians' predictably safe fashion sense. How I truly hope that no more interestingly unconventional shop meet that same fate!

Mitsui Outlet Park KLIA opening

As a self-proclaimed shopaholic (a term that I cringe at to be associated with, but undeniably it is who I am), I've always on the lookout for discounted items be it online or offline. A bargain hunter, a discount hound, a promotion prowler - all these terms are quite naturally me, and promotions on the radio or the sight of slashed prices on merchandises would be the proverbial music to my ears and my version of eye candy. Up to a point that my friends are reluctant to go out with me just because I spend too much time ogling for the best designer bargains during our outings. So it was with a great excitement that I heard that the latest addition to Malaysia's 'proper' outlet malls (after Johor Premium outlet) was opening in due time this weekend.

CAMERAderie: Jovian Mandagie x Zalora Raya Collection 2015

The guests for the collection launch event is a usual mix of media, celebrities and fashion industries notables. Among familiar guests were Siti Nurhaliza and Sasha Saidin (and her ethereal braids). There are select personal styles that I like (loving to see people go all-out with a bevvy of textures, prints and embellishments - wonder if they are all from Jovian?) I was not physically there but from the looks of it the performance prior to the show was something different (an artistic performance with Luna Maya's appearance) and the setting is a dark undertone as I've mentioned in the previous post. The venue (DPAC) was, needless to say, a perfect place to showcase all the theatrics...

Jovian Mandagie's Art Deco for Zalora

It's a Raya fashion show galore for the past two months and I have been struggling to follow an astounding list of designer collabs with notable e-tailers in Malaysia. But Jovian Mandagie's printastic, design-laden collection for Zalora's Eid 2015 is one of the shows that I managed to pay attention to. Well, who would miss the celebrated Indonesian-born designer's collection launch with all the public relations fanfare that surrounded the event?

Avillion revisited

I just came back from Seoul a few days ago and jumped right into working mode afterwards. It might seem that I spend much time traveling but rest assured, this is rather an much delayed entry. Nevertheless I appreciate the rare opportunity for a short getaway (the Seoul post I will obligingly post soon, hopefully).