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?

Discovering Malaysian Talents

Even though I was honestly skeptical with homegrown talent but now I'm glad that I am wrong. What with a bevy of young designers from all over the country, the Malaysian fashion industry seems like an excitingly fresh scene to nurture new design flair. Lately I have been eyeing a few labels and for me this three is the intriguing lot as far as newness is concerned:

Zalora Fashion Festival - Raya Collection

Zalora once again releases their much anticipated Raya collection with four emerging Malaysian designers. It's good to know that collaborations with giant online fashion retailers like Zalora shed much needed light on the creatives - meaning more exposure, a chance to be a household name (like Rizalman and Jovian) and of course, improving revenues. Personally I love doing some research online prior to making a purchase, thus this platform suits demographics like me, who love to ponder and compare before deciding to click that 'buy' button. The launch of the collection was held recently at Pullman Hotel Bangsar, where hundreds of guest (including celebs) were present to witness to collection firsthand.

Scha Alyahya x Fashion Valet collaboration

I'm diverting my travel-laden blogpost with local fashion news. Too much of travel does make me miss a bit of frivolity once in a while. Having no ample time to be glued on TV like I used to before, I'm not overly well-versed with the who's who of local entertainment industry, but it's not so easy easy to ignore when it comes to Malaysia's immensely known celebrity Scha Alyahya. With her innate sense of style, it's natural to see her collaboration with notable online retailer of all South East Asian design Fashion Valet come to fruition. The Scha x FV collection features contemporary voluminous silhouettes coupled with the ever so favorable pastel tones and color blocking - predictably going to be received pretty well by the young and urban demographics of Malaysian fashion-conscious girls.

Prints and sportswear: Adidas Originals x Mary Katrantzou

Mary Katrantzou, the Cyprus-born print queen has expanded her portfolio by collaborating with sportswear giant Adidas. Reminiscing her fledgling design days (dresses with chain prints) she has gone very far has her not?

It's just a but of a bummer that there is no menswear clothing in the collection (for the obvs reason, of course). But street footwear fanatics rejoice, as there are men's shoes included as well! Should I ditch my sparingly worn, floral print adorned Raf Simons?

The mighty medic and Brooke Roberts

Lately I've been rushing towards assignment deadlines (taking a Diplomain Family Medicine) and manning three programmes at the clinic, whilst trying my best not to practice the well-spread 'conveyor belt' medicine. On top of that, I have the audacity of joining a seemingly fast-track program for the elusive FRACGP (click here if you're keen to know what that stands for) - it's a program by MIGHTY MEDIC, hence the title, which is another pathway towards specialty in primary care besides the conventional Malaysian Masters program.

Coach fall/winter 2014, Kuala Lumpur

Coach isn't exactly under my usual artistic label focus but I am aware of its commercial success with practical and functional leather-ware. The mammoth brand's reputation has been attributed to its diverse range of handbags that fit casual and office settings (being a household name Coach bags are coveted by my sister, cousins and even my aunts). But what I can say is their previous offerings may be still not necessarily my stylistic cup of tea.

KLFW 2014: Sandra Azwan, Pearly Wong

Sandra Azwan

Honestly speaking his ready-to-wear collection is among the ones that piqued my interest during KL Fash Week. The design is playful, wearable, and a breath of fresh air from a sea of monochrome, pastel or digital prints. The Geometrical Abstractions collection comprise of dresses in bold lines and solid colours - the bright green, red and mustard simply pop, and I must say, they match these Jump From Paper bags. Looking at a glance the first of the pieces look like American footballers' body gear, but in a good way, of course... 

KLFW 2014: Mimpi Kita, WANPA, Rico Rinaldi

Experiencing KLFW 2014 has taught me to appreciate local designers more. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't want to but previously there's not much platform to showcase the talents online, at least. And given my current profession which puts me in a situation where I appreciate fashion shows on the Net easier rather than in-person, therefore it's hard to really judge something, when all I read is some paltry mini-articles on local fashion newspapers highlighting certain designer, or worse, a gossip-cum-celebrity-worshipping-tool kind of publication. That just doesn't really give all these hardworking creative people justice. So it's good to finally see designer after designer passing the KLFW short runway, and in effect, create awareness to an untrained eye / outsider like yours truly. Attending KLFW this year alone has made me Google more KL designers and in turn follow them on Dunia Fashyon Instagram.

KLFW 2014 - Jasmi Rejab, Justin Yap, Max Mak

It's the weekend and finally I have time to resume to play pretend as a fashion journalist (btw, congrats Suzy Menkes for the Conde Nast appointment). As KLFW line-up is a huge list of designers compacted into segments of shows, I feel the need to break day five of KLFW into a few posts and briefly voice out my personal comments. They don't necessarily need to be valid though (we all know too well that I'm not well versed with most of the designers' work, let alone their credibility/authenticity/aesthetics). Nevertheless I did enjoy most of the shows (thanks to the better sitting and therefore better images with the aid of my portrait lens - I forgot to change the lens during the day one show, d'oh!). Atmosphere-wise, the sense of camaraderie was high (designers supporting fellow colleagues in terms of attendance), and it' was good to see the wide mix of attendees with different styles, the occasional pop of fresh ideas and speaking as an industry outsider, the voyeuristic experience peeking into the lives of the creative lot...

Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week 2014 - Day One

It's that time of the year again where Malaysian fashion designers congregate, street style peacocks prance around and insignificant bloggers like me meekly sit at the last rows (sad but true). But I feel grateful for the experience to witness the progression of (mainstream) Malaysian fashion scene. I'm not sure which direction it's heading to, but frankly it is going somewhere. At least away from the bridal fashion catering to new-moneyed Datins, smothering Raya peplums that we all know a bit too well (even my mum has outgrown that style in the 60's) or some garishly designed costumes suited for first year fashion student assignment. Thankfully the first shows include the ones who are paving their ways into fashion stardom and quite safely to say, has grown their group of cult followers...

Introducing: Chiyo

KL Fashion Week 2014 organised a pop-up store at Parkamaya, Fahrenheit 88 and as I was perusing the clothing on display and genuinely admired the über-cute and quirky designs, that look like something that come from a Japanese/Thai/South Korean designer for an untrained eye, when a girl appeared. It was a serendipitous occurrence as I wasn't expecting anyone so kind to walk me through the collection. Turned out that I was speaking to Chiyo designer herself, Isabel Lam. The label Chiyo is her brainchild (the name came from Isabel's Chinese name 'Chi Yoi', and as she's heavily influenced by Japanese fashion, she decided to make it Chiyo which means 'thousands of generations/ everlasting' in Japanese).

Ever Rêve and batik paintings

Bombarding the blog with my own outfit posts and less on designer highlights has made Dunia Fashyon a bit of all-about-me outlet but rest assured, that is not the case after I received an e-mail from a London-based Swedish designer Michelle Urvall Nyren introducing her clothing label Ever Rêve. I was intrigued upon seeing the snippets of her collection images in the email and somehow was keen to delve deeper into understanding the brand.

Givenchy pre-fall 2013

Did we mention that we also visited Givenchy's showroom during our previous Parisian trip? But unfortunately the PR girl was quite strict about me photographing the men's collection, making sure that I was hush-hush about next season's pieces. I waited anxiously until she revealed the women's ready to wear collection for pre-fall. Finally I managed to muster the much needed confidence (well, after seeing people around me taking pictures with their smart phones, that is) and started snapping the photos of that beautiful collection. Turned out that photography was actually allowed, but I was firmly warned not to release the images prematurely. Now that summer is coming to an end, I think it is appropriate to publish the images. Plus other major websites have the images up and running, so I hope I did not commit any copyright infringement of some sort...

H&M Autumn Collection 2013

I was honored to be invited by the H&M Malaysia team to the recent press preview of their Autumn collection 2013. Held in the majestic Tudor Revival architure style hotel Carcosa Seri Negara the clothes presented are divided into men's and women's sections. 

After a short mingling around session the guests (who range from the mainstream media - I spotted NTV7 crew and staff from a local fashion publication - to the more independently based blogs like Tongue in Chic with their editor Claudia Low present, plus the artistic Nini Marini in attendance as well, among others) were introduced to a line-up of male and female models parading the latest H&M offerings.

Zakwan Anuar Fall Winter 2013 Presentation

I had no expectation set upon attending Zakwan Anuar Fall/ Winter 2013 show last Wednesday. I came to support a former staff who is now working as part of the design team; and I was invited by Jiman Casablancas, a cool PR guy who I have known over the years through several exchanging of interesting conversations we had at parties and events around town. Hafidz enlightened me just before the show (through phone call as he was in Malacca at work) that his previous collection was all about houndstooth check and beautiful brocade incorporated into very clean shift dresses or offered as separates. How enticing!

This girl is on fire!

For once, someone posed for my camera! (I didn't exactly ask the subject to pose, or whatever). Or maybe she is generally gazing at the other horde of photographers in front of her? LOL. That being said, I think my DSLR lens is not powerful enough to capture such a detailed outfit from a distance. I'm literally broke now so a new lens has to wait - remember, I splurge on fashion, skimp on food and gadgets!

Words and images and by Hafidzudin Zainal

The Sandwich Bag: WANT or SHAN'T?

It was love at first sight. 

Since being introduced on the runway last January I can’t stop thinking about the clutch. My ‘accountant–self' has been battling hard with my ‘fashion-slave' other half as I'm trying to justify the rationale behind acquiring what could be the “most expensive paper bag in the world” (The  Telegraph/ British Vogue).

Jil Sander Fall Winter 2012 fashion show.
image source: nowfashion.com

Dior Spring Summer 2013 review (Part II)

Paris is reviving 'profusely' and it has been that way for the past few seasons now. The appointment of Olivier Theyskens at Theory, the holy reincarnation of brands: Schiaparelli, Vionnet (although it’s based in Italy now) and luxury baggage maker, Moynat. The revival peaked a new high when recently Raf Simons and Hedi Slimane were brought in to take over the helms of what now are the two most prestigious couture house in Paris: Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent; respectively.

The uber handsome, Mr. Raf Simons and the stunning beauty, Ms. Leelee Sobieski backstage after the show.

(Raf is wearing a 1996 Helmut Lang denim jacket and Gaia in one of his 1st Dior Haute Couture Fall 2012 look)

image source: Zimbio.com

Overall receptions are mostly positive and the anticipation is high this season for these two designers to belt out their first ever prêt-à-porter collection for these workshops. Perhaps in an effort to ‘over-creating’ a hype, some press pulled a theatrical rivalry drama between these two designers with some even referred this as the ‘Clash Of The Titans’ (WWD) which I found to be rather over-dramatic.

But then again, how often do you get two ‘neighboring’ ateliers (both located in the same 8^th arrondissement in Paris, few blocks away from each other) having major creative replacement occurring at the same time? What's more interesting, both Raf (Belgium-born; 12^th January 1968) and Hedi (Paris-born; 5^th July 1968) are 44 years old this year and achieved first major success in menswear with Raf Simons through his own eponymous brand and Hedi Slimane as the very first designer at the helm of Dior Homme.

Receptions and reviews were mixed in regards to Raf Simons RTW debut at Dior yesterday. Those unhappy ones expected Raf to go beyond the unfathomed of even maybe omitting all the essence and DNA of Dior to come up with a collection to be seen as fresh and new (don’t we all have Mugler for this experiment?). They regarded the collection as ‘uptight’ and affixed to the heritage lacking revolutionary looks.