Fashion Style From An Amateur Démodé

I was only ten years old when I first learnt about fashion style after watching The Devil Wears Prada. Out of the blue, all I wanted was to be a fashion designer, or working in the fashion industry, at least. I guess I was too ambitious, well, I still am. In any case, the movie indirectly made me want to have many clothes despite not knowing what fashion style suited me.

When I rewatched The Devil Wears Prada recently, I realised fashion isn’t about the luxurious brands we wear and would like to consume. But rather, it is how we make ourselves presentable besides maintaining social decorum.

As one of the lines in The Devil Wears Prada: “Fashion is not about utility. An accessory is merely a piece of iconography used to express individual identity.“

DOUG, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

Fashion Icon: Barbie And Her Fashion Style

I bet our childhood memories are very much alike because I grew up playing dress-up on barbie.com. Well, it didn’t end there because eventually, I ended up with a nice collection of Barbie dolls in various outfits. My parents must have had a headache most of the time, dealing with my craze over Barbie. Sigh, I feel bad now. In all seriousness, I am certain I had a good time being a kid.

Other than inspiring me to wear nice clothes, Barbie made me fall in love with the colour pink. Oh well, who is Barbie without her signature pink? I think Barbie plays an important role in imparting fashion styles, especially to young girls. Indisputably, Barbie has always been a fashion icon and inspiration in the fashion industry. Before the brands ZARA, H&M and Brands Outlet existed in my life, Barbie had taught me how to dress up.

Fashion Style: Am I A Minimalist?

If you could describe your sense of fashion in a word, what would it be? Among the various fashion styles, mine would be minimalist. Simple, plain and effortless are three main characteristics that I look for in apparels. I have five peach coloured blouses with a similar pattern, folded neatly in my wardrobe. To me, a minimalist style of dressing up saves me time when getting dressed. I don’t have to worry about what to wear on any given day.

I wholeheartedly love the idea of less is more as introduced by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The lesser we invest in material goods, the calmer we get because we don’t have to commit for extra bills or unnecessary additional expenses. Living an average life helps us to focus more on the basic things hence making us humble and contented. We get to live life the way it is, as we will appreciate our surroundings even more.

I very much don’t think the supposedly simple work is simpler in quality. If anything, it’s perhaps more complex in quality.

DONALD JUDD, AMERICAN ARTIST ASSOCIATED WITH MINIMALISM

Pastel Colours In Fashion Style

In the fifteenth century, pastels were introduced as an art medium used by Leonardo da Vinci. The word pastel is derived from the Latin word pastellus, which means paste. In 1662, the French shortened the word to pastel. However, pastel truly came to its own only during the eighteenth century. The medium became fashionable when it comes to portrait painting. Previously though Sir Richard Colt Hoare (1758-1838), considered pastel unappealing.

All this while, I’ve been interpreting pastel as pastel colours when they are not. Pastel is an art medium, while pastel colours are less saturated colours. Lavender, mint green and baby blue are common pastels that we often see. I am always fond of pastel colours because I find them calming and soothing. Not to mention that colours also influence our emotions, behaviours and perceptions indirectly.

Based on the research conducted by psychologist, Angela Wright, she concluded that colour-derived emotions affect people differently. How colours affect our psychology is very subjective, as there are variations of meanings and perceptions between different cultures.

Cluelessness Leads One To Overspend

We have dozens of clothes, heels and trainers but do we actually wear them all on a regular basis? Consciously, we don’t. In fact, we love wearing certain outfits over others repetitively although we find that they are boring too, sometimes. That’s because we have grown too comfortable with our fashion styles and we feel confident in it.

There are days when we feel as if we don’t have anything to wear. However, the reality is that there are already numerous outfits in our wardrobe waiting to be debuted to the public. Ironically, we buy things just because they look appealing despite doubting if we ever look good in them. The truth is that we don’t want to risk regretting not buying them. Rather than risk the guilty feeling for not buying, we often give in to our impulses.

The most likely reason why we don’t wear our new clothes is because our wardrobe and lifestyle are mismatched. Not that we are concerned with how extravagant in our fashion style, everyone has to know their perfect fashion style. With the hope that we won’t get ourselves involved in impulsive buying anymore.

Simple Yet Trendy When Dressed Up

There is a variety of international or local clothing brands that we can choose from. But what is the most important element to consider before buying new clothes? Is it the rare design, type of fabrics used or even the price? As for myself, the colours come first and everything else comes second. Jokes aside, of course, I peep on the price tag first before I decide to try them on!

One of the attributes that matters the most to me is none other than simplicity. I honestly think that brands can never make us look stylish if we don’t know the basic rules of dressing up. For instance, don’t wear too many prints at one time or you’ll end up looking like a clown. First impression lasts forever, therefore, invest more time in preparing yourself before you meet someone you don’t know for the first time. Fashion isn’t always about being rare and different from others. It is more than that. Putting on your biggest smile will instantly make you more attractive than merely dressing up.

Support The Local Economy By Supporting The Small And Medium Entreprises

It requires a lot of patience, efforts and time to start a clothing brand especially if you come from a non-business background. However, the word give up never existed in Puan Noramira binti Basri’s life. The founder of Anasri was an engineer by profession, but she decided to pursue her passion to start an online business.

Every little step counts albeit having to start from scratch. Puan Amira is aware how fast-moving the industry is. Within the growing fashion industry in Malaysia, she knew, standing out from other fashion retailers is a must. That’s when she came up with crop kurung top, and it has been their best selling product ever since. The key elements she embraces in her fashion styles are simple, trendy and comfortable.

In her view, wearing comfortable clothes is crucial because we need to be comfortable when moving around. Anasri pays attention to the type of fabrics used considering the tropical climate in Malaysia. The ideal clothing with ‘less is more’ kind of style can be found in Anasri. They have a physical store in Setia Alam, Shah Alam, Selangor. But fret not, if your place is not nearby, you can always purchase through their website. You can follow them on Instagram and Facebook for more updates.

However, if you are old-school and love traditional clothes, head over to this article about songket to give you more insight.