The future is creeping up on me slowly.

Graduation is nearing. I have but 4 weeks left. Projects deadlines and exams are all nearing. But while I'm trying to catch up on all of that, one harsh fact is creeping in on me too: what to do after graduation?

If you remember, I'm under a contract with e2i. That's how I get my subsidized school fees and my monthly allowances. But the other part of the contract is working in the Singapore fashion industry for a year upon graduation. It doesn't state that I have to work full time or part time. But this mean I have a very wide range of options. Now the question is, what should I do to ensure that this is one year efficiently and effectively spent on a job that will move me a step forward in my quest to reaching for my dream?

That is a tougher question than one might think.

The practical solutions are very tempting and easy to reach for. I can abuse the nature of the contract and find a part time job as a sales girl. Ok that is a really stupid choice. Just saying.

But I can just find ANY job as a fashion designer in Singapore, work one year then leave. I will definitely work a year then leave. But the problem here is, where to find a job that I can be a proper fashion designer, putting the skills I learnt to proper use? Singapore has a very small market for hiring fashion designers who design. Most of such job title will include job scopes of mixing and matching existing designs from other luxury brands, or in some very sad cases, the job scope is very similar to that of a merchandiser. I know beggars can't be choosers. I am after all a fresh grad. Who wants to manufacture my designs? Whoever do, I think they must be nuts to trust an "infant" designer and thrust hundreds and thousands dollars into manufacturing something that may or may not sell. I'm not saying my designs are lousy. But it's just a logical reasoning from a business perspective. I have a Bachelor in Management so my mind isn't as ignorant (or living "in the clouds" for that matter). I know and I understand the business concerns of a company - to make profit!

Ok I'm getting too far from my topic. Basically, what and where to find a job that has MINIMAL non-designer job scopes and MAXIMISE my learning curve as a designer? Ideally, I would like to work with a large established group with lots of luxury brands under their belt. Who doesn't? I don't have anything much to offer to stand out of the crowd yet. So my next-in-line ideal is to work with a local designer. A firm that is almost a one-man show. That I believe is where I could learn the most (provided I'm not hired to fulfill the roles of an admin or finance assistant).

But where to find such an opportunity?

It will be

what happened from January till now?

Well many things happened in a span of 7 months. As promised, this will be an entry full of pictures. An update from my term 2 to my current (4th and last) term.

In drafting 2, we did alot more stuff. One of which is this jumpsuit. It's my first time wearing one. We all had a huge laugh about the hoodie cos it's so big!

And then it was this dress below. I forgot what It was called. But the tiny capped sleeves is so cute. The point of this class was to learn to draft (and of course sew) a placket. It's always wonderful to learn new stuff from our lecturer Arzelle. She is new. But she is so lovely. Soft spoken but her presence commands discipline and strictness. It's odd how she did that. But she is always so keen to teach us. It seemed almost impossible to make her angry! Haha! Paula (our drafting 1 teacher) is equally lovely and fun to learn from. But she does get angry! Arzelle, no one seem to be able to piss her off! HAHA!

 Then in sewing 2, we did men's shirt. Oh the tedious process of aligning the (not just one or two) lines on the fabric before we cut our pattern pieces! This further affirms my dislike for stripes. But the end product is neat. Out of style of course. Haha.

And this is my favourite! My blouse from my final project in Draping 2. Reason why I love it is cos the Japanese floral fabric I found! The floral motifs on Japanese fabrics are the MOST gorgeous. A pity I used such an expensive fabric on just a school project. But it makes me smile everytime I see this blouse. (PS: I got an A from draping 2. hehe)

Oh my nightmare! Drafting 2 final project. We had to make a suit for ourselves. My colour choice turns out to be such a joke. A CIRCUS OUTFIT! Alia and I had a good laugh over this. But the crepe was very nice to work with. Only that it frays ALOT. So the cutting process is tedious even with the jagged scissors (I forgot the proper name for that scissors suddenly). But I definitely learn a precious lesson about my design choice. NO MORE STARK COLOUR CONTRAST. At least not used in so many areas like this.

I got my hair cut! Now it has grew longer. This hair cut was back in April or May? I'm not sure. Anyway I'm too lazy to blow dry my hair like this everyday so you can never see such a nice bob on me. This was taken straight after my salon trip. Hehe. I got good feedback about this length. People say I look younger - or actually MORE like my age. But I miss my long hair. I'm growing them back now!

And in term 3, I took up an additional course at Lasalle. It's weekly night classes to learn fashion illustration. My lecturer is a good teacher. A pity I don't have much time to practice what I learnt so my improvements are very minimal. Below is my first self portrait. Haha. I don't know what to make of it!

One of my better works: shoes. The one on the left is actual proportion. And the one on the right is an exaggerated one. I learnt the art of exaggeration! It makes fashion figures (and clothes/accessories) looks good! My shading technique (taught by my dad back when I was 10) is still the only technique I'm good in.

The following is the first T-shirt I designed in my apprenticeship at OP! This is done in illustrator when I knew NOTHING about drawing on illustrator. I was still in the process of self-teaching when I did this drawing. Took me a day to get it done cos I paid attention to every detail on the bridge! Anyway I only discovered this shirt 3 months after it hit the racks. I heard it was selling well! Woots!

And colour theory in term 3. Working with gouche is a pain in the ass. The cyan and the white refuse to cooperate with me no matter how many tubes I buy.

And the texturing we had to do. This is one of them. Guess how I did the white strokes? By slapping feathers onto the paper. Yep. SLAPPING. Haha. I titled this the winter lake. It feels soothing to look at.

And in my attempt to do some drafting/sewing on my own, I tried to make a peplum top for myself. And look at the disaster. An ill-fitted spacesuit. Lesson learnt: DON'T add too much lining. I went overboard with my facing and lining.

 I have a love hate relationship with garment and composition. First of all, I got the strictest teacher teaching this subject. And my friends who had taken this subject, all struggled. They scored between 50-70 but never hitting 70. And it seems pretty easy to fail. So I was terrified. I tried to follow whatever my teacher asked for. And first assignment i got a 58. By the time I had to do my 2nd and 3rd assignment, I was getting pissed with it. I hate the tedious process and how detailed I have to be! I started ignoring all the proportions by comparison. I started to go with my eyes, by my judgements. And guess what? I shoot up to 74 and followed by an 80! I was shocked! My work was photocopied to be share with my class. I WAS BEAMING WITH JOY! in my 20+ years of education, my work had NEVER been the good piece of work that the teacher would show the class. It's still not perfect of course. But I guess I have a natural flair in judging the clothes proportions and what goes where.

BUT I HATE GARMENT AND COMPOSITION. Yet I'm doing well in it. Perhaps I need to hate the things I do in order to do well in it. *shrugs*