Prints Prints Prints!

During my one-year long internship while studying at Raffles, I had to learn to use Adobe Illustrator by myself and create prints and designs with it. Slowly, I grew addicted to it. I began to brush up my skills on drawing vector images and creating repeating prints. What I love most is making a repeated print look non-repetitive. My pride comes when first look tell you it is a repeated print but your eyes can't seem to find where is the repeated print and how it is repeated.

The following are some prints I created for some clients at work. These are the works I'm really proud of because I drew the original print myself. I never liked downloading vector images to use as a print. I will take inspiration from certain images and start drawing them myself.

Getting the stars out of my eyes

The year 2014 has ended since My last post. Certainly things has changed quite abit. Time does that to everything.

I for one has lost abit of my starry-eye love for fashion. Don't get me wrong. I still love fashion and designing. But the ambition, the hope, the never-ending thirst, and the burning desire has faded quite abit. It's hard not to get jaded in this small island where young talents are not given chances to shine and people only pay attention the fashion when it involves big names like LV and Chanel. How many people even know the brain behind the recent gorgeous collection from Dior came from a guy called Raf Simons? Or that Karl Lagerfeld (a well respected name in the industry) helms both Chanel and Fendi? Nah. Here in Singapore, people only care about the monogram bags, with LV plastered all over, that shout out "hey I have an LV and I'm rich".

Thus is the superficial country I live in. Truly rich people do not flaunt their wealth in this way. But it is those who falls short of being filthy rich, are the ones who are so desperate to flaunt what they have.

Anyway, I still haven't lost my desire to do what I love. But the fire that burns so wildly has since been extinguished a little. My daring dream of wanting to be a couture designer will remain a fantasy to be relished in my sleep.

A lost sheep

To be entirely honest, I've been stuck in a designer's block for a very long time.

My hands are not working in sync with my brain. And my brain is almost blank.

And since my last flea market attempt for MerrowDream, I have been stuck thinking about how to revamp. I had this grand idea of making MerrowDream a fabric accessories shop. But reality hit me hard. Most consumers can't appreciate the quality materials I use. My products aren't unique enough. My stuff aren't attractive and cheap enough. Blah Blah Blah. I learnt so much from just one flea. I know I had to revamp.

But do what?

I'm stuck honestly. I had countless ideas flashing through my mind initially(more than a month ago). But I have countless more reasons to shoot them down. I now understand why some creative people say we are our own enemy. We seek for a perfection that cannot be achieved. The expectations I set for myself are unattainably high.

And to be entirely honest, I'm overly ambitious in wanting to try EVERYTHING. There seem to be an endless stretch to the list of things I want to try to do. Anything related to creative DIY - I want to try. But there is only so much time that I have.

Work is slowly eating me up. It's slowly stripping off my adrenaline push to achieve, achieve and achieve. I began to sink in to the repetitive daily cycles of waking up at 7.30, going to work, have my lunch, continue to work, end work at 6 or work some overtime, go home, eat dinner, rest and then sleep. And the next day the cycle repeats.

Where is the motivated and driven Ariel? I'm not just stuck in a block (my creative juices are not flowing), I'm beginning to lose myself.

I need to get away and find myself once more.

Quite an eccentric post.

Sitting in the middle of a dark living room with your earpiece plugged into your ear, listening (try A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay) to the tracks playing from your phone - oddly that is super peaceful and comforting.

Why did I never try this earlier?

It is just another night.  All lights out by 11pm. Everyone tucked in their beds. And me still up and about in my room. Just that today im not. I'm doing the above.

For awhile, I had so much questions and thoughts running around in my head. Many of them are without answers or directions to finding out the answers. And on this "special" night (it's not really special. Just another night really), I began to hear the answers. I'm not going crazy or becoming psychic. That would be great but no I did not. I just had my once-a-while dose of a great conversation that works two-ways and also became very thought-provoking.

There are not many people in this world that can give me this once-a-while dose - I think I can count them with just the fingers from one hand. So when the stars aligned (or when the blue moon comes up), I'm in an extremely good mood.

Ok enough of the bush beating.

I have a slightly clearer view of the route I can take down this path towards my dream. Well, firstly, I should continue honing my skills in Illustrator and Photoshop. Apparently (*gasp*) there are not many people good in these 2 softwares, especially in the fashion design area. My control-and-detail-freak self sort of complement my strength in these 2 areas.

Secondly, I'm going to enlist the help of the almighty Youtube to learn to screenprint with the emulsion technique. That will greatly benefit me in my work for my business (or at least my entrepreneurial attempt) Merrow Dream.

Then, I should start looking into what I can sacrifice to get myself one step closer to saving up for a bold move that I had been thinking about - interning in a fashion brand in New York while working another part time job to earn my stay there. Yep. Sumarised that in a single sentence.

Lastly, maybe pick up another skill (or language) to make myself even more indispensable (as an asset to a company). Maybe I should study colour relationships in detail. Or pick up French like I'd always wanted to.

Well that does it. First time typing in such an honest voice. You (whoever is reading this (thank you by the way)) may find that I have lots of things going on at one time as you read. But that's kind of how it goes in my brain all the time. Actually it's worse because typing it out limits what I can pen down. If you can hear my thoughts I bet you'll be screaming shut up! Haha. Hope you enjoy this messy update.

Keep your eyes peeled!

This is just a prelude.

block and screen printing addiction

Thanks to my dear friend xiu, I know of Fictive Fingers and their awesome works. I signed myself up for their screen printing class and before I knew it, I was hooked.

These days, I document most of my creative stuff via instagram so this one is taken from one of my instagram posts. (Please do follow me! arielthemerrow )

Anyway! The class was really fun and free. I don't mean FOC. But the freedom to work at our own comfortable pace, use our own designs, etc. The two owners Hani and Aisah are really sweet and helpful! They don't interfere in your decision making process - they just provide advises on the end product. "If you want it to look like this, this is how you can do it.." You know. Encouraging. I love them. That's why I went back for their block printing class.

After the screen printing class, we brought home a small kit including the stencil paper (for screen printing), rubber block and carving knife (for block printing), and a booklet introducing themselves and with pictorial guide on how to do block printing. The guide is really detailed so that you don't have to attend the class to actually learn how to block print. But, I still went for the class because I love the owners, their class and because of my believe in learning things best in person.

My mum has this belief that I strongly stand by - even though books and the internet are available, it's still best to pay some money to learn "that something" in person. She loves to cook and bake etc. So for her, even though the recipe is exactly the same, she won't be able to get it right unless she first learn it from a teacher in person. Then eventually using a few recipe to perfect her own.

Same logic here! The guide was detailed yes. But I needed to see the carving in person to actually get how it works. How to control the knife, how to carve, etc.I must say, I'm addicted to block carving. Carving on a rubber block is so easy. 

Look at my latest stash of blocks I've carved so far. I'm an amateur so my blocks are definitely more simple. But I've been printing them on fabrics and it all works out pretty fine. The only disadvantage is that my blocks are so small - it takes alot of time and effort to fill an A4 size fabric.

I've also recently tried printing my own wrapping paper. Turns out the effect is not too bad! But lesson learnt: never use normal printing paper because they tear so easily! It was so hard to wrap! (sadly, the recipient didn't seem to appreciate my work.)

This is my most recent work. Was just doodling as I watch TV. Then I came up with this design. It's for screen printing. Yes I bought my screen and squeegee from Fictive Fingers (good quality at a relatively affordable price) and a beginners' set of paint from Art Friend. It's my first attempt to screen print at home and I was over ambitious! It's so hard to control a huge piece of fabric (1m x 1m is abit too big for a beginner like me), especially to dry them. I officially consider my attempt failed. Will try again this weekend.

So keep a look out!

seven-months worth

It's been more than half a year since I joined my current workplace. People have commented how I have grown in this job, how much "smarter" I've become. I don't really have a clear idea of how much has changed so I decided on coming up with this list - my own survival list. Perhaps this list may apply to other industries too.

Ariel's Working Survival List

1. Take note of what you do every single day.

This may sound pretty stupid. But it's important. Let's say your boss is mostly not around (which is so in my case), she might ask for a weekly report from you and your fellow colleagues. So in this case, you already keep track of what you do daily. But some circumstances may require to record even more detailed (hourly tracking). Whether is it mandatory, such reports are actually your personal insurance in the office. You may never know which person in the office is not happy with you and decide to rattle to your boss that you are slacking your time off. And when you are confronted on what you were doing at a certain day (or time), you wouldn't want to be caught off-guard (especially for a forgetful person like me) and not be able to recall.

Such recording is also good to help you personally keep track what you have done over the days/weeks/months/years. You may start to feel overworked (or underworked) and thus this is when this recording becomes your useful evidence in a war between you and your boss and your HR.

2. Keep your friends close, your enemies even closer.

Everyone has at least a friend in the company. If you don't, at least be liked by someone. Try not to step on too many people's toes. Make as many people in the office love you - you may never know when you need their help. If you do make an enemy or two (or even more), don't be too openly hostile to them. The best tactic is to act as though you are their friend. It's never good to have too many enemies around you, especially if your position is all the way at the bottom of the ladder.

3. Humility is the best virtue.

Who doesn't like a humble and modest person? Unless it's fake of course. No matter what your position is, where your authority stretches to, it's always good to maintain the basic humility. People tend to be "softer" to other humble and polite human beings. Just like animals, if the other party is a threat to us, we will wear our armor and our spikes. Thus, it's best to be humble and polite - respect the seniors, your fellow colleagues, your supervisors, etc. A person with good manners is liked every where and this will help in the above point 2 that I mention. For a newbie like me, this is the best trait to have (if you are sincere) - seniors will be willing to teach you precious lessons that took them years to learn.

4. Do not simply follow the crowd.

5. Blend in.

Ok the above two points are related, and not at all contradicting. I shall explain why.

Every company has its pre-existing set of working ethics and style. Some hasn't been changed in years, so as a result, the way of working has become inefficient and may even be causing the company some damage. When it is obvious the methods of working (or recording or whatever for that matter) is not efficient and is causing attrition in the company, voice out. Do not skip levels of authorities and go straight up to the biggest boss. Speak to your super first, if all else fail then approach the boss.

However, keep in mind to blend into the company culture first. Every company has its own unique culture. So take note of the culture, learn and then blend in. Do not stick out like a giraffe standing among the rhinos. Blend in first, be one of them. Then if the need comes to voice out concerns regarding work processes, it will be easier to get your point across. People wouldn't think that you, a new-comer, is trying to flip the entire office upside down. They wouldn't see you as a threat, and thus it will be easier to get your message across and easier to get it accepted.

It has never occurred to me that these points I mentioned above are important. Though this isn't my first job, it is the first job I really cared about. So these lessons are all the more important to me. I'm not a saint so I do make mistakes. But considering how badly some of my previous jobs had went (by the time the half-year mark has reached), I think I've risen up pretty well in the past 7 months over here.

all I needed was this inspiring push.

Last week before I left on my holiday trip, I attended a seminar hosted by Her World & herworldPLUS - How to make it in fashion. It was held in conjunction with the Asian Fashion Summit at Suntec's newly renovated Conference Halls. To be honest, I signed up for it on impulse - I was reading the article "9 tips that all aspiring fashion designers should know" and found out there was this really affordable seminar (a mere $15 as compared to the other conferences costing from $149 to $449). So I went for it.

I was expecting the talk to cover stuff about what young designers should expect (no glamorous red carpet but hours of sweating through the night with hardly any sleep) and how to survive in it. On the contrary, it was mostly about e-commerce and what you have to do when you first started out.

I shall pick out some golden advice I took from the four speakers and share them here.

The first speaker was Debra Langley (CEO and Founder of Inverted Edge). One thing she kept emphasising was not be afraid to fail. When you fail, learn from your mistake, pick yourself up and try again. You can keep failing - it's fine as long as you don't make the same mistakes. She kept failing when she first started out, but every time she fail, she failed with a different mistake.

Planning is one thing she feels that a lot of designers these days fail to do. Business plan, merchandise plan, marketing plan, logistics plan, etc. It may sound easy, but many people failed to do so. When you don't have a plan, the business is fragile and hard to succeed. It will be very hard to retain your customers because (for example) they do not know what your company's identity is, when will your new collection be launched, how fast can they get the new arrivals once it's launched. I made this mistake myself many years ago when I tried a small online venture. I launched everything at one go, and never launch anything new for months while I continue to try to market my stuff.

The second speaker Pamela Wigglesworth caught our attention with her interesting real-life examples. We all know that social media is important in today's business world. But I didn't know just how important it is. Taken from her article on her blog, this was what she said at the seminar too - there is 1.19 billion active monthly Facebook users. Look at the numbers carefully. 1.19 billion active monthly Facebook users. That is how much customers we can reach out via Facebook!

It's very important to keep the conversation going. The conversation that Pamela speaks about is the "conversation" between you and your customer. This conversation is important as it helps to pull old customers back into your store, reminds them of your existence, etc. This may not come as a new piece of information but I'm sure many of us neglect this. We are all so eager to attract customers into our store, but we all forget about customer retention and also making them come back for more.

Thomas Tan was so excited even before the seminar starts. As he was chatting to other attendees before the seminar start, his high-pitched voice rang across the room and infected everyone with his excitement. He is a very jolly speaker. He shared his personal experiences when he first graduated and try to find his way around before finally becoming a mentor at TaFf. He brought up a very good point - when you graduated from the Fashion Design Diploma or Degree, you don't necessarily have to be a fashion designer. There are many other ways to work in the Fashion industry. Like he shared, there are some students who are excellent drafters or drapers or seamstress. The lecturers could see that too. But such rare talents became lost in the sea of thousands of fashion graduates (yearly) when they graduate just wanting to be a fashion designer with their own label.

Priscilla Shunmugam (founder and designer of Ong Shunmugam) came in halfway through the seminar looking jet-lagged. That's because she just had her first solo runway the night before at Audi Fashion Week 2014. While fighting her fatigue (she was surviving on 2 hours of sleep every night for many many nights), she shared her stories of how she started off. She managed to return the money she borrowed from her friends (to buy fabrics to start making dresses to sell) within 9 months and began making profit in 11 months. It is an impressive feat. She fought off comments from the audience that her success came with luck. It came with sacrifices (social life, job, etc), plenty of research and in my opinion, quite some natural talent in tailoring.

So as you can see, it's quite unexpected and really inspiring. I'll be looking out for more workshops/seminars of similar nature because this is really the best way to learn new knowledge from the professionals or people in that industry who has been there done that.

My first work trip to HK!

It's April next week.

I'm officially 4 months into my job. The dreamy happiness of a new job is starting to wear off! But I'm still grateful and happy about my job. I must remind myself to be thankful for a job that has so much opportunities to grow and to learn. Because in the midst of being overwhelmed with work load, I tend to forget how lucky I am.

Ok I dont know how photo posting works on a mobile app. Maybe the photos will all appear at the end of the page. Haha.

I hopped off a midnight flight to Hong Kong the week before my birthday. Due to a big project,  the trip was brought forward and I had the lucky opportunity to tag along! You can imagine how happy I was. Two main reasons for that. One, that's my first trip to the  bustling city known to be very expensive to live in! Two, I finally get to go on a work trip and learn all about the fabric/accessories/supplier sourcing in Hong Kong!

The trip is exhausting. We barely slept on a 1am flight with a baby crying all night. Then it was 3days of walking, lugging a luggage full of samples, searching and finding stuff. Then at night was another round of walking. This time it's for leisure. Their food is so awesome too! So much better than the ones in sg that call themselves "Hong Kong cafe". Then on the 4th day we take another early morning flight at 5am and arrive back at noon to head right back to office. Gosh. So hectic! Fun for the first time but maybe not as great the next time.

I've been taking up more responsibilities in office, going out to meet more clients, etc. The work nature is slowly changing. But sadly, my working environment is changing too. The changes are not very welcoming. Oh wells, that's expected. That's why I never want to be a boss of my own brand in the future. If my dream ever come true that is! ;)

Time really flies when I'm enjoying myself.

It's been 2months plus since I joined the company. Work hasn't been entirely smooth, but I think I'm fitting in very well. Much better than I did during my 8mth stint in my first job. Urgh. I still shudder at the thought of that place.

Anyway! My probation is going to end soon! Yippee! Means that my OT finally gets to be exchanged for time off. Haha. That's the only perk for me to look forward to ending my probation. Don't get me wrong. There aren't any reason not to look forward to the end of the probation. Haha.

The people in this company are the nicest I have met. They have the most adorable old working people, cutest hr/accounts, most hardworking and humble Chinese (I mean the people from China), and the most understanding and reasonable boss. The working environment is very learning-friendly. And I think there is almost no office politics at all. Working life couldn't be any better. I don't even dread Monday,  beside the fact that I can't go shopping or laze around at home. Time passes so fast the moment I step into office. And even though my job is pretty brain-draining, I don't feel 100% drained in all aspects. I can skip hop and jump in office haha. I think I may seem like a mad women. Hahaha.

But of course my work has it's challenges. There are external people who can be such idiots/bitches sometimes. The software may not be entirely obedient as well. And my projects are not without twists and turns. Nevertheless, I love my job and my workplace. It isn't the 100% perfect dream job of course. But it's the closest I think I can ever find. Even with my cannot-stay-still character,  I think I may be able to stay in the company for quite awhile. Let's not say how long. But it's definitely going to be longer than I'd expected.

And now my ride begins

This post was meant to be posted in early November. But I was caught up in waves and waves of meetings, interviews, etc. Now I finally sat down to finish up this post properly and with some photos too!

The past 2 months had been pretty well spent. I finished school by mid September. Was involved in the Fide Fashion Weeks for 2 weeks. And my personal life had seen quite some ups and downs. Not forgetting we are yet to start preparing for the exhibition taking place at our graduation in December.

There is a change in the school planning of their term breaks. Now students have 2 weeks. Which meant that they all have 1 week less of school to prepare for their final project. I was caught in this change in my last and final term. It was a mad rush churning out my final project for Garment and Composition module. On the eve/day of submission, I worked till 4am, slept an hour or so and woke up to rush it out by 7am before I rushed to school to have it scanned and submitted before our exam at 9am. I never had to work like this before. And I must say my parents were so shock to see the way I worked. Till this day, I still get comments like "if only you'd study this hard for your degree...". Haha. It was so funny. Even when my dear friend mel saw me working on technical flats (an assignment my interviewer gave me), she said "I have never seen you so focused when we studied together!!!". Ok im enjoying this shock from my friends and family. Cos it meant that they could see what this mean to me (:

A few weeks later I went on a short shopping trip to Bangkok with my family. And when I came back, I found out I had the opportunity to volunteer for the Fide Fashion Weeks. And the best part of it was my role - Liason Officer. Basically I welcome the designers and VIPs at MBS hotel,  and facilitate in their movement between the hotel and the event hall on their first day. I made sure they follow their schedule and turn up for their interviews and fittings. I was overjoyed to be interacting with these designers first hand!

I met the shy Burkman Brothers with their cute model friend Frank!

Michael Cinco was the most humble yet funny designer whose clothes were even more terrific than the designer himself. 

The legendary Kenzo Takada has a very charismatic qaura who never fail to smile at silly fanatics like us wanting a photo with him. 

Madame Guo Pei had the largest entourage of assistants and models with her upon her arrival and the longest show (2hrs) of jaw-dropping outfits. The following are some of my favourite looks. I added videos of every single outfit on my instagram!

Sebastian Gunawan is the most good looking designer who has an equally gorgeous collection of dresses. Not forgetting his beautiful niece who is pleasant both in her looks and her character.

And the loveliest old lady I've ever met. She is 60+ years old I heard. Given her age, she moves really slowly and always carry a smile on her face. Whenever anyone greeted her, she will stand up and walk towards him and shake his hand. She may not understand a single word of English yet she will smile and nod at you. Everyone is humbled at her presence. And she is present for every show during her stay in Singapore. So humble and so respectful of everyone. Mind you, she is one of the best wedding designers I've seen and one of the first in Japan! Her personal assistant (an old man who seem as old as her) is always around to make sure she is ok and he is just as polite as she is. She is definitely one of my favourite person at the show.

There are so many more cool designers I've met over the 12days at the event. On Aura tu Vu. Lie Sang Bong. Students from Atelier Chardon Savard. And many many more.

 

I also had the honour of meeting and working other awesome people such as Daniel Buoy and his team, the Japanese "feather lady", etc. And then, as always, there are divas amongst some famous names. I was so disappointed by one of my favorite designers. But overall it was definitely an eye-opening exposure to the industry and many up-close experience of the amazing couture clothes.

Graduation will be happening at 10 December for me. Unlike the advance diploma students, me and my fellow coursemates will have our own exhibition on graduation day. We have been working on the proposal for more than a month already. Not that it was constantly rejected, but they kept asking for more details. So now with less than 3 weeks to the event, our designs are still not approved. I wonder how are we going to come up with the looks by then. Perhaps a miracle would be helpful. 

I started searching for job back in early September. Back then I wasn't super proactive because the deadlines of the final projects were pressing more urgently. But since then, I had been sending out countless resumes and had a few interviews. Some were fine. But I went for some which only left me feeling shit when I stepped out of the office. I was demoralised and had lost most of my confidence in my own skills. Because of the minimum pay that e2i is insisting on, I had a hard time because many local companies are too small scale to afford to pay me that amount. I think I could have easily sent out 30+ resumes.

Finally last week, I got myself a job! As of December, I'm going to be a fashion designer at Moda Ling Pte Ltd. They are an established company dealing with corporate uniforms - mostly hotels. One of the best part is that I'm going to be dealing with Optitex - a new auto-cad software they bought recently. Another perk is that the office is a half an hour trip from home! Ok more about my job another time. Till then!

Freedom marked by works!

I'm finally done with school (again). Haha. But this time the ecstatic feeling is different. It's the feeling of empowerment. Im finally qualified to be a designer. I finally have sufficient knowledge to start a label if I want to.

And of course, what better way to mark my finale than to sew! Spotlight was having their annversary sales. I found 2 gorgeous fabrics which I used to make a blouse and an envelope clutch!

This fabric print is so apt! Birds = freedom. Oh after almost half a year of not drafting, I made many mistakes in this one. Forgot to take in my armhole. I only realised that when I finished the garment. So to salvage the situation in the best way I could, I just lower the armhole by 2cm and try to ease it in. Don't learn. Haha. I can fit my arm in comfortably now but it's still not the best fit. You can see how the fabric is stretching above the bust area. And the next mistake I made: added too much ease at the hip! well I wanted it to be loosely fitted. But I went abit too far. Haha. But I usually wear a sleeveless garment with a jacket so it ain't so bad. Still looks presentable when I wore it with my blue blazer!

And my next work: an envelop clutch. I was so proud of this one. I did it all in 6 hours. It's fully lined and faced on both lining and outer casing. Still it does not have enough structure to it. But I love it. And many people have been complimenting it! Woots!

Well I was planning to practice my drawing that day but the inspiration came! And I just draft and sew the entire day! Couldn't stop! Haha.

Preparation have started for our graduation exhibition in December. I'M JUST SO EXCITED!!! For all who are interested, it's going to be on December 10th. Mark your calendar!

Life at three distinct points.

*Updated with trailers from Youtube.

Before Sunrise.

Before Sunset.

Before Midnight.

These three movies was made (coincidentally or not) 9 years apart. And they all reflect the characters' lives at different points of their lives.

I started my holiday and my freedom by watching them.

The first was a chanced encounter leading to a romantic night in Vienna. The second was finding each other again at a much more mature age. The last was being married with twins and starting to get disappointed in life or with each other.

I love how all three movies are not eventful. But just alot of conversations and talking. The story plot and their lives in between the movies were revealed in their conversations. I love how their thoughts were so well thought out, and how they seem to be able to coexist and connect at such a profound level. It made me realise that our lives could be just like that. We started out in the early twenties with so much hope about our future and such wild dreams. Then as we reach our thirties,  we realise life is much more complicated than that and that life doesn't seem to be turning out the way we want it to be. And when we are in the forties with kids and family,  we find ourselves disappointed with how life has lead us to this point where non of our dreams are fulfilled. Life turns out to be much more difficult and time consuming than we thought. And we never achieved what we set out to (or not to) achieve. Ultimately we reach a stage where we eventually realise that's life! Imperfect. But we do the best we could out of it!

I would watch all 3 movies again. Because the characters speak of how I am now (at the first movie). Always thinking about so many things, bothered by so many unimportant things. And eventually many years later I would look back and laughed at how silly I was. I love this particular quote from the movie, about how romance is totally not important. What tides us through time till our last breath is our friends and family.

Oh and I definitely see how twisted our female minds can be when we are so caught up in the world we thought we see but is actually nothing but our stupid guesses and assumptions. Haha!

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*