A journal of a(nother) fashion student who is somehow infatuated with weird/kooky/beautiful in their own ways sort of things. Not your usual kind of aesthetics.
I honestly expected to see a bigger exhibition. Nevertheless, I did find some interesting installations.
We went here as a make-up class for Portfolio Development with Jay. It was located at F1 Pit Building by the Singapore Flyer. A cool place, really, I could see the F1 track.
This one was my favorite. This company was making an installation on the answer for life’s problem. Being a paper company, the answers were printed on various kinds of paper - but that was not what attracted me.
As stated, the answers were, well, curious, if not straight LOL-worthy. Those were some pretty dark humor, though...
Some of the cards were also blank so visitors can write their own answers.
Another favorite of mine was an installation where the artist put resin on top of a piece of fabric. This idea could totally be adapted to clothing, tbh.
There was nothing much to say for me personally when visiting this exhibition. Some of my friends said last year was better. Perhaps that’s true. I was not even in SG last year so I can’t say. Ha ha.
There was some kind of a bazaar happening at the same building. The bazaar took 2 stories of the building. It was a huge market for small businesses (there were plenty of pieces of jewelry and fashion pieces for adults and kids. I also found an artist selling her painting and the paintings remind me of women empowerment movement.
For my first look, I decided to make what I called as the Wave Jacket. It was supposed to be a simple jacket with an edge to edge opening (no buttons) and put fabric manipulation on the bodice - layers of fabric (preferably something transparent) sewn side by side creating a 3D texture. The bottom is a simple boxy shorts.
I made the muslin sample before I left for HK and it looked like a very simple outerwear. Nothing special, really, except the texture I’d have to add on the real piece. I did drop the shoulders about 2cm so it doesn’t look so stiff and more casual.
After I came back from HK, I found jacquard fabric for the bodice and for for the sleeves and I thought the 3D texture would be too much. Therefore, I changed the opening line into a lightning bolt shape. Because it’s Bowie, you know.
I also did changes on the facing that was too small, pocket that was too small and too low, also the sleeves that were too flat.
I tried two versions for the sleeves and ended up with the second one that has more ease.
For the shorts, I used tailored pants base and widen the hem. However, I still find it too slim and it needs to be boxier. The shorts have one welt pocket at the back and two front pockets with slanted opening.
I need to open the side seam more at the bottom and I could just edit them by sewing in if they got too big.
Time to fly back to SG! We were divided into two groups and I got the earlier flight. The early group left for the airport at 11am.
My baggage was overweight by 4 kilograms but I didn’t have to pay for the extra when I checked my bags in. However, they told me that I had to put my fake fur that I wrapped in plastic bags into a box before I could check it into the odd-sized baggage. I had a tiny regret of not sparing some more energy into packing it in my suitcase with the vacuum bag, but it was too late to cry over spilled milk. I hope that’s the right proverb.
I had to take a slim roll of fabric to the cabin and got asked about it in the scanning area. The lady who checked the bags thought it was paper, I told her it was fabric. It was fine at the end, though. The people working to scan the bags looked a little puzzled but they let the thing came with me to the cabin.
All in all, I spent about SG$ 1000 to get all my fabrications and details and spent a bit more for food and little shopping for pleasure. HK left a good impression and I didn’t encounter any terrible rude behavior. Bye Hong Kong, I’ll see you again next time. Now I gotta go back for production :’)
Being the last day of fabric sourcing trip in Hong Kong, I had to finish all my shopping for good. Then again, all that was left to do were just picking up fabric deliveries, getting zippers and buttons, also some embellishments.
What I did first was getting buttons and embellishments because I forgot where the zipper shop is. The buttons I got from two places, and in both, the button drawers were from floor to ceiling (although the first shop has more - like thousands of buttons from hundreds of styles). What I did was I’d step back as far as I can - bear in mind the aisles between drawers were incredibly narrow - and scan the buttons available. They had samples displayed on the front of each clear drawer. If the drawers were up high, I’d see the button stocks from underneath (since it’s clear). It was also a good idea to not bring a big bag with me since I might knock something over at the store since there was so little space to move around.
After I got my embellishments and buttons, I proceeded to the fabric area in Sham Shui Po in case I could find some friends to show me where the zipper shop is. I did, and I found the shop, but they were closed for lunch so I went back to get some lunch myself. At this point, my budget was already at a sad stage so I just went to 7eleven (ha ha ha). Plus all those walking around the district got my pinky toe hurt so bad I didn’t bother to walk so much. I should’ve brought a pair of sandals with me, especially because HK wasn’t cold at all during the day. Oh the (small) regret.
I went to collect the last of my orders instead. Guess what, one of them got a problem! I mentioned how vendors in HK couldn't speak English very well, right? So one of them got my order wrong. I wanted a blue colored PVC but they shipped a beige colored PVC for me. Uh oh. Panic.
They said they would order again and the right fabric would come on Monday. By then I’Thinking fast, I said to them if d already be back in Singapore, though. Then I decided to ask them to ship my order to Singapore directly. I was so paranoid I made sure with the vendor I don’t know how many times, I could see she was annoyed by the end of it. Like, I was pointing at the color and saying to her, “This one, okay? Number 8, not 6!”
When I came back to the zipper shop, there were many people already and I wasn’t sure if they understand English. It would probably be better if I have everything I needed listed on a paper so they could just read. Nevertheless, I tried talking with them, and they understood. Phew.
They got rainbows of zipper colors, btw, and that was a relief for me who work a lot with “crayola” palettes.
I finished early and left Sham Shui Po around 4pm. I had made sure I got everything I needed and drop my stuff at the hotel before I went out again to use the little time I got in HK to explore.
My roommate recommended me to go to Admiralty, the MTR station a few stops away from Tsi Sha Tsui. The area was Wan Chai, and as I got outside the station (I took exit F) I sound a very trendy area. It has so many small shops of designer goods aside from art shops and lovely cafes. It looked incredibly upscale, though, and there was a lot of expats.
From Wan Chai, I decided to go and visit Mong Kok for the second time because at the beginning of the week I only went there to grab a quick dinner and didn’t explore much. Mong Kok was a lovely place. Definitely a contrast to Wan Chai, but charming on a different spectrum.
After I got satisfied with the sceneries and all the buzzing street of Mong Kok, I came back to Tsim Sha Tsui, stopping at Chungking Mansion for a little Wong Kar Wai tribute. The place was incredibly sketchy, just fyi.
I came back before midnight to my hotel room and started to pack. I packed the thinner fabrics the day before so I got the half of my suitcase fixed. The other half was supposed to be for the four fake fur fabrics I bought.
I got some vacuum bags I bought in Daiso from Singapore and I planned to use it for the fake fur. I called in the hotel’s housekeeping and asked to borrow their vacuum cleaner. The lady thought I wanted to clean my room. But nah.
There was I trying to vacuum the bag of fur. Let me tell you something, the fake fur was HEAVY. Very heavy. I had to ask my roommate to help me fold it as I was pathetically trying to tidy it up on my bed. Imagine folding 5 yards of heavy fur by yourself in a cramped room.
Anyway, the vacuum bag helped a little bit. I could’ve packed one other fur in another bag but I was too tired. It was like I just did a little exercise. I left it in doubled big plastic bags and tied scrap fabric around the bag to secure it. I was done for the night and used the vacuum cleaner to actually clean (there was fake fur hair everywhere) before leaving it outside my room.
OK YOU GUYS. FIRST THING FIRST. I GOT A FRICKIN TESLA MODEL S.
I ordered an Uber to go to Sham Shui Po because it was 11.30am already and my pinky toe was hurting so bad. I got a Tesla on Uber X. DAMN SON.
But yeah, since I had most of the fabrics I needed already, I took my time in searching for some fabrics I haven’t thought of, like lining and other not so important but also important fabrics. This is the beauty of being on schedule I seldom have the luxury to enjoy :’)
I went to PITC to get a trimming. It was expensive and if I bought 5 yards it would eat up all the budget I have left in my wallet. They had a stock of 2.5 yards piece that was ordered by a customer who never claimed it, I ended up buying just that.
The handmade trimming got the beads and pins that I thought suit the idea of David Bowie.
At 1 pm, half of the student group had to go to Woolmark Centre for a little seminar. My group was the first batch to go there and we went with Jay.
The group took the MTR together from Sham Shui Po. Before we went to the place, we stopped for a little bit at the YKK store near the station. This store has a different stock from the zipper shop at Sham Shui Po, but we have to put an order.
Nobody from my group actually bought anything from this shop, though, mostly because we didn’t want to wait for the zippers.
Alright, I should say that Woolmark Centre was really far from Sham Shui Po. It was located in AXA Tower - visible from Victoria Harbour, fyi. The area where it was located was also looking worn down - an industrial area.
On our way to AXA Tower, three people from the group got left behind and got lost. Okay, Jay was walking VERY VERY FAST. The gap between him and I was literally 2 stores away (or two parked vans). The street was also crowded, so it was easy to get lost. We waited outside AXA Tower as Jay looked for them.
When we finally got up to the Woolmark Centre, the view was amazing. A billion dollar view, for real.
My pictures couldn’t do it justice, but hopefully I could provide a good idea.
In there, they talked to us about wool. I suppose it’s pretty obvious from the name, right?
They showed us a waterproof jacket made entirely of wool that was woven very tightly. They didn’t give it any treatment to make it waterproof. There was also a wool t-shirt. It wasn’t thick and looked like a normal t-shirt. However, it was expensive. Then again, wool t-shirts would be good for sports as they naturally have temperature control feature and they won’t let you drown in your own sweat. Plus they could help you avoid body odor. Stinky armpits ain’t attractive, mate.
Another interesting product was denim that got wool woven to the fabric. The wool fiber was kept on the under layer and invisible from the outside. It made the pair of jeans very warm without the bulkiness.
They also informed us about The Wool Lab where Woolmark would give insights to client about wool fabrics on trend that’s available on the market.
Oh, there were some outfits from Woolmark Prize winners too.
After the talk with Woolmark Company was done, I went back to Sham Shui Po for a quick stop to pick up some fabrics before heading back to the hotel. I had to meet a friend who is a Hongkie that night. Having a local friend as a guide would never be a bad idea, because at the very least, they could communicate :)
We went to PMQ, I would say it was like a local designer hub. They got everything from furniture, jewelry, shoes, clothes, to art. The stuff they have there were amazing. The styles were diverse and of good quality. It was perhaps due to the availability of materials that the designers were advanced. Sham Shui Po got everything, I mean, when you have your source so easily reached you’re bound to create more, no?
What got me very excited though, was Junji Ito’s exhibition. I went mad fangirling. They had an AR experience thing, where we could use our phone to see the art coming to life. They even had a photobooth where they put our faces on a page of comic like Junji’s. It was hilarious, though.
Here are some more Junji Ito treats:
Btw, Junji Ito was a dentist, if I remember correctly. He wrote and drew absurd stuff. He got one chapter where kids would run to buy ice cream from this truck and at the end of the day, all the kids would melt. MELT. TO THE GROUND.
S O I N T R I G U I N G .
They were selling masks as merchandise and it has a scary smile printed on it but we had to order. It won’t arrive on time though, as I will be leaving on Saturday. So sad. I got some postcards instead.
Ok, let’s be real here, I was so damn scared I won’t have enough budget. Technically (or at least in my head) I should have enough, but still, I kept reminding myself to be extra careful with the amount I spent.
As I went to order a few fabric before consulting with Joe, I ordered too much. However, for the majority of my fabric range plan, I got a better grasp of the amount I need because I asked Joe already.
I went to Pang Jai first thing in the morning as soon as I reached Sham Shui Po. I had a hunch that people won’t go to Pang Jai first so the place would still be empty early in the day - better to shop without crowd as the place was already suffocating.
I was right, I was the first one from the Singapore student group that came to Pang Jai - and I was SO SO SO LOST.
When I went to Pang Jai to collect samples, I was not really paying intention whose stall I took the samples from, and that was an unfortunate carelessness. I went all the way to the end row of Pang Jai and found one the fabric I wanted but I don’t know the seller. The arrangement of stalls was pure mystery to me. On top of that, I can’t read what’s written on the signs. Helpless, I punched the numbers on the nearest sign to the fabric I wanted on my phone and called. Yep, the uncle NO HABLO ENGLISH, bruh.
After one second of quick thinking, I spoke to him, “I want to buy fabric, I wait here, ok?” I was hoping he would find me, and he did! YAAAAAAAASH. I was like, *phew*.
In Pang Jai, I listened to the way the people speak and picked up a few Cantonese words. I learned how to say “this one” that sounds a lot like “lay go” and “three” that sounds like “sam” and used those words a lot on my shopping venture. The vendors seem to appreciate my effort. Those words and a bunch of awkward nods, smiles, and gestures make for a good communication, supposedly.
After I was done shopping, the vendors asked me about my friends and why they were not shopping there after they took so many samples. The warning Ja gave on the first time we went there came true. I told them they would come later in the afternoon, which they did.
I came out from Pang Jai with one huge, heavy plastic bag full of fabric and walked all the way to the center of Sham Shui Po to get my other fabrics. At this point of time, I already have about 40% of the fabrics I need for my collection. Yesterday I hesitated on getting a very expensive fake fur – an extremely soft pink fake fur that cost HK$ 1440 for four yards, but after Pang Jai I was pretty sure I got enough in my budget to afford the fake fur.
With the fake fur in my possession, I was carrying two big, heavy plastic bags. Walking with them was an exercise - I know I need some sporting but it felt like being enrolled in a triathlon in heels. Dude, my arms were burning.
The guy from Wa Fat came to my rescue. As I was purchasing some fabrics from his shop, he allowed me to keep the plastic bags, along with my newly bought fabrics from him, at his shop. The Wa Fat I shopped at was the smaller Wa Fat near the park where we went for consultations with Jay. Everybody else either kept their purchased fabrics at the biggest Wa Fat or Moon Yue.
Free from torture, I went to Moon Yue to get some of my main fabrics. Bad news though, apparently someone bought the whole roll of a fabric I needed. I had to find a replacement on the spot. I quickly scanned the shelf and asked the shop owner if they have anything similar. Jay was also in the store, so I got instant confirmation and quickly purchased the alternative.
After Moon Yue, I was technically done with a huge portion of my shopping. I went back to Wa Fat for my bags of fabric (if stacked vertically, they were more than half my size) and tried to stop some taxi to go back to the hotel.
Here is what sucked: HK taxis kept rejecting me! I was together with two friends and we all got big plastic bags. Dunno why but those taxi uncles just didn’t wanna stop. Lost hope, I ordered Uber.
GUYS! Uber was a great idea. Guess what, we got a BMW Series 1 on Uber X. It was cheaper than Singaporean taxis. TALKING ABOUT A GOOD BARGAIN, RIGHT?
What Valentine’s Day? I didn’t even remember it was that time of the year!
In the consultation day, I decided to leave the hotel a little later to get a bit more sleep so I left at around 9:30am. I got off at Prince Edward station, a station before Sham Shui Po as it would be closer to Moon Yue - according to Google Maps. I had my trust in it as I was blind with practically no grip of the area and I thought it would be nice to explore the fabric sourcing area from a different direction.
When I got out of the station, the part of Sham Shui Po exposed to me was where a lot of stores with PVC and technical fabrics were located. I should probably mention they are my favorite kinds of fabric. Hehe.
Anyway, as I walked along the street looking at those shiny fabrics, I saw Joe with a group of fellow students touring the area. So, I approached him for consultation, cuz why not, might as well right? But he turned me down saying “I come here to go shopping with you guys, all consultation is to be made with Jay.” So okay. I moved on.
I found Jay at the park near Moon Yue with some of my friends already sitting around waiting for their turn to consult. Apparently, there was a queue list and it has reached lunch time. Uh oh. At the end, I got myself a slot right after lunchtime.
Jay said he will move to Sausalito, a cafe next to Cyber - the shop that sells metal accessories for clothing. So, with a few hours to kill (about 3 hours or more) I went around Sham Shui Po some more. Not that I have enough fabric samples already, but I had nothing better to do. I went with some friends and has early lunch at Sausalito to wait for Jay. There was a lot of waiting that day.
Then, when it was finally my turn, BOOM, problem.
I still haven’t fixed my final line up since Joe told me to develop some of the designs. Therefore, I have at least twice the amount of sketches from other students. I also got a lot of sample fabrics jumbled up in a bag and it took me a long time to get my alternative fabrics. It was hard for me to decide which designs I like most and I kept saying “Joe said” or “Joe liked” and Jay was like, “which one do YOU like?” He finally told me to sort the line up first, fix everything, and come back to him later in the day since he couldn’t spend the whole day waiting on me. True.
So I finally got everything ready after an hour or so and left Sausalito to see Jay at Moon Yue. YES, HE MOVED AGAIN. This time was because the cafe got packed and the students can’t sit inside as other customers couldn’t get seats.
I got 9 sketches lined up for final, but to be honest I wasn’t exactly sure with it. Nevertheless, I had to trust my own judgement and I got no time to spare for thinking.
I found Jay sitting on the stairwell outside Moon Yue’s entrance on the second floor circled by some of my classmates who were finishing their consultations. By that point, it was already around 4pm or something and I had to cut the queue to continue mine or otherwise I won’t be able to start ordering fabric. Boy, I was hella anxious, lemme tell you. Thankfully, the guy who was supposed to go next in line was ok with me talking to Jay before his turn.
Jay approved my fabrics so I went to start ordering the fabrics I’m most sure about. Jay said to confirm the options with Joe, but I had no idea where he was and looking for him blindly would just waste time. I left out fabrics I could buy directly (like the ones from Wa Fat and Moon Yue) and order the fabrics that would take around 3 days to arrive in HK.
Before I left Sham Shui Po to go back to the hotel, I found Joe at the biggest Wa Fat store. Luck? Most probably so. It feels good to have everything confirmed. I was definitely on track.
The first day of fabric sourcing! We all gathered outside the hotel at 9am to start the tour to get to know Sham Shui Po, where we bought our fabrics from. The on time group went first with Joe, and I who came down 10 minutes late, went second with Jay and the rest of the late crew. Hahaha :’)
All of us rode the MTR to Sham Shui Po. It would be best to get the MTR card the day before (which I did and it cost me HK$ 150) because the group moved so quickly. Well, I mean, Jay walked so quickly. Trust me, though, no time should be wasted.
As I have left for a fabric-sourcing trip before to Seoul, I knew what to expect, but it was even more than my expectation. Sham Shui Po was a huge district, and in almost every corner of it, there were fabric stores with samples to look at. It took a bit of time to focus on getting the samples that I need rather than what I like. Although the size of Sham Shui Po made it less convenient compared to Seoul’s Dongdaemun, what offered in Sham Shui Po was everything. Including the view. Damn son, aesthetic was on point!
Around here, the stores recommended by the lecturers (among others) were Wa Fat (that has 3 stores chain) and Moon Yue (called the second-floor shop by the lecturers, the shop owner seems to be good friends with Jay and Joe. They were buying him a gift from Changi Airport. Well, we were supposed to use their shop space for consultation ground so of course...). Both Wa Fat and Moon Yue were filled with rolls of ready stock fabrics, not just samples. It was said that Moon Yue is a bit expensive but they do have good fabrics - designers left-over if I’m not wrong.
However, the place that left the most impression on me was the run-down, extremely makeshift looking fabric market called Pang Jai, located near Sham Shui Po Police Station. Underneath its shabby, low tent roof, was a maze of fabric supply, from upholstery fabric to fake fur to PVC to ribbing, the fabrics found here most probably won’t be found anywhere else.
The lecturers gave us a warning about this place, don’t take too many samples or the vendors would get upset. So, to avoid negative thoughts from the vendors, Jay bought some ribbing for school to get the business going while we went collecting samples.
Okay, I did something really bad. I was looking around and saw this silver/reflective paper-y fabric but I couldn’ t find the store owner. I had a few friends around and they covered me up as I took a little sample by myself from the sample bunch hanging on the side. Sorry. It was a tiny sample I promise.
Also as seen above, since that space was like a maze and it was hard to determine who owns which fabric, on each section there would be phone numbers to contact the shop owner. THANK GOD NUMBERS ARE NUMBERS. Imagine if the numbers look different in Cantonese/Chinese. I’d probably ended up with a blank face and die. I met Jay as I was looking around asking samples and he saw me communicating with body language; he said with laughter, “Tim, you can’t speak Chinese either ah? Die already”. I know right. Some people understand Mandarin in HK, but not me. Let’s be honest, it’s hard and I’m just not a Chinese. *sigh*
I spent the whole day in Sham Shui Po. As I walked straight from Dragon Center from Pang Jai to go back to the area around Moon Yue, I discovered some stores with ribbons and buttons and other nicknacks. There were several stores dedicated to beads and they put up some Chinese ornaments out of beads around the store. It got me thinking about making jackets with beads like bracelets. But nah, maybe for later.
I could see the unfortunate event when some fellow would spill the beads to the street...
This particular shop with Year of Rooster ornaments reminded me of Toko Maju in Mayestik, Jakarta.
I also went to follow Joe for a short while and got myself a strip of yellow fake fur leftover fabric with black stars on it.
Joe was leading the group when we passed by a store and the strip of fake fur was in a box outside. Joe saw it and said, “David Bowie!” and I bought it. I think it was HK$ 10 or something. Was not expensive at all since it was a leftover. Ahahaha.
I collected all the samples I felt like I would need and headed back to the hotel. However, I did stop by the leather shop (which was 5 minutes walking from the hotel) to check it out. They had a good range of leather – even fish skin from the Amazon for quite a sum.
Before closing the day with a good sleep, I went with a few friends to Starbucks in front of the hotel and sorted out the looks I sketched out to prepare for a consultation the next day. I picked which fabric suits which piece and also prepared a few alternatives.
Okay, sorry, a bit too excited over there, but we (most of the fashion students, Jay and Joe - the lecturers, and I) went to Hong Kong for a fabric sourcing trip. My last fabric sourcing was to Dongdaemun in Seoul so this one was a new experience. Ah~ it was lovely, soooo in love with HK. Also, I got to layer my clothes because it was still a bit cold! I love dressing for lower temperatures - just fyi.
I might have to split my story of Hong Kong into a few long parts because there are just so many pictures and stories. Ehehe. Oh and of course, some tips and tricks that tried and - trust me - worked.
So it all started before I even got myself at the airport. I prepared a big empty suitcase and a small cabin sized suitcase filled with my clothes. I had one pair of shoes with me which I wore from start to finish (although I could do and should have done with one more pair but I decided to keep it light). I brought 3 tote bags for daily use and shopping purposes (because I heard they charge you for plastic bags - good for the environment but not for my budget since that would be unnecessary spending). I put the small suitcase into the big one and that would be what I checked in to baggage.
12 Feb 2017 - Sun
We gathered at Changi Airport at 5:30 in the morning (although I came 10 mins late) and since I checked in the day before via online check-in (good idea cuz apparently the queues were snaking I had to go to a different row) I only need to drop my baggage. It was already 18kg and I was praying I don’t have to pay so much for overweight on my trip back to SG. I still have no idea what made it so heavy to be honest.
We arrived at out accomodation in HK, Kimberley Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, at around 3pm and had the rest of the day free. As I did a bit of research before leaving for HK, I already had some ideas on where to explore and asked the lectures a bit about how to get to some places, but I simply started with the area around the hotel to grab some food at the Indonesian Restaurant two streets down.
Tsim Sha Tsui or TST seemed to be a pretty touristy area. Our hotel is surrounded by malls, restaurants, small shops, and a sea of humans. Aside from that, here is what I noticed: the advertising game is HK is legit FIERCE, man. No joke. Vacant spaces had their front covered in posters and the posters were stacked on top of each other they were protruding off the wall. 3D poster in another meaning, eh.
They did act as a perfect background for narcissism though.
Oh! There was also a lot of sticker slaps and wall tagging. All over the place. Maybe it’s just me, but I felt the strong signal of sub-cultures in HK.
Anyway, after I was done with TST for the day, I went to SoHo in Central because a Hongkee friend recommended the area to me. SoHo or South of Hollywood was packed with expats. I could see why, though. As I rode the Mid-Level Escalator almost all the way up (a very unique Hong Kong experience, if I do say so myself) I noticed plenty of bars and trendy restaurants. Central also has a street covered in stone slabs famous to tourists and locals to take pictures in. I took the street to go uphill for a bit before deciding it was too tiring and ran into the escalaors.
SoHo got fashion boutiques and galleries as well. This one caught my eyes for their window display. I mean, of course. *eyeroll* I also found a vintage shop called Beatniks that’s located in a small alley. They got a good selection of dresses and outerwears.
Outside the alley, accross the street, there were a couple of electrical poles covered in crochet. The wall behind them was covered in artworks. What a lovely finding.
The notice strapped to the pole said that the “pole covering” should be removed.
Before calling it a night, I went to dinner at a very local place called Chopsticks Kee. It’s a traveller’s wisdom to eat as the locals, so... why not. I was with a friend who could speak a little Chinese so with her help we tried placing order. It was a lot of broken conversations, awkward laugh, fingers pointing at pictures and people’s plates, and random guessing. We made it through and ended up with some good portions of noodles so I guess we did well. The place apparently has been covered by medias and got the print outs pasted all over the wall.
On the way back to the hotel I walked to the bottom end of the escalators and entered some kind of an indoor bridge with store spaces in it. Inside of it was decorated with street art. The whole day got me very satisfied and I was ready to start fabric sourcing the next day.
This term, we have a class called Fashion Futures. The lecturer is Brian, who is pretty cool. *smirk* I like him. To be honest though, I’m not sure if he likes us. Ha ha ha.
Brian got tattoos covering his body and I relate to him because he is into music and art. I’m usually excited to go to his class but his tasks are a bit tedious. Five pages of essay every week, just saying.
Anyway, the essays we do for Brian is the research we have to write down - a paper - on a topic close to our hearts. I chose music and fashion as they are the biggest chunks of who I am as a person - everyone would nod in agreement when I pick the topic. Brian even looked at me directly when he stated the topic in front of the class as if I shall take it. I also have a bunch of friends I can turn to for advice in writing about the relation between music and fashion. It should be easy. BUT NO.
Here is the problem, because I have read a lot about this topic, I got overwhelmed and increasingly confused the more I research. I know my argument: music and fashion breed each other, but it is so hard to relate all the reasons to each other. They are all connected, but they all stand alone. Another obstacle is when I write the essay using my research, I start to forget my own experiences in dwelling in both fashion and music.
Uh, help.
So with my head turning into a massive mess, in the midst of all the articles and discussions with friends, as well as taking input from Brian who keeps on saying “formulate your argument!” to me (because I haven’t really put it down yet), I refer to David Bowie. The man who fell to earth and inspire all kind of people from different corners.
I mean, when you’re talking about music and fashion, there is no one who is better to be an icon and main subject to write about besides Bowie, right? He is also my inspiration for my graduation collection. I’ll talk about that later on.
I look at Bowie’s influence on music - how he affected the sound across genres, and on fashion - his ever evolving, flamboyant, gender biased weird looks. I can see how people look up to him. Then, fully aware, I wrote in an essay on why music and fashion are important to me: “perhaps it was because we are all thinking in a slightly distinct way; perhaps it was because all that don’t fit in gathers in one room; but everybody embraces difference. It was allowed and encouraged to express who we really are – may it be through dark lipstick, no make up, neon hair, everything was underlined with confrontation. We are the enviable weird bunch, and I love the feeling of being a part of that other tribe of coolness”.
All in all, that’s how it goes. I will start my final paper for Brian’s class from there. Yea, wish me luck, I guess. I would be ashamed if I can’t produce a good output.
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