Over the course of the last month, I had been busy with my participation in the Fashionably Bold campaign in which Blackberry and Zalora collaborated together. Inspired by the popular BlackBerry Bold smartphones, leading online fashion personalities in Singapore were invited to create unique looks from online shopping destination, ZALORA, for the Fashionably Bold collection. And yours truly is one of the online fashion personalities chosen to style some unique looks and express this bold statement sartorially.
Many people are probably surprised of my involvement in this, because I am generally known to the public as a lifestyle blogger personality much more so than my creative pursuits, which I usually keep pretty low key. Not many know that the artist/designer side of me is my core identity; hey, I’m a multi-dimensional individual, okay? :P Anyhoo, a friend asked me, “Huh? You’re a stylist too?” which somewhat prompted me to issue a clarification. I have been an art director for the last 17 odd years, dealing mostly with Fortune 500 American companies, and anything pertaining to creative endeavors comes really naturally to me. So this styling gig is right up my alley and I am a fish in water when it comes to such engagements. After all, if there is such a thing called ‘creative thinking process’ it ought to be applicable across the board whether it’s styling for a photo shoot (fashion, products, food, editorial, etc), producing an ad campaign, designing my own line of products, having an exhibition of my artwork, shooting a documentary video, collaborating on a mural, or whatever. Creativity can be expressed in so many ways nowadays.
My involvement with the Fashionably Bold campaign has been extremely gratifying and I had a very positive experience overall, despite the little snags here and there (nothing that wasn’t immediately addressed and solved; a blessing in itself, I say). I got to work with wonderful people and made new friends, whom I look forward to collaborating again with in the future. The campaign kicked off with a makeover and photo shoot for a couple of models who were selected through an online contest. Following that, the models got coached to walk the runway on a fashion show celebrating this Blackberry and Zalora collaboration.
I started my creative journey with a mood board exploring the concept of Fashionably Bold. Directly inspired by the Blackberry Bold smartphones themselves, I went with a black and white color scheme accented with bright electric blue.
The sartorial expression which I want to convey is a futuristic minimalism where fashion and technology converge. I have this idea that technology started out way back as old as time, pre-batteries, pre-electricity, pre-modern day conveniences that we know today. Mankind are always inventing something to advance the quality of their existence – that’s technology, innit? – beginning with caveman drawings. So graphically I sought inspiration from ancient hieroglyphs and the way they are linked together to tell a story, which incidentally is similar to how electronic circuitry and components are put together in a grid manner. Other supporting ideas that went on inside my head: Pris, the replicant from Blade Runner (one of my fave movies of all time; it’s a fucking classic!), leather and chains (Fifty Shades of Grey, ahem), Jason Wu’s Spring 2013 collection and Lee McQueen’s beekeeper veil hat.
So with that in mind, I created a total of four looks: day look (women), day look (men), evening look (women) and evening look (men). I also conceptualized a hand-drawn tattoo (my fashionable translation of the Blackberry logo) as well as outfitted my models with bold exaggerated makeup in support of my black and white color scheme. Thanks to the talented makeup artists who helped me achieve this visually as well my awesome models who were a good sport about me drawing all over their faces (and hand). :p Thank you so much for indulging me. You guys RAWKED!
All in all, I am very pleased with how everything came together and I am super proud of the results. An excellent team like this is nothing short of a blessing and I have so much to be grateful for. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Fashionably Bold, styled by Moonberry.
Check out behind-the-scene images of this photo shoot on my Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/MBxMB.
Check out more photos of this Fashionably Bold fashion show and party on my Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/MBxMB.
Mucho mucho thanks to my models Lvance and Tarandip.
I have a confession: I wasn’t too hot on styling menswear initially as I never had a personal interest nor huge inclination to do so. Besides I felt that there’s only so much I can do to make a guy look chic; generally they’re so much more low maintenance compared to us women. Deep down, creatively speaking, I of course knew that I was gravely wrong about this and I needed to prove to myself that I can do menswear. So I pushed my anxiety aside and challenged myself instead of giving in to feelings of inadequacy. I flexed my creative muscles via a stretch of imagination and well, you are seeing the results here.
It has been very meaningful to me to explore this terra incognita and I’m especially proud of the results. This is a tremendous personal accomplishment for me creatively so I am very happy.
Many thanks to makeup artists Jeremy, Sunita and Nicole.
With the other bloggers styling for Fashionably Bold: Vanessa, Sophie and Aaron.
With Paul Foster, who hosted the Fashionably Bold evening.
With Valerie, Miss Singapore Universe 2011, who coached and gave runway tips to the models. She is ultra tall and yes I look like a hobbit next to her. No, we don’t know the girl who somehow ended up in this picture with us. -_-“
Many people complimented me on the gold sequin number which I wore that evening. It’s an open back kimono dress from Wren and I got it when I was in LA. You can take a closer look at it on my blog post here.
Speaking of compliments, thank you to all who came to this event. I am most grateful for the shower of compliments, encouragement, support and friendship. Thank you so very much really. I am very flattered and also touched by all your generous kind words. :”) I am a lucky blessed gal and will continue to strive to inspire y’all.
The Fashionably Bold team. Thank you Blackberry, Zalora and Lewis PR (Singapore) for the fun experience. :)
If you want to be “fashionably bold” like my models, the outfits I styled them in are available on the Zalora website. To celebrate this partnership, consumers who purchase any BlackBerry smartphone through the various authorized partners, will receive a 15% discount from ZALORA Singapore, the island’s one-stop online shopping destination across fashion, beauty and home & décor.
Get bold, get stylish! ;)
Follow me and my desire to inspire on my social media channels.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MBxMB
Twitter: @moonberry
Instagram: @moonberry
Pinterest: @moonberry
— The magic of 2012 continues…
With much love,
-MB.
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