Confab.

from AFF2012 Facebook, Nico showing a Mugler piece, for the show tomorrow.

 Nicola: "I'm so nervous right now"

Colin: "He's talking rubbish,"

Nicola: (laughs) "It's my first time doing this sort of thing"

Confabulation of the day.
 

What a fab, fab, fab afternoon for a gab with fashion's grandfather of journalism from England (may I say, pardon) and with a surprising childlike personality, always happy, always optimistic, and always in his own world and bubble everyone is invited to, Nicola Formichetti.

Before jumping onto his hilarious, kischy antics of what makes Nicola just Nicola during the 45 minute talk, I'll share in a snap of my view; I didn't know he would speak, that was a plus point to have entered the AFX ring, and didn't expect how he, being 34, has his hands entirely all in all fashion industry aspects, and still juggling for more, and in the end, I felt that he, made the Lady Gaga 'concept' - if it wasn't for him to take interest in her, she would only be a mere blonde American pop and dance singer, and not avant garde Barbiexperimental doll to surf styles from Sun to the Milky Way. Believe that he picked her up after 'Just Dance', or at least I think it was, because she was still just a blonde, and actually pretty, she then turned into WORLD MEGASUPERSTAR because of what fashion and artistry did to her thanks to Nicopanda.

As much time has to keep on ticking and le grandfather has slipped off VOGUE HOMME NIPPON out of his list to confab more about this area of Nicola's work, perhaps one day if I could see it in person how a Vogue Homme Nippon comes around although it was something I look foward to most. (You know me. The otaku.)


"I'm 34, fakq it. I look young because I'm half-Asian" (cheers and claps erupted in the entire conference room)

Casually, he started pulling off his blazer, revealing his bare developing muscular arms and very dark tan. "It's hot... do you like my Bali tan?" (which I then assume that he hung out with J's friend A and KTZ boys if they're in Bali)



Onwards to the full interview (rather a bit soft voice, sorry, use headphones and sudden gushing of people) to be listened below:

This is the love In 10 words or less...

Colin McDowell Full conversation w Asian Panda @formichetti #fashion #AFS2012 fullstop

Core.

To the core of the crust.

Dear people who have actually, seriously clicked 'Buy This' - it is actually not for sale but to let me know of who is genuinely interested, I thank you very much. I tried for fun with the new widget for BUY THIS and it looks good too, but also that the TEXT option was somehow weird that I couldn't add any text box. So this refers to this blog post for my rationale file.


This is a zine project from college, filled in with most of my expeditions, writing, interview, articles, and a few  taken from the publications WHITEBOARD JOURNAL.

 Special exclusive interviews includes South Korean fashion designer, based in Paris, SONGZIO, and the president of Bunka Gakuen Japan (the fashion institute there) SATOSHI ONUMA.
In-depth insight of the trip I took (which I've never got around blogging about it but it's still sitting there in my drafts, sorry!) YUNNAN, CHINA, and beautiful captures and flash news in the design world.

Below is the rationale file process for the design aesthetics, color, typeface information, etc. (the dirty bit of the project).

To see the entire project, do visit and appreciate it, as seen below!

 

See the project here

However, you are still interested up to this point to want to get a copy? For people who are genuinely interested in getting a one-of-a-kind copy with extra oomphs added in the package, I can't thank you enough and I'll do my best to make one-print runs.

Drop me a comment here with your email which is contactable to further communicate! :)

•

________________________ 

Quality images attracts people to read more.

Dottie Tan

_________________________________

          She advised, and she practices it all right - to bring the best for her readers. Dottie Tan, more known as Dot, was the other half of local's most celebrated fashion blog FashioNation. It has outreached and enlightened 5000 readers a day, and most of them becomes their loyal readers. She had set aside her time to come on over to our editorial class to share her experiences of being a fashion blogger.

         Now, I was there to dig in, What was that special ingredient to get readers from all over the world? If you're thinkin' "whut derr fakq?! Of course I want more publicity in my blog!" then WHUTDERRFAKQiZVAT! bares it all. 

Here are the tippy-top tips from Ms Dot herself!

"You'd have to plan on what you want to write in the post"

Concrete, concise, consistency, and credibility to the post content. You have one style of voice, so focus on it. Although you can have fun for a personal blog to add a colorful flavor (because FN was more on top of a personal blog). Seperate something personal and something more commercial before deciding which one's worth blogging on.

"Write frequently, or schedule it"

To entertain readers that comes by often, don't go on a hiatus/leave your blog for a period of time (a week is too long!). If you're busy, then scheduling would help. Write the posts on the weekend and give a day or two in between to release a new post. 
FN did about 3 posts a day. So ideally a post on each weekday should be a good start.

"Research and write on upcoming events/interesting insider"

Singapore is a small country, so it shouldn't be hard to keep your nose sharp for news. Readers want to know what's happening around. (Especially flea markets, free parties and fashion events!)

"Write to them, not for you" 

Don't write in like a diary journal, write it like you have an audience.

"Blogs are visual, so quality images attracts people to read more"   

This beats all! If you're not a good writer, then take photography as another medium to share. Blogs are to share things visually, so to share inspirational images would attract many to keep coming back!

           Dottie adds that reading other blogs would be one research: Facehunter, Garance Dore, The Sartorialist and Refinery29 are a few that she reads on a daily basis. Like her first advice, if you want to make some publicity out of your blog, then choose what/not to write. Because of this, she's undertaking a new project to bring her very own fashion blog!

AN EXTRA TIP:    As I've seen her personal blog, posts which gets more attention (by comment-count) are fashion-related. Bloggers, be aware of which posts generates the most attention - that's what you're good at and - will be - famous for! Tee hee!


Do keep in touch with Dot random updates with her current (looks like a) fad on back-to-the-retro-era posts and watch out for her new project to unveil!

INKAFESCA.

I met the designers this past summer, which is my first project the moment I stepped back to Indonesia. We had coffee and exchanged ideas in between them negotiating with me to keep on promoting their things and to give me a discount. But other than that, here's what I discovered in this emerging brand trying to stand out from the myriads of indie labels in Jakarta.

INKAFESCA is a brand born in the minds of two ladies, Inneke Virginia and Anthea Flodesca. As they have previously launched their debut collection, 'Stone Tones' a few months ago, they're now back with a new unique collection, 'Britain Bollywood'. Based as an online shop, they're new to the big bang of online shops and local fashion lines but they have their own personal touch of things. Here, I sat down with the designers talking about their beginnings and what will they expect in the future.


Can you share how did you first had the idea to make Inkafesca?
Inneke: Because we have the same passion and have a lot of things in common in terms of style, after I graduated, I approached her, thinking that it's a good thing to have our own income. We are close friends as we like to hang out together and had plans previously in wanting to collaborate something together but didn't know what yet. So then, now, we took our chances to establish this label together.


Where did you get the name, "INKAFESCA"?
It's actually a combination of both our names!


Did you have any fashion background?
Inneke: I was in Lasalle Jakarta graduated with diploma in fashion Design.
Anthea: I'm currently in UPH taking Architecture. It's a pretty different route yeah? (laughs)

























Do you plan on doing this full-time?
Right now, it is still part-time, but later in the future we'd expand our line to not only having a fashion line, but in the interior side as well, designing furnitures and home accessories. Because Anthea is still doing her studies, we focus on doing just our fashion line for now.


Why as an online shop?
Inneke: Since we start from zero, so online shop is the most accessible and easier to control. We first wanted to have a standalone shop but since we're amateurs in this industry we didn't know how expensive it was for shop leases and such. We weren't aware of the trends in online stores. We don't have any other staffs and we hire our own dressmaker. The process of creating is organic, it's not always me who makes the pattern for the clothes, sometimes the dressmaker creates the patterns too.


How is Inkafesca different from other online shop?
In addition to our own clothing line, we also accept in creating customized dresses. So there's another set of deadlines. Handling this isn't as easy as we think: we have to source the materials, cut the patterns, check the sewing, etc.; we have to give our full attention if we want to work it out to the next level.



How many collections do you plan in launching per year?
We try our best to launch 3 collections, but we probably will have a mini-collection in between so there's new things to see every month. Usually in the new collection there's about more than 15 pieces, but a mini-collection would be about only 5. We also want to branch out in creating menswear, so that's something exciting to look forward to.

Can you share what's your inspiration behind the new line, Britain Bollywood?
We were inspired by India’s soft and feminine culture and the Britain's strong masculinity. So, we combined them both: taking India’s unique clothing, accessories and putting their patterns to the fun cut and details from Great Britain’s army. The color palette this time is more soft, pastel nude ivorish colour complimented with colours from the famous Britain’s
flag.


Why do you have such limited quantity for each design? Is it meant to be that way?
The reason being so is because the materials we find has also a limited amount. We search for the fabrics far and wide to many places; the fabrics some imported like from Korea, has only one roll and that's it for that pattern. So yes, our stuff is very limited as well, so you are the only one wearing at most places!


So, what are you future plans?
Hopefully, we would like to collaborate with other designers, launching the new division of line, and much, much later, a standalone shop!

Do see their latest collection at www.whiteboardjournal.com and check out their website

www.inkafesca.com

\NO.2\ 10/10

A three-month delay, I finally present you the second personality to 10 OUT OF 10:

Olivier Henry of Milk Photographie

Critics & Comments as usual, please!

(the layout, the writing, the person, whatever you think! Most appreciated!)

10/10

Finally, after two weeks of delay, I present you a whutderrfakqizvat! special:

10 / 10

ten out of ten

           It'll be part of my own portfolio as well showcasing (and practicing) skills in writing, art directing and honing my digital skills and space aesthetics. This project has been hatched since the first interview assignment from school where I had this concept going on (the next page would be that friend of mine who'd I interviewed with hilarious obscure answers).

          Plus, it'll be what the blog's name is for - WHUTDERRFAKQIZVAT, to translate, what the fact is that ______________________ (fill in the blanks where I've found something/someone/somewhatever)  frivolously fierce and fabulous personality. Or just to re-bump them up, up, up.

              THE BRIEF:

10 people for the year 2010

Is not popularly mainstream

10 quick questions filling 10 minutes to know more about them

(It'll be like a one-stop quick profile to learn about the person)

 

             The first person who will I award the WHUTderrFAKQizVAT out-of-the-blue is to Outré's very own James Bent. Catched up on him one afternoon in conjunction for Whiteboard Journal special feature, say, tête-à-tête column?

Without further ado, kudos to Mr. Singapore's very own Street Snapper and here's an almond to the jar on his world: 

*Gotta click to make it big and readable.*

               Rants and reviews are most appreciated on the big picture or little details, it'll be most appreciated! Since it's for my portfolio I'd still go back and do some tweaks, it'll be a series of 10, and it shall need to look like a series. But of course, what I've found out on those sudden organic white shapes - it looks good, I like it very much!

As for the elongated interview for the hour, click on to read more...