HOW TO BE A MALAYSIAN FASHION BLOGGER

S T Y L E

- Come for the fashion, stay for the articles. -

So, I guess you're here because you'd like to know how to be a successful fashion blogger. I haven't the slightest idea as well. We'll figure this out together.

My fascination with fashion blogging started way before the Instagram era, where people were sharing fuzzy photos their outfits and the hashtag #OOTD was years away from being established. As the years went by, fashion blogging has drastically progressed to not just sharing photos of one's outfit, but many of my favourite style bloggers have evolved to include stunning photographs and beautifully written lifestyle articles.

Come for the fashion, stay for the articles.

A few weeks back, I shared my thoughts on 'Would it be difficult to be a lifestyle journalist without the relevant qualifications and experience?' and was immediately shot down. Many people now don't exactly appreciate a well written, thought-provoking article and I'm guessing it's from all the fluff floating around Facebook?

Fast forward to today, I was contacted by Zalora to share their open invitation to contribute articles to their community, I immediately agreed!

In my last few years of blogging, I've made the conscious decision to improve my writing style and I've noticed that it has, in turn, improved by communication skills as well. By reading my favourite blogs and websites, I've challenged myself to always improve on my writing and thoughts, and I'm really glad I did it.

So Zalora Malaysia's Community page has opened their digital magazine to us, the community, be it a budding journalist, a hobby writer or someone with a sudden crazy spur of inspiration, feel free to grab your laptops and share your thoughts with them.

Zalora literally screamed 'Join us as a fashion blogger now!!' and I believe by sourcing talent from the community, we'll be able to learn from each other and be able to gain an insight from a huge variety of fashionistas from Malaysia or around the world. Being a fashion blogger today isn't just about the outfits, they cover so many topics from fashion, beauty, lifestyle, relationship, travel, events, health/fitness, food, career and technology!

As per Zalora, by participating in the community page, we'll be able to gain exposure through the website with more than 3.7 million visitors since March 2015. Now that's a whole lot of online shoppers!

This project's pretty new so if you're interested in being a pioneer of this community project, here's what Zalora has to say:

'Simply drop us an email to the Editor, Aini at nurul.aini@my.zalora.com with ideas you have for specific category(s) and a brief (one paragraph) description of who you are and what kind of writing you do. Follow this stated format for the subject line: [country] [category] - [title] [author name]. Besides that, write to us a brief description of your article idea (e.g. "400-word article on holiday) in the body of your email and also send along a couple of writing samples (if any). We will decide if your article suits the style and so don't be shy! Join us now!'

I hope this piece managed to help someone, be it unleashing your creative writing talent or just exposing your writing to a larger community - keep growing, keep improving. 

❤

M.May

Thank you Zalora for sponsoring this post and for involving the community in this exciting project.

GETTING REACQUAINTED

F L A T L A Y

- I'm assuming I have a scrapbooking face. -

After a couple of weeks of very technical job related stuff, I'm having some slight creative withdrawals - I miss my camera dearly and also planning for OOTD shoots. My creative inspiration is slowly declining and as my fingers go clacking over the keyboard, I cannot help but snap into work mode.

A couple days ago, I was requested by my career coach at work to amend by 'development plan' because my goal was not measurable - I wrote down 'Find a balance between technical and creative life'. How do I measure this goal? As of now, I have no idea. I guess she also naturally deduced my definition of creative life was scrapbooking and probably iPhone photography. I'm assuming I have a scrapbooking face. I laugh at that though of me scrapbooking - my blog is my digital scrapbook.

As I sit down trying to get in touch with my neglected creative side, I decided to take it slow. I ran to my wardrobe, yanked out the outfit and items I used to achieve my White Tee and Ripped Jeans post, spewed them over floor and snapped some flatlay pictures. It was like finally getting in touch with a friend whom I haven't spoken to in ages (actually, probably less than a month) and the second we met, we were instantly picking up where we left off.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same about my 'post-writing friend' compared to my 'photography friend'.. We were never extremely comfortable with each other, but after some awkward silences and wondering to myself 'What do I say next?', I think we're finally falling into the rhythm we once were familiar with. We're getting there.

One day, I will achieve my goal of balancing technical and creative life.

❤
M.May

KUALA LUMPUR FASHION WEEK WITH LINE32

E V E N T

- My first ever fashion week. Thank you Line32 and Yvonne! -

A couple weeks back, I had the insane privilege of attending Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week Ready to Wear 2015 with Line32, I was ecstatic and left inspired and starstrucked after an afternoon jam packed with creative inspiration. I remembered talking to a friend when I first came back to KL that I really wanted to attend KLFW, but I hadn't the slightest clue how one could get an invitation to the event. Mind you, ticketing sales wasn't open to the general public.

After a bunch of unanswered queries and tweets to KLFW, I was left dejected and ready to give up on attending KLFW when I finally received an invitation from Line32. Thank you to my friend, creative director and co-founder of Line32, Yvonne Lim for sharing your first KLFW debut with this crazy excited girl.

Line32's Resort 2016 Collection got me all excited from the comfy silhouettes, bright yet muted colours (you get me?) and the abundance of capes, flaps and slits - I'm a sucker for anything that slightly resembles a cape. Also, that comfy striped number in the first picture? Perfect from lounging at home to office casual Fridays. A win-win in my book. Can't wait to pop by the store soon to recap the catwalk looks again.

Photographing the runway looks and stylish attendees was heaps of fun and finally Mr. D (I named my camera.) was able to join me out in the field. I will be sharing more of my favourite looks from my couple of hours lurking around KLFW RTW, but I simply had to dedicate a full post to my favourite Line32 looks, because they're awesome.

Again, thank you for the invitation and congratulations Line32 and Yvonne!

Wearing: Line32 Nellie top and Lois skirt.

❤
M.May

SHOPPR BEAUTY WORKSHOP

E V E N T

- Shooting moving subjects for the first time and being transported to makeup heaven. -

Ever since I fell in love with photography, my main focus was still life photography and landscape photography while photographing people was easily my least favourite because I had to plan and work with the subject. I mean, with still life photography, you can command that lipstick to change positions a hundred times and it wouldn't complain. If it did, I'd toss it out of the window in a heartbeat.

After lurking around the style blogging scene for a while, I've really picked up an interest in street photography, capturing them at the perfect moment. Unfortunately, I've been too shy to photograph my friends because you know, I'd be shy too - wouldn't you? Most of my valuable times with friends are spent catching up and laughing anyway.

When Shoppr hosted their very first beauty workshop with Shelly, I knew it was a great chance to try my hands at photographing gorgeous stylish moving subjects. My main aim was to meet some awesome people and finally getting to watch Shelly's tutorials live in the flesh, as well as trying out street photography, it was a win-win all around.

Shelly's tutorial was surreal because after watching her makeup tutorials on YouTube, I had to remind myself a couple of times that 'Hey, you're not watching a computer screen this time, it's for real.' Shelly did an amazing job of explaining her application methods and what products worked for her, especially allowing me a close up look of her skin because I was having some trouble finding a good foundation. The very first few photos above is an assortment of Shelly's extensive and exotic makeup stash (some aren't available in Malaysia and Australia) - and let me tell you, being able to swatch and play with them transported me to makeup heaven. Yes, makeup swatching is one of my guilty pleasures.

I also managed to snap a few OOTD shots of the lovely ladies at the workshop, as well as a couple of candid shots after asking permission to photograph them. I'm so glad everyone happily obliged and posed so perfectly. If it's were me, I'd totally go all tensed and end up with photos resembling a crab. What do crabs look like anyway?? I don't know, I was just thinking of crabs a second ago. I really loved the candid shots I managed to capture and I wished I was brave enough to approach more people for shots. I'm looking forward to my next opportunity.

Thank you Shoppr for hosting this fun event and I can't wait to attend the next one! Also, thank you to the lovely ladies for allowing me the privilege to photograph you and thank you Shelly for sharing your wisdom with us!

❤

M.May

p.s. If any of you lovely ladies want a copy of any of the pictures above, feel free to message me on any platforms. =D

WHITE TEE AND RIPPED JEANS

S T Y L E

- The fancy unfancy, if you get my gist. -

There's something about a  plain tee and comfy ripped jeans that makes a girl look effortlessly chic and put together. The fancy unfancy, if you get my gist. Pair them with a statement item and you're ready to conquer the world without the discomfort of having your blood circulation cut off by insanely tight jeans.

Plain tees can sometimes be too boring, having a statement piece or an article of clothing with some unique details can make an outfit seem more put together, where in my usual case, my go to item is always my trusty faux leather jacket. Unfortunately, wearing that in the humid KL weather is not exactly a bright idea and more often that not, I catch myself mentally saying hello to the jacket when I'm rummaging through my wardrobe. Yes, me crazy.

Presently, I'm still learning how to best dress up a tee for summer weather after years of heavily relying on outerwear to complete an outfit. My current next best option is this floppy black felt hat - it's cute, the floppy brim keeps the sun out and gives an outfit a classy touch.

Speaking of accessories, I think great statement necklace would look great with a plain tee, but I've yet to grow my statement accessory collection. Will I add it into my potential capsule wardrobe? I've yet to decide.

Also! This vintage monogrammed white Celine handbag used to belong to my mom more than 20 years ago! More on that next time.

I may start building a work capsule wardrobe. Pretty darned excited about it!

❤

M.May

Assistant photographer: Mr. Remote - say hi!