Sha Niu's Story » Design

Graduation Day

Melissa — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:04:13 +0000

After 3 long years of slacking in studies, constant worries and nags coming from my parents and sister on why is their daughter/sister not as hardworking as others, nervous breakdowns every single time during exams on why hadn’t I pay more attention in class and the endless times I told myself to ‘Just Screw It’ during exam,

I’VE FINALLY GRADUATED!!! MY GOD!!!

As I’ve intended to graduate with green hair, unfortunately it fades away so fast till just a few tiny strands of green with a whole load of golden yellow. A blessing in disguise perhaps, because it matches with the dress I’ve designed for myself perfectly along with the Curtin logo as well.

WHOSE THE BOSS NOW HUHH?!?!

Since last year, I have already picked out the flowers I wanted for my graduation day and begged my parents to get a bouquet for me. But as the time comes, my family insisted that it’s a huge waste of money spending on flowers so we’ve agreed upon getting a Koala bear for me instead to which I’m not complaining about!

Headed to uni a wee bit earlier than the graduation ceremony to have take ~~stupid~~ unglam pictures ourselves. But of course, with the regalia on, no matter how unglam we are, it’ll just look good HAHAHAHAHA!

Seeing how I’m not in any way going to get flowers on my graduation day, I’ve decided to bring my 95 cents flowers that I brought from Ikea! I knew it that some day, my useless buys will turn into something great!!!! Yupp, that totally felt like a Harry Potter moment with our flower wands.

Though most of our friends’ graduation ceremony falls on different dates, I’m very grateful and thankful to those who could make it yesterday. I must say that without you all, my life in uni would be much more worse than what it is today. I know that it’ll take some time for us to reunite in one place as some of you might be going away soon, but in my heart, you all have a place in it.

It wasn’t long after that we have to take our seats and wait for eternity before we can have our 5 seconds of fame on the stage. Boy I can tell you how nervous I was. During the whole 5 seconds, though it felt longer to me, my mind speaks for itself.

OH GOD PLEASE DON’T LET ME FALL, PLEASE DON’T LET ME FALL!! I’VE DONE GOOD JUST NOW BY TELLING THE GIRL IN FRONT OF ME THAT SHE HAS A STICKER ON HER ROBE. THAT’S GOOD KARMA RIGHT? OH CRAP OH CRAP, I FORGOT TO TIP MY MORTARBOARD! By then, I was already walking halfway. *STOPS and tips mortarboard* Right now I just look like an idiot. *GAH GAH GAH WHERE’S THE CAMERA THAT I’M SUPPOSED TO SMILE AT?!* oooo lala ok thank you byebye, oh gosh you have wrinkles on your face!

After the end of the ceremony, we have a 5 minutes worth of fireworks. The thing that I’m looking forward to the whole entire night!!

Got a really thoughtful and nice gift from Joy! A book filled with great inspiring quotes and a lovely graduation card! Couldn’t have make my day any better! Before I sleep, I was explaining to my dog how I’ve graduated and he just laid down his head on my knee listening to me the whole time I was talking.

It was yet another perfect day.

Wedding Bells

Melissa — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:07:34 +0000

One of the reasons why I flew back to Malaysia in such a hurry right after my finals was partly due to my lovely cousin’s brother wedding! It has been a long time since a wedding took place in my family and I hadn’t been to a wedding ceremony for a long time!

It was held on the morning after the day I arrived so technically I only had a few hours of sleep so hopefully I didn’t look too tired!! There wasn’t much to do so I was basically there to eat all the lovely buffet spread prepared by my aunt. I felt like I had gone up to food heaven because I was Malaysian-food deprived for so long so it was gobbling non-stop and chomping madness like it was an eating competition WTF!

All the decorations down to every single detail was done by the groom’s sister/my cousin sister! I really liked the christmas tree concept but it’s hanged with wedding/love related ornaments instead such as salt and pepper bottles! Being cousins, we shamelessly took this back when she casually said that we could take some things on the tree back. Who would have known that everyone in the family would at least take a single thing! I admit that I even took a hanger!! HAHAHAHAH WHAT? It’s printed with pink polka dots all over it! HAHAHHA FAMILY -nobody knows any shame when it comes to the family.

Seeing how it’s going to be such a hot and humid like any other day in Malaysia, I opted for something casual yet airy to maximise comfort without sacrificing on the stylish factor. I’ve gotten this neon yellow pleated mermaid skirt from Azorias long ago and I thought, this could be just the perfect occasion to wear it along with my cotton ‘denim’ shirt!

Knowing I’m such an accessories kind of girl, I’m pretty obsessed with sharp and spiky things lately so it’s no surprise that you’re seeing me in this spiky necklace. Gives me a new level of attitude along with my latest haircut that I got myself right before the wedding dinner itself!

I really liked Sandy’s wedding dress that night as it really reminds me of 20s! The feather head clip to crystals and beads dangling from her sleeves, everything including the wedding was absolutely beautiful.

The dinner was held on the next day instead so there was plenty of time to get ready hahaha! Being cousins, we were given tasks to help decorate the place with balloons and leading the guests to their respective tables.

What do you think of this dress that I’ve designed myself? You could tell that I’m really liking the asymmetry trend and I really love how this dress conveys a hint of mystery from the see through chiffon.

Felt like Katy Perry that night with my new partly shaved head, blue streaks of hair ends, a soft gradient green dress along with a pair of high platform heels with a pink plastic heel at the back!

I really enjoy weddings, especially the ones from my close family ties because it’s such an amazing joy to be able to meet everyone all in one night. For years, all of us cousins hadn’t been together as everyone’s very well all over the world so I’m really glad we could sit down together and enjoy a lovely meal together!

For my first outfit I was wearing:
Cotton Denim Top from Dotti
Neon Yellow Pleated Mermaid Skirt from Azorias
Balenciaga Clutch
Spiky Necklace from Lovisa
Neon Green Watch from Swatch
Black Chiffon Wedges from Topshop

As for my second outfit I was wearing:
Gradient Green Chiffon Dress designed by me
Gold Collar Necklace from Lovisa
Platform Heels from Topshop

Perth Fashion Festival 2011

Melissa — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 12:52:41 +0000

Recently, I’ve got the chance to partake in the Perth Fashion Festival as a Style Envoy! I’ve been wanting to join since last year but it was too late for me to sign up last year so I didn’t waste a minute of time when I got to know the registration for volunteers are open! As I trembled my way through the interview, I was lucky to be picked out as the Back-Of-House Dresser for a few shows so it was absolutely great fun for the whole week!

For my first night, I was scheduled to work for WA Designers and Ae’lkemi shows. Being my very first time and apparently the biggest show so far for Perth Fashion Festival Week, I could literally pee in my pants as I’m so worried that I’ll mess up and not being able to get the models out in time!! True to my expectation, I did screw up for one second when the dress was put on the other way round! Mind you, they were REALLYYY tall as well! However, as I didn’t know pictures were allowed backstage, I only managed to take pictures on my second and third day shift.

I’d say the best experience for me was Hyogu Banshu where 6 designers were being sent all the way to Japan to manufacture their own fabrics and the collections from each of them was to die for! My favourite was the Origami dress! Thankfully, my model for that night was the friendliest I’ve met and the designer was awfully nice to us as well!

Every time before the show starts, I’ll get very jitty and nervous because trust me, backstage is as intense as everyone perceives. On normal days, girls take at least 10 minutes to get ready but we have to dress this models in one COMPLICATED outfit within 2 minutes most. All in all, it was definitely a great peek into the fashion industry.

PS: I’m dying for those pair of ankle boots in the last picture!!!

Just the beginning

Melissa — Tue, 24 May 2011 15:25:39 +0000

For two semesters, I’ve been looking forward to my Fashion Design class so eagerly. I still remembered the first day I stepped into the class during this semester, fearing that I might look like a Commerce student. You know, the Commerce face LOL but everybody was friendly and I managed to blend right in immediately!

Anyways, as I’ve said earlier that I will show you guys, these are the two dresses that I put my hands on to sew for my final assessment! I was proud for awhile because I thought ‘hey, this is just my second time and I managed to sew a dress!’. But after the presentation today, I realised that I hadn’t pushed or challenged myself hard enough to explore a better design. Oh wells, better not dwell myself in this! Let’s get on with my dresses!!

For this first one, I worked around my dress with kaleidoscope as my inspiration!! Bear in mind that the main idea of my unit is combining stripes, checks and florals and we’re tested on to see how well we could incorporate these three prints together into a garment! Wtf I feel like I’m presenting hahahha but OMG DID I TELL YOU!!! For the past two freaking years, all my presentations I’ll force myself to memorized a speech because really, half the time I have no idea what I was presenting for my accounting units. I just copied them from the textbook EEKKs. I’m pretty surprised that for this unit alone, I’ve never bothered preparing a speech in advance and I could speak with confidence and no blabbering around!! *proud moment!*

You could probably see that it’s a tad loose on me but OHMYGOD I SWEAR, I was so happy when i could fit into the dress! Initially I thought the bust was too big when I put onto mine WTF because I’ve forgotten that mine disappeared along with my weight loss LOL!! That’s why I have long hair now you see, to hide my flat chest!! MOVING ON FROM MY CHEST! Though it looks kind of normal here, I did one hugeeeee mistake and I’ll show you why in the end.

For my second dress, this was so loose I swear it dropped right off once I put it on me!! Because I have no idea on how to cut the fabric to fit onto my body size perfectly! So the only possible way I could make it stay was by using the waist belt! I screwed up the collars on both dresses though. Okay not just the collar.

I was kind of aiming for a edgy design but guess I failed miserably at it hohoho!

So yea, please ignore my puffy eyes because it’s the first time I’ve stayed up till 4 in the morning completing my assignments. I look so freakishly old now I don’t think piling tonnes of baby lotion could make me any younger WTH!! For this second dress, I played with different fabrics as you could see, hence the ‘turnn’ so you could see the flow yo! A tad bit high for the slit I guess but MUAHAHHAHA I like!! *hamsap face*

So there you have it, my second and third hand sewn dress! Gotta say though that I hadn’t put the best effort into doing this because I was rushing for time and I got tired of unpicking again and again due to my mistakes!!

LIKE THIS ONE OMG! I told you I’ve never stayed up this late, so this is what happens when I sew all of the pieces together. 95% done. THEN I NOTICED OHMYGODWHATTHETOOT, my skirt was sewn on the wrong side!! Now I freaking looked like I’m superman’s wife with a huge red floral panty from the back WTFWTF!!! But one thing I love about design is that, even if it’s not meant to be like this initially, I managed to twist my words and said that it’s my intention to put it this way LOLOLOL!! (I like how i look way thinner when I take pictures using my iphone!! *roll eyes*)

Before I forget, thank you jiejie for bringing me sweet treats from your high tea!! I really love the lemon meringue nyum nyum nyum!

PS: Obviously these wouldn’t be the last two sewing projects I have even though I don’t have any classes. I’m keen on challenging myself further and my mummy even asked me to go for sewing classes! That’s a start isn’t it?

Do you want to know how does my presentation looked like and how these dresses look on the mannequin next?

Don’t Run Away

Melissa — Sat, 21 May 2011 06:55:27 +0000

I’ve got so many things to update you all about but I’m just going to show you once it’s all done though my sewing isn’t really neat yet! But you’ll get to see it soon!!

You’ll have no idea how much damage those pins had done to my poor fingers AND LEGS!! And that’s my faithful little Momo being there the whole time I’m sewing/cutting/ironing pieces of fabrics etc!!

Right now I’m writing up on my digital portfolio(a 50-60 pages worth of business plan for my dress FUH!) and a presentation to talk about my final concept of the dress for my design tutorial due on Monday ughh!

Winter has officially started, but I still hadn’t pass the mood of wearing all my awesome tights that’s too thin fo the cold!! But that’s okay, I’ll survive. Things people do to look good HAHAHHHAA!!

‘Don’t let others stop you from doing what you want to do, do it the way YOU want to. Don’t let others lead you to things you don’t want to do.’ and ‘Keep trying till you get it right’

These are the two things that I kept telling myself.

Here’s a little peek-a-boo of my two dresses!! To give you a little bit of an idea, both of these dresses are on the extreme ends. One is sweet and the other is simply dark and alluring. I’ve got an asymmetrical skirt on one and the other features hand embellishments (thanks to my lovely sister, Michelle!) Ahem *coughs* in return for your help, Ramen on me!

WHAT? It’s hard taking pictures of yourself okay! Please ignore those few strands of hair!

OHHH, I’ve just signed up with bloglovin so give me some love will you?

Ps : Now, I have quite a few number of blogs which I love reading because it’s so inspiring to know that these people took the courage to choose the unconventional path. Just to name a few, I’ve first found out that Hui Wen here has been an auditor and now she’s pursuing her dream! And there’s the well known Chiara Ferragni whose taking a law degree but at the same time so successful in the name of Fashion and she even owns her very own shoe line! Now who says that we can’t go after our dream? *wishful thinking!*

And on top of that, spending 4.5 hours in the sewing lab was definitely a wise decision as I’ve managed to speak to this guy whose a current full Fashion student and he just graduated from an Accounting degree! To those of you out there, I’m just saying that we shouldn’t just lose hope on something we love just because of a minor obstacle (i.e in the wrong course, OKAY NOT MINOR HAHAH!), but you get the drill!

I’ve taken my first step by going into a Fashion Design class to see if it’s what I want, and I have to say that this decision has certainly made me want it even more! You might seem desperate but if you don’t push your own boundaries yourself and grab what you want, who else will do that apart from yourself?

Now, time to go sewing the pieces together andd write up a concept statement on these two dresses! Sin & Sinner? Thoughts!!! Suggestions??

Dressed Like a Beetle

Melissa — Sat, 14 May 2011 17:54:39 +0000

‘Sounds like you’ve signed up for Project Runway!

Eh, since you know how to sew now, can you help me fix my pants?

Hoi, the button on my jeans fell off, is it okay if you sew it back on for me?

Mei Yannnn, can you make me a dress so that I can go to the Pasar Malam please?‘

WHAT NONSENSE!!! *hits everyone except for the first person with a hammer!!* These are the responses I get when I told everyone about the things I do for my Fashion Design unit. Truth to be told, YES I’M EXHAUSTED but I’M IN LOVE at the same time with what I’m doing. My only issue is time as I’ve got a couple more assignments on hand. So that explains my blogging pattern.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Fremantle because the only reason I would go there is when I’m super craving for some good ol Fish & Chips!! Or when I gatal HAHAHAHAHA!

Every single time I enter the market, I would ALWAYS, ALWAYS see that there’s a lot of people joining the long queue to this ramen stall. The thing is, as much as I yearn to try it every time I see it, I’ll be so freaking full from fish & chips that I couldn’t even shove an ice down my throat!! But thank god, I got around to try it just last Friday with Amelie and her bf! True to my expectations, it’s so good down to every bite!!

While walking around Fremantle, I spotted my favourite car, Beetle!!!! Then it strikes me that the colour combination of my choice of clothing for the day matches this car perfectly. Hoppity hop, I wanted to take a picture with the car so that I will at least have a picture of myself with that car!! But there was a woman talking on the phone next to it and I’m so worried that if I were to do that, she’ll give me weird stares!! T_T

We only spent a few hours around in Fremantle because our main intention of going there is for Amelie to take pictures for her Photography assignment so not many outfit pictures! But I’ve got to say that it’s such a breather to be able to tag along to Fremantle because I have not got the time to go out for a while now because of my work load ishh! Sorry I had to make this into a short post because I have to rush my 2 dresses now! Will show you guys once it’s done!

BY THEN, please give me nice responses!!

ALEXANDER MCQUEEN SILK SCARF
DIVA RINGS
COACH PINK PATENT LEATHER BAG
ZARA BRIGHT YELLOW CARDIGAN
KOOKAI WHITE TOP WITH FRILLS
UNIQLO JEGGINGS
SISTER’S PURPLE CORDUROY FLATS

Happy Father’s Day

Melissa — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:28:15 +0000

Wow, I really do do things at the eleventh hour huh, considering that it’s exactly 11pm right now as I’m writing this. Anyway, it’s Father’s Day in Malaysia today and obviously I would not want to waste this chance to do something special to my precious daddy.

So Happy Father’s Day from both jiejie and I. < — See Jie, your lovely sister included you without your request.

We love you Daddy and even though we might have arguments now and then, and how it appears that we don’t love you, you know that deep down inside, we want what’s best for you. HAHAHA lol wth. I mean we want you to know that deep down in our hearts, we respect you and love you truly.

Old School

Melissa — Sun, 24 May 2009 12:47:17 +0000

I’ve finally finished my Communications in Business assignment and that marks my final report of the semester. *phew* It was fun doing it but I rather study for the finals than do my report. I dread assignments. With all the due dates and REFERENCING format, it just blew my head off.

Studies aside, I’ve been reading Tongue in Chic fashion blog as well as Ming’s(one of the participants from Malaysian Dreamgirl Season 2) and my obsession for floral prints, vintage style, animal prints and tartan came falling back again like a major avalanche. I wish my mum keeps all her stuffs from the 70s and 80s, instead of giving it away. That’ll save me a lot of money seriously.

I wondered why polaroids went out of season!

This is probably one of my favourite shots of the day. The only thing I played with was the hue to give it a whole new vintage feel. It’s located in one of the buttons under the layer pallette on your bottom right so it’s pretty easy.

The heart-shaped shades was probably one of my best investment. I fell in love when I set my eyes on it and I just got to buy it. Luckily there are no regrets till this day.

If you want to add a lil vintage feel to your photos, you should follow the tutorial from here. It’s simple and nice. Enjoy!