When East meets West: My top 5 picks from ‘I Love Designer’

When I met I Love Designer founder G. Bond on my last trip in London, she was on a mission. As a product of Eastern and Western upbringing herself, she wanted to create a platform where East meets West specifically when it comes to creative and emerging talents.

Her recently launched e-boutique - which specializes in luxury accessories - is certainly one to stand out, as it carefully selects beautiful products from various parts of the world.

And while big brand names from both sides of the worlds are ever so expanding nowadays, smaller, independent boutique brands are much harder to get hold of unless you live in that specific city or part of the world where they happen to exist.

This is exactly where I Love Designer comes as an exciting new place where all these cool brands have become available regardless which part of the world you live in.

Rocking this Queen of Hearts bangle certainly takes some attitude!! I'm in love
with this piece from Manish Arora for Amrapali collection available on the site!

Behind The Scenes: Styling up Zardoze's giveaway winner with some glamour

One of the many many reasons I love being a personal stylist is witnessing someone step into something out of the ordinary and instantly evolve into the best version of themselves (on the outside that is!)

There is something very satisfying about looking into their faces as they gaze in the mirror and feel confident and happy with the way they look.

And this why I was as excited as Nie Yile (the winner of my Zardoze giveaway contest last Jan) whom I finally had the chance to style and shop with for some outfits and accessories from the label, worth a whopping S$500!!!

Yile was younger than I expected and looked even much younger when I met her, so the first challenge was to try to find something suitable for her age, lifestyle and her tiny 5 foot 1 figure – knowing that Zardoze does mainly cocktail and evening wear.

Midnight in the Garden: Statement handmade accessories for your summer wardrobe

It seems everywhere I go in Singapore, I keep stumbling upon more and more cool accessories labels popping up from this little island. And of course I'm not complaining :-)

My latest of which is Midnight in the Garden, a vibrant hand crafted accessories label by local art teacher Ade G., who decided to turn her hobby of assembling jewellery trinkets into a small business and most importantly share her creations with the rest of us.

Stocked at one of the coolest accessories shop in town – What Women Want in Mandarin Gallery – I first spotted the label last summer and was drawn like a magpie to the vibrant colours and quirky designs in her collections which stand out immediately. So it came no surprise when I learned that the designer is influenced by her art  training and through combining different element, she tries to play with unconventional compositions to create something very individual about her style.

I love the chic with a twist look of this gorgeous necklace, hand-made by
art teacher Ade for her label 'Midnight in the Garden'

And some bang on trend colourful rings for summer!

Bonjour Beirut: Johnny Farah's fabulous bags!

My husband has always joked that no matter where he went in the world, there would be four things – Chinese, Indians, a Lebanese businessman and an Irish pub!

While it is understandable why people from the two most populated nations on earth would exist everywhere, the Lebanese one has always puzzled him. That was until he met me and came with me back home to understand more of our unique culture.

Most of my co-nationals will write prose about the natural beauty, the weather, the food and the party scene which Lebanon enjoys but for me, nothing makes me more proud than seeing some truly unique people making it everywhere in the world while keeping a distinct character about them.

Johnny Farah is one of those people. And although I only found about him on my latest visit back home, believe it or not, he’s been around in the industry at least a decade before Elie Saab and enjoyed the company of greats such as Andy Warhol while living in NY in the 70s!

Johnny Farah's collaboration with artist Ranya Srakbi has produced some to-die-for bags
which live up to the label's chic identity but adds on a stunning twist!

What I’ll be wearing this Spring/Summer from Singapore designers

One of the great things about living in Singapore is being spoilt for choice when it comes to fashion. And I don’t mean by that the availability of big designer and high street brands everywhere you go, but rather the variety of Singaporean designers and labels, who seem to improve each season.

For those who doubt the ability of these talents, this Spring/Summer season will especially prove them wrong. The season has not yet begun but from the collections which have been released so far, a few things have caught my eye already!

From day to occasion dresses, accessories and even swimwear, check out which 5 items from Singaporean designers have hit the spot and made it to my summer list of must-haves. We’re still in March so the list will definitely expand once more collections are unveiled and once I’ve saved enough for the next batch ;-)

This dress from Singapore label Yumumu is firmly on my list this season!

What I wore to London Fashion Week A/W13

Fashion weeks these days are as much about the shows, new trends and designers as they are about streetstyle. But nothing prepared me to the streetstyle mayhem at Somerset House where it was more like paparazzi frenzy!

The decision to attend London Fashion Week this year came late and I hardly had any time to prepare – or pack any outfits to bring from Singapore. But even if I did plan, my outfits after living eight years between Dubai and Singapore meant very little I owned was suitable for the freezing London temperatures.

But it’s not all bad. While I didn’t have time (or the budget) to shop for an LFW wardrobe I did manage to recycle the outfits I had worn and mix and match them with accessories and a few pieces I picked up between London and Beirut in the past few months.

Almost all my LFW wardrobe was recycled from stuff I had already worn and
owned for years! And when I have a bad hair day, my kafeyya is still the best solution ;-)

5 emerging Asian designers to look out for

For decades, Europe and America have been the centre of the fashion world. While that’s largely true – the four most important fashion weeks do happen in the West after all – but that doesn’t mean that it’s only Western designers who are shaping the future of fashion.

Take a look at the rise of the Asian designer in the states, and the increasing number of designers from that side of the world muscling their way into London and Paris.

Even back in the day the likes of John Rocha (Hong Kong) and Jimmy Choo (Malaysia) were making sure the world was aware of Asia as a creative hub as well as a manufacturing base.

Over the past few years you have the more established lines of Jason Wu, Prabal Gurung, Vera Wang, Richard Chai or Alexander Wang all flaunting their Asian heritage all across the major fashion weeks.

Now the question has to be, where is the next generation of Asian designers coming from? Who is going to be the next big thing to hit the catwalks of London, Paris, New York and Milan?

Read on to have a look at my pick of five Asian designers to look out for and remember you saw it here first!

Yeashin Kim (S. Korea), Haizhen Wang (China) and Lionel Low (Singapore) are some
of the rising Asian designers to look out for!