The making of a Style Editorial- the City Nomads way
PUBLISHED November 30th, 2012 03:47 am | UPDATED May 9th, 2018 03:13 am
…..the sky turned black, a foreboding roar of thunder echoed, and as the sound of raindrops began to tap a taunting percussion against the window pane, my heart sank further and further. Scouring the sky for blue bits and finding none, just menacing black clouds, it seemed impossible! You know what they say about best laid plans?
Rewind…to some months prior, and I had had one of those ‘light bulb’ moments, “wouldn’t it be wonderful to put together a City Nomads Style Editorial?” and like many other random thoughts that pop in to my head, I made a mental note of it and filed it away in the “one day it would be nice”, section. Except it didn’t go away and I started to think about all the brands and shops I had met and featured over the last year, think of their collections, their varying styles, and mentally started to pull looks and ideas together. One of the best parts of my job is meeting fabulous people who have started their own business out of a drive and passion for fashion, style and beauty. It seemed like the perfect way to celebrate them, to unify our favourite people through one project and at the same time, a bit of a self-indulgent adventure, because this is what I love to do!
What started as an idea became a reality when chatting to Elwin Goh, photographer extraordinaire, friend of mine, and of City Nomads. ‘Sounds good’, he said, ‘when are we doing it?’. Crikey, he doesn’t mess around! Talking to him about the ideas, the concept, I started to get hugely excited and couldn’t help feel that if Elwin was on board it would be pretty awesome. Elwin has been involved in photography and the visual arts for over 10 years having studied at both the Art Center College of Design in California and Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Singapore. Something of an international man of mystery, he jetsets between Singapore and the States and so having him on board felt like a bit of a coup! You can check out his portfolio and works here.
Next on board was the delightful, charming and ridiculously beautiful Jamie Ang, previous Miss Singapore Commonwealth 2011-12, and currently FHM’s Model of the year 2012 winner and cover girl of FHM August’s issue. She’s a friend so I already knew she’s a total sweetie pie, but put her in front of a camera and hot diggity! that girl can work it! Smouldering would be an understatement.
From there it all started to fall into place, Zalora were on board (woop!) and happy to contribute (I’m thinking that these guys probably need no introduction, but if you’re not sure who they are…and seriously do you live under a rock? take a look here); as were the lovely ladies of Willow & Huxley- multi brand boutique, fashion emporium and place of temptation (check out our feature here).
The girls at ERIIN.com were almost as excited as I was (check out their stylish, curated collection online here) as was the yummy Kara from WYLD Agencies (check them out here) who said, ‘yeh honey, take anything you like!’. And the lovely Apsara of MYthology on Club Street allowed me to select pieces from her exquisite store, which as the most luxe of our fashion contributors left me a little nervous- must not ruin the clothes, must not ruin the clothes! (See our review of MYthology here).
Jewel-wise we were spoilt for choice. From the chunky, bedazzling gems of Peachy shop (read all about them here ) to the bold otherworldly designs of By Invite Only (read our review here) and the more delicate, intricacies of My Vintage Jewel Box’s gold and precious stone offerings (see our feature here). Strangelets, part gallery, part shop, part ‘I want to take it all with me immediately’ happily contributed an amazing fabric necklace which almost didn’t make it back to the shop because I have a feeling it wanted to stay at my house (check out our review of Strangelets here). And in a true test of honesty and integrity, I didn’t skip the country with the divine luxury bag that Doorstep Luxury kindly allowed me to borrow (if you’re looking to treat yourself, check out our review here). Finally we couldn’t forget Le Bunny Bleu whose cute flats we’re huge fans of, and so we got them in on the action too (read our review here).
It was then that a little guardian angel must have noticed exactly what we were missing, as a week before the shoot (yes, I know, it’s a bit last minute, give me a break ok!) it was by pure fortune and amazing luck we were introduced to Wee Lin and Watti at Pro Academy. If you’ve not heard of them yet, you will soon. Offering beauty courses and passing on skill is what they’re all about. You know that saying, give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and he’ll feed himself for life? Well, I think the equivalent goes something like, teach a girl how to use make up properly and she’ll look gorgeous for life! You can check out the courses they offer here and look out for a feature coming up on them real soon. Make-up and hair- sorted!
And so it was that we had everything ready, good to go; the concept was locked down, I’d prepared each shot in minute detail for a number of OUTDOOR locations (good thinking in wet season ya?!), I had bored everyone no doubt to tears with my mood board and inspiration images, Elwin was prepping the equipment, Watti was working her magic, Jamie was looking spectacular and at that very moment, the heavens opened and my carefully planned shoot was effectively washed away sob.
But seriously, do you think I’d have waffled on for so long if it never happened? No way jose!
Despite a totally different location, and a huge rethink we pulled it off and have some truly beautiful shots- take that you pesky rain- we will not be beaten! I’d just like to say a HUGE thanks to everyone involved for their generosity of both actual goods and time, energy and positive spirit when it all looked a bit bleak. The pictures are coming soon, but we just wanted to give you a little taster, an amuse-bouche if you will…..ta daaaaa! Deeeee-licious!
Written by Heh Zee
