LOOK 1 – Jeans & oversized shirt from H&M, tribal flat from Vincci, bag from Charles & Keith, head wrap & head accessory from Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman and Forever21
Name:
Nazirah Ashari
Age:
27
Occupation:
Editor and writer at Jiboneus.com; Music writer at BestNewBands.com
Describe your personal style:
I like to think that my personal style is all about confidence, comfort and being distinctive. I could be edgy and feminine at the same time and I could go all corporate-approved. When it comes to styling, I adapt pretty well so long that I am comfortable wearing whatever I’m wearing at the time, and I’d be able to be confident in it while having a special quality that would make me stand out from the crowd.
This being said, my main rule to styling is to not give a damn to your surrounding and it’s all about your mindset – only you know whether or not you’re rocking the look and not the other way around. I’m definitely an edgy girl but deep down inside, there’s quite a big portion of me that is very feminine too. So when I dressed up, you’ll see a mix of these two elements – “edgy” will be depicted by the shoes I’m wearing which mostly are flats, boots, loafers and oxfords; and then there’s men shirts that I like a lot. The manlier they are the better. My “feminine” side can be seen through the dresses that I’m wearing or the shoes – I actually love wedges a lot! Of course my headscarf or the headwraps will automatically exude the feminine side of me and I some time like to go loud with them. I would love to consider my style to be slightly androgynous but then again it’s not. I think having that manly approach or elements to women fashion is always cool and sexy too.
What do you think about the fashion scene in KL:
It’s so easy to bump into stylish people in KL these days which is always great. And when I say stylish, they vary from ‘following-the-trend’ type (which you can easily detect) to those genuine ones. Whichever group that you might fall into – that doesn’t matter to me cause I believe in order for KL to get to a stage where it’s a recognizably vibrant, creative and unique city of its own, with distinctive individual styles playing a significant role to achieving that – you gotta allow people – young and old to carry themselves well.
KL is slowing becoming a stylish city where awareness to dress well and appear stylish comes from both peer and societal pressure and this is a great start. With a booming online shopping scene and brands and boutiques opening all around KL giving more options for people to shop hence being creative with what they are wearing is a sign of a great stylish city in the making. I also like how locals are also being really supportive of local brands, fashion lines – simply anything that is made in Malaysia. Right now, you might sense and see the vibe being all about “fitting in” instead of “being your unique self” but again, like I said earlier, that doesn’t matter now. Let’s just allow that awareness to grow and soon enough we’ll get there… perhaps the most stylish city in South East Asia to begin with? Who knows?
Your favorite place to shop:
As a plus size, my choice of available brands that cater to my size used to be somewhat limited and I think it is still limited. So when it comes to shopping, I prefer to go to malls that carry my usual brands. I try to stick with British/European/American brands that cater to plus size too like Dorothy Perkins (DP in Malaysia used to be plus size’s staple brand and they were good at it but I noticed that they have cut down number of pieces for the biggest sizes – UK18, UK20 – which is a shame), H&M (just a small section, but that’s a good start) and Marks & Spencer (only that they can be really pricey from time to time). But I like to check out brands like Zara, Topshop and Forever21 from time to time to see if they have clothes that might fit me with loose/oversized being a trend these days.
Local brand like Ms. Read has some good pieces from time to time too. Yes, Ms. Read might appear to cater to the more matured crowd but you can’t deny the quality of their clothes, most times they are better than renowned mass-produced lines. They have some really good basic and classic pieces that last. I shop online too. My favorite plus size online clothing line is TrendyConfessions.com and I shop there a lot. Of course there’s ASOS that carries pretty much everything that is cool and trendy. Most importantly I don’t have to worry about the selection for plus size.
LOOK 2 – Black blazer & top from Dorothy Perkins, orange flat from Steve Madden, jeans from NEXT, bag from Marc by Marc Jacobs, sunglasses from RayBan, head scarf from Sofia Elena
LOOK 3 – Pleated maxi skirt from Ms Read, shirt from Dorothy Perkins, bag from Marc by Marc Jacobs, head wrap from Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, sunglasses from RayBan, olive green stacked heels from (the now-defunct) Vincci+
LOOK 4 – Oversized shirt from H&M, printed pant from Dorothy Perkins, bag from Marc by Marc Jacobs, tote bag – a free gift from Sephora, oxford shoe from Forever21, headwrap from Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman
