Thursday 28 November 2013

Cate Blanchett skincare secrets

Cate Blanchett says being consistent with the skincare products she used is vital to have a fresh-faced glow.

The 'Blue Jasmine' star knows moving from different film sets means she will always be subjected to different cosmetics, but she always strives to ensure the products she uses to wash and cleanse her face are the same.

Asked her ultimate beauty tip, she said: "Find a good multi-vitamin. And for me it's also consistency.

"Being an actress, you have a lot of different products on your skin, and that's one thing for beauty, but for skincare, I find that the consistency has really paid off for me."

And Cate says her persistence has paid off as it means she can skip some base products when she is short on time.

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She told Marie Claire online: "Working with really great make-up artists, I realised that they prime your skin like a canvas, and I'd never thought of that before. So the moisturiser you put underneath has to work with the foundation.

"I'm pretty time poor like everyone, so often I won't put the foundation on - I'll just prep the skin."

The 44-year-old actress is a particular fan of SK-II's three-step LXP range as she finds them illuminating and hydrating.

She explained: "All of the products have Pitera in them, which no other skincare line has. And it has illuminising properties, it feeds the roots of your skin, it's really hydrating and [great for] that dreaded thing, anti-ageing."

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Sunday 24 November 2013

Power of dressing for success

She's known for gracing the Best Dressed lists and now she wants to help other women feel great in their clothes.

Jaime Ridge is the face of The Great Designer Sale, a fundraiser for charity Dress For Success Auckland on November 29 and 30, in which designer clothing - both pre-loved and new - can be snapped up for as little as $5, with nothing on sale for more than $50.

"I really like how creative Dress For Success is and what they do to help people," says Ridge.

"It's not your usual charity. Plus, I love fashion, I love clothes, I love the idea of people going in and coming out different - I find that really exciting."

Dress For Success (dressforsuccess.org) helps women facing tough times find an outfit that makes them look and feel fantastic for job interviews.

Every woman receives a top-to-toe dressing from a specialist volunteer - clothing, makeup, jewellery, shoes, a handbag and anything else she will need to make a good first impression.

Clients get to keep everything they are given, and once they secure a job they can come back for a second dressing and help with mentoring and networking programmes, which are all free.

Jaime Ridge

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While clients are never asked to explain why they need help, Dress For Success is used by women from all backgrounds, from students entering the workforce for the first time right through to women who "once had it all but have been set back" and forced to start again.

Ridge says she knows a little of what it's like to be unsure of yourself.

"I am at uni so I know what it's like to stress out about finding a job and not knowing what the right thing is to wear.

"I do think it's quite important to be well dressed. If I was an employer, I think it also shows how much care you put into your work.

''They say if you present yourself well, you'll do everything else well. And when you are well dressed it gives you confidence and makes you feel good about yourself."

Ridge says she often gives away her old clothes - either to friends or charity- and she wouldn't think twice about wearing something 'vintage'.

But she confesses that most of the time you will find her wearing jeans, gym tights and T-shirts.

"When I go out at night or if I'm doing something nice, then I do put a lot of time into thinking about what I'm going to wear.

''But I try not to spend too much money. I have statement pieces like really nice handbags and shoes and a lovely pair of jeans, but I don't go crazy. I don't go and buy $1000 dresses I can only wear once or anything."

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Tuesday 19 November 2013

An Isabella Blow Exhibition Opens at Somerset House

Perhaps there’s only one thing missing from the exhibition on Isabella Blow, which throws open its doors in London tonight: The sound of her great, honking laugh. Still, the infectious exuberance of the late, incendiary British editor and her sensual, reveling enthusiasm for fashion pulsates through every nook and cranny of “Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore!” “It’s a trip!” exclaims Philip Treacy, whose career was ignited by her while he was still a millinery student at the Royal College of Art. “It brings back all the things about life with Issy—all the fun, all the fights. She enjoyed fashion and was entertained by it, and I think you feel that here. I’m happy for her. It’s all as she’d like it. It feels like she’s been running the show.”
The show at Somerset House is essentially a loving homage from Isabella’s surviving friends, brilliantly curated by Alistair O’Neill and Shonagh Marshall to tell her story through her wardrobe and work. When Isabella ended her own life in 2007, it was Daphne Guinness who stepped in to buy her friend’s mountain of clothes to save them from being dispersed at auction. There’s Alexander McQueen’s graduate collection (brought to her in bin bags by the designer, who marched her to the ATM to pay in cash), her monumental stash of Treacy’s headgear, her piles of Manolo Blahnik shoes, and dozens of pieces from many more designer protégés.
Her filmmaker friend John Maybury remembers: “Last time I saw Issy, we were sitting together at a dinner, where she was wearing a hat with sort of bull horns, which almost took my eye out. I just remember us laughing our heads off. She had a pioneering belief in designers. She had the most beautiful clothes, but wore them day in, day out like they were overalls.”
Loudly cheering from the front rows in her alarmingly surreal hats, corseted dresses, teetering heels, and approximately applied red lipstick, Blow put McQueen, Treacy, Hussein Chalayan, and Julien Macdonald on the world stage—her massive contribution to the reputation of “Cool Britannia” in the mid-nineties. An introductory gallery, clad in black velvet, is titled “Truffling for Talent,” a phrase coined by her friend Hamish Bowles for Isabella’s drive to discover—and wear—the best designers out of British art college . . . . “She had the conviction to make herself into a walking billboard for all that talent,” says John Maybury. Her eye for picking out and nurturing aristo-edgy girls to model was just as sharply accurate: Stella Tennant, and Honor Fraser owe their careers to her, as a roomful of Steven Meisel shoots attests.
The exhibition wends its way from her cash-strapped upbringing as a daughter of the aristocratic Delves Broughton family, through her career at Tatler and The Sunday Times, and touches on the (literally) rich tapestried-backdrop of the arts & crafts-cum-medievalist lifestyle, she and her husband, Detmar Blow, played with at his Gloucestershire country home, Hilles.
There are discoveries which will stop gallerygoers in their tracks. Blow’s kindling of a generation of fashion-friendship action is replayed on a VHS tape nobody knew existed until curator O’Neill found it two months ago languishing on top of a cupboard at the Royal College of Art—the graduation show of 1990, with Treacy’s hats modeled with haughty hilarity by Blow, Lucy Ferry, and Hamish Bowles.
O’Neill devotes two breathtaking rooms to the events of autumn-winter 1996, when Blow’s incendiary talents as a fixer, stylist, and provocateur were first identified by Amy Spindler of The New York Times as the fuel behind London’s resurgence. That was the season Blow bought a huge tranche of McQueen’s seminal Dante collection—incredible deconstructed lace dresses, a gold-embroidered military frock coat, a mauve hourglass corseted jacket, and a black mantilla cascading from a pair of silver antlers made by Treacy. It all stands in a towering set, which mimics the columns of Christchurch and Spitalfields, where McQueen showed. Up a spiral staircase hung with plastic abattoir curtains (a detail which would have made Blow hoot) is a room containing the history of that following evening, when she styled a fashion show for Treacy.
purple bridesmaid dresses | plus size bridesmaid dresses Treacy’s most poignant commission for Blow is The Ship, the black eighteenth-century galleon that was placed on her coffin at her funeral in Gloucester Cathedral. In the exhibition, it’s sailed to a happier place as the pièce de résistance in a tableau dedicated to her love of the sea, accompanied by Erik Halley’s lobster hat and a Mr Pearl corset.
Ultimately, despite the sad manner of her departure, Isabella’s legacy is an exhibition experience thousands will queue for, and leave motivated to dress up, inspired to design—and smiling. Treacy reflects: “It’s an epic homage. I spoke to Issy five days before she died, and she was saying she felt she didn’t matter anymore. I’m happy for her. Glad that she’s been proved wrong. She does matter.”
Proceeds from the exhibition and a charity auction tonight at Claridges will go into the Isabella Blow Foundation Daphne Guiness set up to fund research for depression and mental illness, and to finance scholarships for art and fashion students at Central Saint Martins.

Sunday 17 November 2013

Dita Von Teese shares her secrets

Dita Von Teese made a name for herself wearing racy lingerie during her shows as a burlesque dancer, and she has now launched her own range of sexy underwear.

Kate Waterhouse caught up with the 41-year-old to chat about how she maintains her porcelain skin, her hopes to one day start a family and how retirement is not on her agenda.

When you go through customs, do you put ''burlesque dancer'' as your occupation?

No, [laughs] I try to tell the truth but I try and be as low-key as possible. I usually say ''entertainer'' or ''dancer'' and hope they won't ask what that means. When people ask me what I do I get very shy about it. I was sitting next to Beyonce's father once on a plane, and I know Beyonce, and I'm sitting there minding my own business and all the flight attendants were coming over to tell me how much they like me, and I was dressed up like I always am, and he finally was like "who are you and what do you do?" and I was like "well, I don't know if you remember your daughter when she did a video clip in a giant champagne glass, that is what I do every day, that is my job". Sometimes I just cut to the chase and say "I'm a stripper" and they get so confused that I am a striptease star and how anyone can make a living out of that, and I get a lot of joy from people trying to figure it out.

How do you prepare for your shows?

In the weeks before, I bump up my workouts. I'm a little bit more careful about what I eat, not so much for how I look but for how I feel as I need to feel really strong. But I'm careful not to get too thin - looking too thin on stage with burlesque is a big faux pas.

How do you stay fit?

I do a lot of Pilates and I also take ballet classes. I do dressage and I just started fencing, which I'm very interested in.

Do you get annoyed at the imitators and people copying your shows?

dita Von Teese

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It depends where it's coming from. I get annoyed with people who are just doing it for profit. I'm very joyful when girls are embracing burlesque, but at the same time there are people who will copy my show exactly. I have had lawsuits with people who have completely ripped off [my show] for profit and I'll stand up for myself when someone is interfering with my business.

What is the strangest thing a fan has done?

I don't like to use the word strange because I have great fans. But I do get letters from prison that I really do enjoy and I think, "wow, this is old school to be a burlesque pin-up and get a letter from prison".

Why did you decide to release your own lingerie line?

I got my start working in a lingerie store when I was 15 and so my love of lingerie is what led me to my love of pin-up photos and burlesque shows, so it's really interesting to come a full circle.

You are a sex symbol to many men, what do you find sexy in a man?

I think it's really important to be around men who have their own sense of self and own self-worth. I find that some of my best relationships with men are [with those] who understand me and what I do. They want to know Heather Sweet from Michigan [her real name and home town], but they understand that it's not a duel persona, it's not Dita Von Teese and Heather Sweet. Everything that I do on stage is a part of who I am. It's not like two personalities and sometimes men are so quick to want to dismiss the stage persona. I've dated men who have not wanted to see my stage show and I'm like "how can you not want to see my show?"

Have you got a man in your life?

I'm casual dating. I am at this amazing moment where I'm on second dates with several different men. I've always been a serial monogamist, in relationship after relationship, and right now I feel that I don't just want to have boyfriends any more. I want to date and keep it casual until it blows the doors off my life and think "this is the man I want to be with forever''.

Do you hope to one day get married and start a family?

Yes, I would definitely love to be married [she was married to rocker Marilyn Manson from 2005 to 2007] and I definitely would like to have a child but it's really interesting, as women we are told "go, go, go, career, career, career" and then suddenly you go "wait, no one warned me that I should kind of think about, you know".

Will you ever retire?

I think of evolution a lot. There are things that I would never do in my show, the way that I did back when I first started. I now want to feel womanly and there are shows that get retired because they seem a little girlish now, so it's important to always evolve. Some of the greatest burlesque dancers in history were not the youngest, the prettiest or the best dancer, sometimes it's something else and it's a lot to do with intelligence and sense of self. Sally Rand performed well into her 60s but in a different way. When people rely too much on their beauty and youth you have nothing when that's gone, so you have to keep cultivating all the other things that make you interesting.

You have amazing skin, how do you maintain it?

Sunscreen, no smoking, I drink this thing called the glowing green smoothie every morning, by this nutritionist called Kimberly Snyder. She has this book called The Beauty Detox Foods and I follow that regime as best as I can. The smoothie is 70 per cent green and 30 per cent fruit, so I put in spinach, ginger, coriander and add fruit.

Wednesday 13 November 2013

An Early Glimpse at Victoria’s Secret Model Lineup

Walking the annual Victoria’s Secret extravaganza is a milestone in any model’s career. After all, it’s as much about lighting up the stage with your personality (not to mention dance moves—who could forget Jourdan Dunn doing the robot last year?) as it is about having a killer body, and being able to smile while strutting with a pair of thirty-pound wings on your back. While there’s no way to confirm exactly who will be appearing on the VS catwalk this evening alongside Taylor Swift, we’ve come up with an educated guess based on social media clues gathered over the past week, as well as shots from yesterday’s rehearsal (like the one above, featuring Sara Sampaio, Martha Hunt, Jasmine Tookes, and Leva Laguna working the runway).

Of course there are bound to be appearances by veteran Angels such as Adriana Lima (it will be her fourteenth time participating in the show), Candice Swanepoel, Alessandra Ambrosio, Behati Prinsloo, Doutzen Kroes, Lily Aldridge, Karlie Kloss, and Cara Delevingne. [Regrettably, Miranda Kerr announced she will be ending her contract with the lingerie megalith to pursue other projects.] Those aforementioned supers are all but givens at this point, and so it’s the remaining twenty-plus coveted slots—selected by casting director John Pfeiffer—that really get us excited. Style has learned that several high fashion runway regulars will be making their VS debuts tonight: Sigrid Agren and Josephine Skriver (both posted snapshots of themselves sporting the official Angels bomber jacket on Instagram), as well as Ming Xi, Maria Borges, Kasia Struss, and Jac. We were even more thrilled to hear that some our top Spring ’14 newcomers including Malaika Firth, Devon Windsor, Cindy Bruno, and Sara Sampaio also beat out dozens of more established girls to earn their first pair of wings.

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Monday 11 November 2013

Miss Dior Has You Covered

This week, Dior will inaugurate an exhibition in tribute to the brand’s original, groundbreaking perfume, Miss Dior, at the Grand Palais, in Paris. Launched by Christian Dior in 1947, Miss Dior was named for his beloved sister, Catherine, and its green chypre blend was a bold break from the powdery fragrances of the day—a gambit, like the New Look, that became an instant hit. For the Miss Dior exhibition, the house gave carte blanche to fifteen female designers from all horizons, whose challenge it was to reinterpret the spirit of the fragrance. In an exclusive preview, spoke with Ionna Vautrin, who took the iconic Dior silk glove and spun it into an architectural feat called Gloriette.

You’ve won two Wallpaper awards (in 2009 and 2011), as well as a prize from the City of Paris, for your creations. Is that why Dior reached out to you for this project?

I don’t think it was because of any one piece. I think it was probably more of a whole. My work is rather feminine and maternal, and I’m guessing that that is what brought me to their attention.

How did the collaboration come together?

It all took shape very simply. When I met with Dior, they presented to me the history of Miss Dior and its codes—the bow, the houndstooth, the dresses, et cetera. Gloves, of course, were a part of the story. I was intrigued by the idea of diverting that shape into a more decorative element that evokes an iconic fragrance.

How did you go about creating Gloriette?

That part wasn’t necessarily so simple! I finally came up with the idea of creating a kind of “micro-architecture” that was somewhere between couture and architecture. I found a very silky technical fabric and had it made into thousands of gloves. Gloriette speaks to a lot of the house codes at once: The layers of gloves that make up the roof create a kind of rosette, or flower; it also suggests a tutu or a dress or a fan, but at the same time, there’s also kind of an animal appeal—it could be feathers on a rare bird. In the end, Gloriette is a giant kiosk, a bit like the luxurious Follies Dior designed to present his perfumes, but in an XXL version.

What does it say about the perfume?

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The roof picks up the Miss Dior color codes of black, white, and pink, of course. But what I find even more compelling is that it stimulates the imagination around the creation of perfume: It is something you pass through. You can linger or not, but it is something that you can use and spend time with. Where this fits in with my work is that you can look at it and see many things at once. Lots of different impressions come together whether you are looking at it from the inside—which is like standing under a crinoline—or viewing it from the outside. That said, I am a designer; I don’t consider myself an artist.

For you, what’s the difference between art and design?

The difference for me is that, as a designer, I am in the habit of creating things that should be useful and functional: A chair should be useful every day. I look at design as sitting at the intersection of what is practical and utilitarian—and technical in terms of production—but also sculptural, because an object should spark desire. I think there’s an earthy quality to design. I love telling a story, but I’m not looking to make a political statement. An object’s first purpose is to be functional.

How does design differ from fashion?

For me, fashion is a separate art. It’s a bit like sculpture. When you look at what Christian Dior was doing, it was very sculptural. Creating silhouettes demands know-how, good taste, precision, and sophistication. You have to have a keen sense of detail. It’s really a very special, specific profession. It really demands that you dedicate your life to it, and it’s reinvented constantly.

Did Miss Dior alter anything about how you see design?

This was a chance for me to have a project that was just a little bit zany. I think I am more known for designing small, domestic objects, and Miss Dior allowed me to explore new territory on a few levels. Because the show is designed to travel, it presented a specific set of challenges. Everything has to disassemble and reassemble easily, like Legos. It made me want to explore scenography and micro-architectures.

How familiar were you with Miss Dior before this project?

Obviously, I knew the bottle, because it’s an icon. Beyond that, funnily enough, years ago I got my start working in a design studio that only did perfume bottles! So I knew Miss Dior’s shape, fragrance, and a bit of its history. It’s amusing to have gone from a time in my life when I was designing perfume bottles—not for Dior, mind you—to finding myself on the flip side, telling a story about a perfume through a decorative piece. For me, Miss Dior is a classic, like any other emblematic object. It’s a reference. And there’s also the fact that, in its day, Miss Dior was renegade. It’s the radical side that I find the most touching.

Thursday 7 November 2013

Crafting a Custom Lipstick at BITE Beauty's SoHo Lip Lab

Lilac. Melon. Coral. Cantaloupe. The profusion of off-kilter lip colors at the recent spring 2014 collections sent a seismic rumble through my makeup bag last month. Suddenly, basic felt boring—so when I heard about the arrival of BITE Beauty’s new custom lipstick lab in SoHo, I knew what I had to do. Armed with a picture of model Daria Strokous’s punkish, pastel peach mouth backstage at Fendi on my iPhone, I headed to the 500-square-foot space for a bespoke blending session.

Fendi’s neon pink lips backstage at the spring 2014 show served as the day’s lipstick inspiration.

Photographed by Victoria Will

Originally conceived as a summer pop-up shop, the Toronto-born makeup brand’s now-permanent outpost has been fielding lines around the block since opening its doors on Prince Street a few months back. This may have something to do with a) the company’s commitment to using only all natural food-grade ingredients that are technically safe enough to eat, and b) its extraordinary high-impact color pigments, which are totally addictive—even if you’re not the type to worry about silently ingesting trace amounts of your lipstick.

On arrival, I sit down at one of the brightly lit stations with blending specialist Stephanie Spence—an impossibly pretty redhead wearing an impossibly pretty red lipstick—and explain my mission: I want a cool yet bright, powdery yet fresh shade of coral that also happens to look great. Is that so much to ask?

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It is not, says Spence, who starts dipping into dozens of small round pots of pigment—smooth jars labeled with words like white, zinfandel, blue 520, or pomegranate—and then blending them on the flat surface of a sterilized light box with a little silver spatula.

After a few minutes, she offers me a small dollop of pigment to try on in front of the mirror. It’s pretty—but slightly too pink. By round two, we’ve worked our way to a chalkier, more apricot shade that’s weird in all the right ways. Before we finish, Spence lets me pick a finish. There’s sheer, matte, luminous crème, or—my choice—crème deluxe (a velvety finish that contains Japanese silk powder for extra conditioning). Next she asks me if I would like my lipstick to be infused with a hint of fragrance—in mango, cherry, peppermint, vanilla, violet, or citrus mango. I would not, which is fine, since unscented is also an option.

Finally, Spence sets to spinning my formula in a compact centrifuge, then pours it into a neat circular lipstick mold and chills it at precisely -2 degrees Fahrenheit until it hardens into a perfect waxy bullet form. The entire process takes approximately seven minutes from start to finish, right down to the neat handwritten label with my name on the box. The grand total? Forty-eight dollars—and enough newfound lipstick love to carry me through the coming year.

Tuesday 5 November 2013

Why Redheads Are Rising: From Prince Harry to Meadham Kirchhoff's Spring Show

Hair color alert! London has been at the epicenter of nonnatural coloring for quite awhile—but what happens now that everyone’s cycled through every shade of pastel, multicolored locks and dip-dyeing? Well, here’s the latest from the mouth of the oracle, Edward Meadham: Red-red. “I’m really over nonnatural color. I’m into unnatural natural.”

Red hair on the spring Meadham Kirchhoff runway.

You see what he means from these pictures from the Meadham Kirchhoff spring runway. The idea: intensifying colors that appear in nature. That might mean black-black or whitest-blond as well, but the fiery orange-red stole the show—pale faces and ringleted, bow-decorated hairdos, strangely and vividly tumbling over shoulders and contrasted against black-and-white halo hats. Where had that stunning image come from? Meadham says he’d been obsessing about two classic British sources while designing the collection—an odd combustion caused by a collision between David Bowie and Queen Elizabeth I. “I was watching a Youtube video of Bowie singing ‘Sorrow’ from the Pinups album, wearing a white suit, with his red hair. All the colors we used in the show started from that, really. Red and white—period.”

David Bowie

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As they were getting into the collection, he and Benjamin Kirchhoff had also decorated their studio walls with portraits of the sixteenth-century British court. Queen Elizabeth I, Gloriana, with her royal flame-colored locks (inherited from her notorious father, Henry VIII), only allowed herself to be painted wearing black, white, and red in her later life. The splendor of that awesomely powerful image-control (all farthingales and lace ruffs dripping with priceless pearls and embroidery) can be fully appreciated by all visitors to Elizabeth I & her People, an exhibition now running at the National Portrait Gallery.

Queen Elizabeth I

If all of that seems a little historical and far-off, don’t be deceived. Meadham Kirchhoff happened to bring up the subject at exactly the moment ownership of red hair has been a hot political topic in Europe. Part of it’s about Scottish pride. An estimated twenty million people in the U.K. carry the recessive gene for red hair—an estimated 650,000 of them in Scotland, the world's highest rate. The first Ginger Pride Walk took place at the Edinburgh Festival this summer, a good-natured family event organized by Shawn Hitchens, a Canadian comedian. It mirrors the much bigger International Redhead Day, which has been convened annually in the Dutch town of Breda, The Netherlands, since 2005. The visual impact of seeing so many redheads massing together—women, men, girls, and boys—is breathtaking, and lots of fun on a day of affirmation. But then again, the new redhead solidarity carries quite a lot of annoyance with it on the Scottish front. In September next year, the people of Scotland will be able to vote in a referendum on whether their country should become an independent state, separated from England for the first time since Queen Elizabeth’s Scottish cousin, King James I, united the two countries in 1603. It’s no secret that many people in Scotland aren’t that fond of the English.

Prince Harry and Princess Beatrice of York

What luck, then, that the English royal family has its own redhead weapons in the shape of Prince Harry and Princess Beatrice of York at the ready. Admittedly, Beatrice might have inherited her locks directly from her flame-haired mother, Sarah Ferguson—but who knows? That’s the thing about a recessive gene: it could be blue-blooded, Scottish, English, or whatnot. As for the rest of us, why not get that whatnot from a tube?

Sunday 3 November 2013

Melinda Looi: From 2D to 3D

In experimenting with a different dimension, a Malaysian couturier lands a prestigious nomination for her efforts.

THE fashion industry has been somewhat revolutionised by additive manufacturing (AM), otherwise known as 3D printing.

While prints are still very much ‘in’, 3D printouts however, are the next big thing.

From runways all over the world, we see an emerging trend of designs derived from 3D printing technology. These days, sketching is no longer confined to paper and elaborate fashion pieces can be brought to life with exact precision.

Where the local fashion industry is concerned, we have Melinda Looi – always at the forefront of couture – embracing 3D printing. She recently presented what is known to be Asia’s first 3D printed runway show. The theme of the night was Birds, which corresponded with her designs.

An avid lover of nature and the environment, Looi professed to have always been inspired by these beautiful, flighty creatures that are an amazing engineering feat by Mother Nature herself.

She worked with Materialise – a Belgian-based pioneer in AM software and solution, unveiling a collection of avian-inspired creations. The pieces – made of plastic and resin – comprise Face It (headgear), Stand On Me (wedges), Her Love And Strength (necklace), Let Her Shine (skirt), and Open Wings (cape).

Models of the night were clothed in nude bodysuits, with equally minimalistic hair and make-up. This was so that audiences were not distracted from the fascinating details and mechanisms of each outfit.

According to Looi, the process was not easy. In fact, the entire collection took a team of six to eight people to bring to life – including three 3D modellers, two engineers, and Melinda’s own team.

Overall, each piece took months to design, create, and convert into a 3D file, which was then sent to Belgium to be printed at the Materialise headquarters.

Looi, who is also a Star2 columnist (with the fortnightly Mel’s Place), said: “The design process has been a real eye-opener and highly educational experience for me. It was challenging because it involved co-ordinating efforts and technical expertise.”

“On the other hand, it was also great fun to be able to work with such an innovative technology. Creating fashion with technology has always been something I wanted to do, so when Materialise approached me with this opportunity, it was like a dream come true!”

Now, for her gallant efforts, Looi has been nominated in the Fashion Designer Of The Year category in the 3D Printshow Awards, in London. Launching this year and taking place from Nov 7 to 9, the event is slated to be an annual event with a purpose of recognising excellence within the 3D printing industry.

It will help to recognise those individuals who have embraced 3D printing as a new technology within a given field and also to acknowledge those who have worked tirelessly to improve 3D printing technology – making it more adaptable, robust and cost-effective for businesses and creative minds to adopt.

For Looi, the nomination was not expected. “Out of the blue, we found out that we have been nominated for this, in the crazy-cool 3D high tech world,” she commented.

“Thank you to all my supporters, my team, my beloved family, and great friends who have been helping me all this while. Even if I don’t win, I am happy just to have been nominated.”

More than that, Looi is also proud to bring recognition to the country with regard to the innovative use of 3D printing in fashion designing.

She said: “Now, there’s a Malaysian brand name in the 3D world map – I still can’t digest the fact.”

“The collaborative effort involving people from different fields and backgrounds truly reminded me that exciting and beautiful things happen when art and technology meet. It is truly a great honour to be the first Asian fashion designer to create a collection using AM technology.”

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