Wednesday 31 December 2014

Asakusa, Tokyo

I got back from Japan a couple days ago and I honestly wish I stayed longer! I had so much fun with family and friends, and I hate that the minute that bubble popped, I'm stuck at home doing coursework. While I'm working on my creative direction for my AW15/16 trend forecast, I couldn't help myself but procrastinate... So I started editing the new photos that I took in Japan, I was going to upload these some time in January, but thought, why not post today, so I am...



These photos were taken in Asakusa, Tokyo. My father use to take me here all the time when I was younger. We would walk up the stairs towards the o-mikuji stalls and receive a written fortune. So if you're visiting Tokyo, maybe try your luck at the temple in Asakusa!

In the photos below, I was wearing a poncho from Burberry, and Timberland boots.
Photographs taken by Nicole Ng.




Have a great New Year!

MN

The Fashion Dialogue

Tuesday 23 December 2014

The Peninsula, Tokyo

Instead of slaving away working on my uni project this week, I'm actually enjoying the holiday with the family in Tokyo. Photographs taken by Nicole Ng.



What I'm wearing: Hat (Jack Wills), Scarf (Burberry), Coat (Maje) and Jeans (American Eagle)


Hope everyone's enjoying their Christmas holidays! 

MN

The Fashion Dialogue

Wednesday 12 November 2014

Hanbok Cafe, Seoul

I know this seems so random, but it's been weeks since either Ryan and I have posted, and I felt the need to post something. Recently, I watched this video on YouTube (Things Asian Girls Like), and at one point, they mentioned professional photoshoots... So it got me reminiscing over my summer vacation, which I believe is quite reasonable because I've been in uni long enough.

Anyway, I went on a family trip to Seoul, and my cousin and I decided to go to a hanbok cafe. For those of you who do not know what a hanbok is, it's basically a traditional Korean dress. I was so new to the concept of hanboks, it was just so much fun. They first give you the menu so you can choose whichever package you want to do, don't worry, they can speak English! They then get you into their undergarments, which is a petticoat under all the colourful garments, and then do your make up. I had a layer of lashes on my eyes, and trust me, you can tell. After doing your make up, you can choose the garment you want, and they will help dress you. The last thing they do is work on your hair, and then you're allowed to go around the cafe and take selfies before the photographer gets ready to take your shots. They provide props and accessories depending on what went well with your costume.

My cousin and I felt like such tourists, but we didn't really care, we had so much fun messing around the cafe! It's worth trying out, especially if it's your first time going to Korea, I definitely would recommend it to anyone!

Here's a little sneak peek of what we did:







MN 

The Fashion Dialogue



Friday 31 October 2014

Halloween 2014

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you all enjoyed yourselves last night! And obviously not suffering too much from a hangover! But if you are, good job! 

I love dressing up, so it's not surprising that I decided to dress up for Halloween Thursday night and Friday night!


Sarah on the left, Megan in the middle, and me on the right

So that was Halloween eve! I dressed up as a zombie army girl and Megan was a dead mermaid and Sarah was a vampire! Eye contacts from Hunt or Dye, and random props from pound land! :P  
I didn't dress up too scarily for Halloween though! I was Willy Wonka, so I carried a basket of sweets and passed it out all night! It's honestly a great way to make friends in a club! 

I got my costume online this year, had to return it and re-buy it in a smaller size, but the online store handled everything very efficiently, so I definitely recommend it. If you ever have fancy dress nights, check out Joker's Masquerade! My Willy Wonka costume came with the hat and the collar.

Me and Sammie

Me and my Oompa Loompa

Lastly, just a happy Halloween from me and Ryan!


What did everyone dress up as this Halloween? Leave it in the comments below! 

MN

The Fashion Dialogue 



Wednesday 22 October 2014

Storytelling, Engaging The Consumer

Hey guys so todays post has been inspired by the theme set by a free short Digital Marketing course I've signed up for offered by Southampton. I've decided to look at recent advertising campaigns using story telling to engage consumers and kind of pick apart how I think they work, and if they didn't, why?


L'Invitation Au Voyage 

I'm sure we all remember the ad campaign by Louis Vuitton at the beginning of the year, for those who don't or just want to watch it again. 


Part I


Part II

So here we see a very powerful use of story telling, with an engaging progression of events, and a very interactive element as at the time of the videos the Louis Vuitton's website was set out with particular pages to watch the videos themed on there locations. It had background sound effect of those at a masquerade ball, there were characters and stories.
I feel this was a very successful use of story telling to engage the consumer it wasn't about advertising the brand it was a story twisted within a marketing campaign. This to me is much more effective especially for a luxury brand where the 'buy from us' advertising campaign is simple not an option. The drama and draw the of the videos also draws me in and makes me want to find out more, and therefore leads me either to the Louis Vuitton website or into a Louis Vuitton store hence achieving part of its goal.
The second part of the story leaves wondering is the more, is there a third section? How successful do you believe these short films are in engaging us as consumers, and customers? Do you think storytelling is the right platform for luxury brand to advertise itself to
potential customers

L'Odyssée De Cartier 

So again I'm going to another example that's not the most recent but one I feel like is a strong example of how story telling has been used and continued by a brand but with a different cinematic style. 



I really loved this video, I thought it was powerful and really captured the history of Cartier, it also created a very visual and theatric story, with a quite powerful atmosphere. It feels like story is taken straight from the pages of Percy Jackson, or the walls of a Roman mosaic. Its is a visual illustration of the international presence and story of Cartier the brand, where the Great Wall is an ancient dragon, and a beautiful palace of animals and amazing garden made of rare gems and precious metals - the consumer is drawn into a fantasy realm, a fictional adventure about a real brand.

I believe that story telling is a great way of communicating with your consumers and that it is a tool perfect for luxury brands but available and well used by brands across all levels of the market. There are many examples that I would love to talk about but thought better to not ramble on for a millennia. How about you which examples of story telling do you think a brand has really effectively or maybe totally failed at using, please share and comment you opinions and ideas.


RNW 

The Fashion Dialogue  









Monday 20 October 2014

St. John's Wood, London


So this weekend - you probably already know - I spent it in London; did the zombie run on saturday, but I spent my sunday chilling with my friend Natalie. It was my birthday last weekend, and so we decided to do a mini belated birthday shoot with the clothes my parents and brother bought me!



My parents got me a Burberry trench coat, and my brother got me a dress from Patrizia Pepe.



Hope everyone had an awesome weekend! I definitely did, especially the weekend before; spending my birthday in Southampton. We got a booth and I even wore my McQueen dress! (Apologies for the photo quality, they were taken on my phone...)

Everyone celebrating my birthday at Oceana!

Me and Ryan! x

MN

The Fashion Dialogue

Sunday 19 October 2014

2.8 Hours Later

Halloween came early this year! :) 

My friends and I volunteered as zombies! 
Spent my Saturday dressing up as a zombie and running around chasing people in a giant game of tag called 2.8 Hours Later. The game is based of the movies 28 Days Later and the sequel 28 Weeks Later! The aim of the game is to pass through zones and at the end of the run, you can celebrate at the zombie disco or survivor ball. Any more information can be found here. Tickets are still available now, so if you are up for a exercising and a scare, tickets should still be available on the website!

As for safety of the game, don't worry about it, it's completely safe! Zone managers in the game could help you out, and zombies won't actually eat your brains! Last night really got me psyched for Halloween! What's everyone dressing up as this year, leave it in the comments below!

My zone and zone managers!

MN

The Fashion Dialogue


Monday 13 October 2014

Globalisation: Great for Business, bad for Fashion?




Hey guys, I know I haven't posted for I while, but I hope you're enjoying 'the new girl' Mel's posts. Today my post has mainly been inspired by my recent trip to Singapore a country I've always wanted to go to, and had an absolutely amazing time in and can't wait to go back to; and secondly the current project we are undertaking in Uni. 

A little back story to my thinking, when ever I go abroad, for holidays, academic trips, or short breaks, I am defiantly the member of the group who always wants to go shopping, and a lot of the time doesn't even buy anything. Having been brought up for 8 years in Dubai meant that whenever I wasn't doing something outside 9 time out of ten I was at the Mall, with friends, family etc. And now as a fashion marketing student I like to observe and look at consumption and shopping  from a different perspective. And frequently I see, hear and think myself "why do you want to go abroad and look around shops you find back at home." And that's why I'm going to look at why globalisation and its negative impacts on fashion. 

Deja Vu

Looking first at luxury brands we have to look at both sides of the coin in that, on one hand there must be a supply of international brands in every local market, to a tourist it might seem clinical, and almost clone like, but to a resident its their standard of living and supply of wants and finer goods. Go to Dubai and you'll find Malls with designer galore fashion avenue in Dubai Mall, Mall of The Emirates the list goes on, Singapore walk down Orchard road around 23 Malls, large standalone stores of designer shops, with lots of the same shop 2 minutes from each other - all within a 2.2Km road. Brazil shopping Malls specific for designer outlets with beautiful fountains and terrace gardens, and spotless marble floors. You find the Parisian classics of Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton, you are spoilt for Italian Alta Moda - and all of this is wonderful and there is no place I feel more at home in a new place then surrounded by this amazing brands. My issues arises that you rarely see a well indirectly lit, plushly carpeted, perfectly polished, store of a local designer. Of course this is not in every case, picking up a mix of tourist pamphlets for lots of different places and looking up retail they all seem to be distinctly proud and loud that this mall, or that street has all the international stores you will want, and small little paragraph telling you if you want local fashion 'go here'. 


Asking a large and mixed group from China whether or not they think there is any local Chinese brands that are on the same level as for example Chanel the main response was a large 'No'. A few looked around and had a quick whisper to maybe think and check but their response was "the problem is that if a Chinese girl wants to spend lots of money and buy a nice handbag she wants a Chanel bag because its renowned and its a brand that everybody, not just Chinese knows and wants, she can say 'yes I have a Chanel bag' it doesn't need to have its logo everywhere which is what we used to buy but it still needs to be the brand".

I find that luxury has a large culture attached to it, if you spend that much money on a functional item, wether its fashion, or anything else your buying the prestige, history, and impact that comes with that brand. Newer designers whether in Europe or the far east struggle to compare and therefore struggle to get noticed and desired. 

What would you do if you were going to buy a designer item (handbag, suit, etc) if the choice was a local designer with a beautiful product or an established international known brand also with a beautiful product? 

The H&M and Zara sprawl



Fashion doesn't just live in the world of expense and luxury, high street fashion plays a large, and more negative part of this post. Where as I find that traditional luxury brands has its place in all countries, the vast sprawl of high street fashion which with lots of brands does not. H&M is a good example of where some talented people created a brand strong enough that it can take very simple products and sell it every where, my problem arises that this creates competition in all levels of the market and is almost straggling out uniqueness of international high street fashion. 

Walking into a Zara in Brazil and finding that certain popular products which were being worn around in both England and Brazil where culture, climate, style, are all completely different and yet the brand was 'similarising' the two. 

Again the argument of 'I want what everybody else wants' starts to take hold and alienating less globally accepted brands, and leading to local fashion being the underdog. 

Thanks and I promise to do better

I hope you found this post engaging and please comment your opinions, thoughts; Do you agree with me is there too much of the same thing? Are global brands choking out local ones? 

RNW 

The Fashion Dialogue 



Wednesday 8 October 2014

Orchard's Way, Southampton


Winter is coming! Hope everyone's keeping warm!!!

So, I spent this Wednesday chilling with my blogger friend Frances, doing what bloggers do best! We went around her place, and found this quaint little street and decided to have a mini photoshoot.




I'm wearing my new coat from River Island, jersey from AllSaints, jeans from American Eagle, Shoes from AllSaints and Bag from Celine!

And Frances is wearing her coat from Sandro, paired with her Chloe bag in her JBrand jeans with her Maje ankle boots!




I had so much fun with this mini photoshoot! Feel free to comment below for any recommendations on destination for more awesome and unique backgrounds! 

MN

The Fashion Dialogue

Sunday 5 October 2014

Internship at AllSaints

So I forgot to mention the other day that I interned for AllSaints this summer. I worked in their PR department, then moved to their merchandising department! I know it sounds ultra cliche saying it was an amazing experience and I've learnt a lot from it, but it's true. I mean when you work in the company for a set amount of time (other than the first week of really getting to know what you're job requires), you spend the rest of the time learning from other people. There will always be something new in the job, but what makes the job even more interesting is getting to know the people you're working with - people not necessarily in your department either. At the end of the internship, I really couldn't get the courage in me to leave... I actually went back a couple times during summer just to say 'hi' to everyone. But this is what I mean, if I didn't try to talk to people, there wouldn't be an environment where I'd feel remotely welcomed to visit. But yeah, that's AllSaints for you!

So how did I even come to think of telling you about my summer internship, you may ask... Well I'm having my hungover sunday morning, and just thinking about the watching You're The Worst - an American comedy series starring Aya Cash and Chris Geere. Sitting comfortably on the couch of Ryan's student housing, just about to start the series, then comes the opening credits, and the first thing I noticed was Aya Cash wearing an AllSaints dress. 

Aya Cash from You're The Worst

So the Lewis dress in black is no longer in stores, but you can get the new one with a beautiful floral pattern as shown below.

AllSaints - Lewis Flora Dress

She was wearing a dress... so what? Well, that got me thinking about AllSaints, and then begins my online shopping spree! Okay, so AllSaints is probably the only store I know where the hanger does not do the clothes justice, but the more reasons to pop in store and try it on! So the last time I went into AllSaints (just so you know, I do pop in a lot...). I took so many clothes off the rack, but ultimately couldn't buy much. All for different reasons, but mainly the price... All I can do now is daydream about it... so if anyone is reading this and wants to know what to get me, don't be shy when it comes to buying me the following...

AllSaints - Bayes Shearling Leather Jacket

AllSaints - Langer Sweater

So I realised that this wishlist of mine is not within a cheap budget and probably not very reasonable for students to buy for each other. I guess I'll just have to settle with my new AllSaints shoes!

AllSaints - Sarris Chelsea Boot

Just so you know, the other day when I was talking about good shoes being great investments. Yeah? These were the shoes I was thinking of. They were not cheap, and I swear my eyes got watery the minute I took my card out. But these bad boys are the best things ever! They go with everything! It's high heeled, and I kind of expected myself to get tired of walking in them at some point, but I could walk a mile in these shoes - not a problem!

Sunglasses: Brick Lane
Top: Brandy Melville
Jeans: American Eagle
Bag: Chloe
Shoes: AllSaints

MN

The Fashion Dialogue

Friday 3 October 2014

Intro into The New Girl

Hi everyone! Just wanted to introduce myself to The Fashion Dialogue community! I'm not crazy over fashion... hah (bad joke) I'm kidding! I LOVE fashion, and most of all, I love shopping! I have those days where I buy nothing at all, and some days where I blow a lot of my allowance money, and obviously those days where I just need to buy the necessities (not going to lie though, a pair of shoes is definitely a necessity, and a good pair of shoes is always a good investment).

Anyway, I wanted to keep my little introduction here short and sweet, and to let you readers know that whilst Ryan will be writing about movies we may watch, or what's on the fashion runway. I want to write about things happening around me; new shop displays or new shops or even new products. I do have a love for shoes, so it may well be a post about my beautiful collection at home! You'll soon find out that Ryan and I are jet setters, and hence we will probably be anywhere but the UK at some point... But keep reading and I'll definitely keep posting! Also, don't forget to comment, I would love to hear from my readers (even if it's just a little "Hi! :)")

Also, don't forget to follow me on Twitter @melanie_ng11
and Instagram @melanie_ng1012

MN

The Fashion Dialogue