I'm currently writing this from Dubai waiting to ring in the new year with everyone else here at the airport. I think this is the longest New Year's Eve I have ever had in my life - having left Melbourne in the wee hours of the morning on 31 December 2015, I have since crossed NYE in Kuala Lumpur, then Dubai and finally will cross my last 2015 NYE up in the air en route to Washington DC. Needless to say, my brain and body clock are very confused right now (not to mention the fact that my entire blogging platform has decided to translate itself into Arabic)!
Ironically, I couldn't wait for 2015 to end. This was the year that I turned quarter-century and like many others out there, crossing this threshold had somehow triggered a bit of a quarter-life crisis. While it sounds like a trivial first world problem, it is, from what I have gathered, essentially a year-long re-evaluation of one's goals and priorities, and endless questioning of yourself, the decisions that you have made to date and most importantly, what will you change going forward. They say that this is a continuous process of self-development but from what I've seen this year just by looking at the people around me, nothing forces you to dig deep and re-evaluate your life than the sheer realisation that you are now well and truly at the halfway point of your 20s/5 years away from being 30, the milestone age at which you are supposed to have ticked off big life goals (marriage, mortgage, career, personal collection of Chanel 2.55 and Louboutin heels etc). No pressure hey.
It seems though that this year, the fashion world has also been asking itself some tough questions. The most notable of which is the release of the documentary "The True Cost" which looks at the impact of mass-produced fast fashion on the Mother Earth's environment and the communities which are responsible for producing the garments for fast fashion retailers such as H&M. Often we get so caught up in the trends of fashion that we almost forget that there is a cost to relentlessly chasing low-cost production, the speed of dropping new collections every 2 weeks across global stores and trying to keep up with the fashion cycle of Summer/Winter/Resort/Pre-Fall. The documentary was a real eye-opener and definitely left some big question marks in the air as to how sustainable is the current industry and more importantly, what should we do to make a change? For someone who has always admired fashion as an art form and never thought to question its sustainability, the documentary was almost a hard pill to swallow but certainly well worth watching.
Another big moment in fashion was the re-acceptance of John Galliano back into the fashion world as the creative head of Maison Martin Margiella. Galliano has been a favourite designer of mine since I first started following fashion, and while his exile and public disgrace was understandable, his creations were certainly missed from the runway. His debut collection back in January was staged quietly outside the main calendar of Paris Fashion Week, but his talent spoke defiantly for itself and caused a stir among editors giving their respective "verdicts" on his return. Then Amal Clooney gave her nod of approval by wearing a red pleated Galliano gown to her very first Met Ball and the rest is fashion history.
Last but not least, my personal favourite fashion moment of this year came from Taylor's 1989 World Tour (and yes I went to see her with my friend Molly on her very last show of the tour and yes she was amazing!!). Not only is she a huge inspiration on bouncing back from a broken heart and dealing with negative people (with matching catchy pop songs), her world tour showed that this girl sure knows how to rock sequins!
Some of my favourite looks include her sequined blazer for "Blank Space"
and the LED dress for her performance of "Clean".
And with that, I will wrap up my last post of 2015 before heading out to see how people ring in the new year while in transit. I will always look back on this year as one of the toughest years, in dealing with panic attacks, my "quarter-life" crisis, pushing through career goals and juggling law school at the same time (and trying to squeeze in dating in between!). As someone who has always been good at looking forward and setting long term goals, never have I ever stood at the edge of one year, looking forward to the next with the realisation that I actually don't know what is going to happen next year. But if this year has taught me anything, it is to take things one step at a time and be present in the moment. There is always something to be drawn from each scenario that life throws at you, and something to learn from each person that you meet. Of course, I could not have made it through this year without those who have supported me, particularly the few friends that stood by me during my darkest months in combating panic attacks, they were my pillars of strength when I had momentarily lost the strength in myself.
Thank you 2015 for being a defining, character-building year. Here's to 2016, whatever it may bring.
xoxo
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