Colours: soothing Blue and crisp White

Styled by Safia Sheikh

I promised highlighting universality of pieces and colours in the last post in this series, didn't I? Well, here we are.

In these contrasting outfits, I wanted to highlight the universality of overalls. Summer or winter: it's the way you style them that matters. I find that showing the outfits side by side is, by far, more effective to show the contrast and crossovers.

I chose to go with the exact same colour scheme for both outfits: blue, white, and black. These colours and the way they compliment each other just feels very refreshing to me. It is the style/cut of the white tops (off-the-shoulder for Nyamat vs turtleneck sweater for me) that is the most distinctive feature of either outfit.
Since I wanted to go for more of a casual look, both outfits were paired with white sneakers; comfortable, but more importantly, adhering to the colour scheme.

It's been a while since I've simply drawled on about real life other than simply talking about clothes so in other news:
 ya girl has started university! I'm proud to announce that I have been studying fashion design since September. I suppose at the least you could say it's exciting, but more than that, I've found my nerves coming alight and my confidence waning. It's inspiring but also terrifying to be surrounded by so many talented and knowledgeable people. Why am I openly admitting this to the void of the internet? Simply because I know others are definitely feeling the same way. And hey, perhaps in a couple years or so, even this moment in my life won't seem so crucial, but I can only laugh about it later if I actually feel the nerves now, right?
Thus far, the academic experience has been...interesting    but more on that later (a.k.a. I'll write a post on that once my semester comes to a close so stay tuned!).
Again, another HUGE shoutout to Nyamat Phoolka for being a complying guinea pig model for me on this shoot! You can follow her on her instagram @nyamaphoolka.
I also promise the photos from my next shoot will be much higher quality than these (oops)!

Body image. I've thought a fair bit how to approach this topic on my blog before. This is a sensitive topic for many people, myself included, and understandably so.

I don't want to be perceived as "one of those skinny girls who talk about body positivity for views" and I definitely don't want this post to come across as "yeah i may be considered skinny bUT..." (as though I'm saying this stuff simply to remain relevant in a discussion). I find that tone matters a fair bit when approaching sensitive subjects such as this, so please bear with me and try not to be too cynical.

The line of thought I really wanted to focus on through this blog post is the notion that a person must look a certain way in order to wear a certain article of clothing and make it look good. I suppose, sticking to traditional styling techniques and the logistics of waistlines, hemlines, etc. one might believe it to be true, but I also believe that in the era of millennials and unbound creativity as we have it today, it might be time to begin to challenge such foolish notions and get a little uncomfortable in our clothes to make us comfortable in our bodies.

I tried to do that with this outfit. I personally am not a fan of fabrics that hug around my stomach and waist (see: the reason I no longer wear bodycon dresses and am hesitant with crop tops). The pieces in this outfit, however, are tighter around those areas and looser everywhere else. To keep it a little bit on the safer end (oops!) I chose to pair the same colours and vertical stripes in both the top and pants to elongate (a classic styling trick!) and make the look a little more classy.  

While that may have been the route I chose for these photos, I'm going to challenge you all to be bolder than I was (not difficult to do). It sounds terrifying: to suddenly just be able to jut out your chin and flounce around with all of your insecurities on display, but I am a firm believer that if you exude confidence (even if its fake--fake it till you make it!), whatever your concerns are will be drowned out simply by the vibes you reflect. 

Inspired by Dia&Co's Try-Day Friday initiative (essentially, every Friday they challenge their employees to bend their boundaries and wear something new, something that they would have been hesitant to wear otherwise), I myself decided that once a week, I'll try to wear/style pieces from my wardrobe in a way I wouldn't normally do. I think playing around with stylistic choices is fun and can help you to feel comfort in the discomfort of something new and foreign. 

I encourage you to do the same. Find solace in the fact that we are all insecure about something and someone will always have something that might fit the societal norms regarding beauty, yet you are so much more than that. 

If that still isn't sufficient comfort, remember that everything is a trend, even what is considered a beautiful body. I'm sure you've all seen that one Buzzfeed ideal-body-types-throughout-history video (admittedly not the most academic source but hey, that's pop culture). THE POINT IS that culture is constantly evolving; the notions of beauty and fashion within a culture are transient. And if there ever was an era that praised self love, it's this one.

To close off, I just want to say an incredible thank you to my photographer Eyad Khalil. I'm sure you all noticed the quality of these photos increased significantly and I have him to thank for that. You can check him out on VSCO here and instagram @eyad_khalil_: he has HUGE things ahead of him, mark my words. 

I know this isn't Mary's Room 02, and for all you loyal readers wondering where it's at, fear not. It's nearly finished, I just got quite backtracked while doing final exams and preparing for my first year at university. I promise it is on its way! 

(s.n.s)

 Mood: Somber  
Colours: Plum, Burgundy, Yellow Orange, Navy Blue, Mustard
Styled by: Safia Sheikh

Initially when I planned this post, I intended to write some form of poetry or prose inspired by the theme of the post. Then, I realized that perhaps it would appear too pretentious. Therefore, here is yet another segment of Safia's (Filtered) Musing.



If you've read my previous post, you might know that this post was inspired by the Mary's Room thought experiment. What I didn't mention in the post is that there's an additional video that kind of got me thinking (it's more science-y). It's a video made by youtuber VSauce, and here's a link to watch it, for all my nerds.


Now before I get into the clothes, I must thank my very complying model/guinea pig Nyamat (you can follow her on Instagram @nyamatphoolka) for essentially allowing me to experiment on her and being very patient throughout the entire process. I literally could not have done this without her. 

Now. The Clothes.

It's winter here, but I'm an all-year-round-skirts kind of person, so I chose to go for an A-line skirt with tights underneath. Since it was cold, I opted for a cropped mock-neck patterned sweater in the same base colour as the skirt, while the patterns on the top helped to balance out an otherwise mundane outfit.



This was kind of a shorter post than usual from me, and for that, I apologize. My next post will definitely be longer and (hopefully) have more depth. For now, I must return to studying calculus. Thanks for reading, and be sure to subscribe to my reader's list for my next post!

With exam season coming to a close, I can confirm that I have a surprise announcement for you all. Coming this month (February), I am very very excited to be introducing a collaboration project!!!
That is correct, I am no longer giving you all radio silence (wooohoooooo!) and instead, am kicking back with a 2 or 3--I haven't decided yet--part conceptual collaboration project. This is some super duper exciting news, and I've worked quite hard on this. I wanted to do something a little different this time, so it's more conceptual/complementing visuals than my regular post style. If it sounds confusing right now, don't worry; it'll all make sense with time.

So. How is it a collaboration, you might ask? Well, I was given the opportunity to style a very willing model, and, essentially create some edgy, colour-coded visuals. That's why this project is going to be called "Mary's Room".
For all you who do not know, "Mary's Room", or the Knowledge Argument, is actually a thought experiment posed by Frank Jackson in 1982, and the source of my inspiration for this shoot.  The video below explains it pretty coherently:

Sunglasses: Ardene

Choker: Hot Topic

Overalls Dress: Urban Planet

Leggings: Forever 21

Shoes: New Balance (can be purchased here)

In case you're wondering about the title of this post, it's supposed to be a reference to how these sunglasses make me look like a dragonfly (which is a bug, and there's a movie...about bugs....called A Bug's Life...yeah you get it) and I love them, to be honest (lmao).

Choker: Hot Topic | Rings: Sirens

Although a little unclear in the picture above, I'm wearing a "Free Palestine/Save Gaza" bracelet I purchased at a protest in my city. However, if you would like to support the cause, you can buy similar types of Free Palestine merchandise from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign here (proceeds go towards supporting the cause). While you're on their website, I would also suggest checking out the boycott page. Even something as little as refraining from supporting a certain company goes a long way! One of my favourite fashion bloggers' (Hoda Katebi) boycott page is also a useful resource if you're just trying to learn more about certain brands and reasons to boycott. 

Flats: Ardene | Bag: t'was a gift from my cousins in the Middle East