So today I checked my site stats for the first time in say, 10 days, and someone actually googled “what happened to tea noir” to get here LOL. I then realized that if someone willingly spent 2 seconds of his/her time to google about my current state of being, a) I have amazing readers and b) it’s a sign I should start blogging again.
Concerned reader whoever you are, thank you and don’t worry I’m still breathing! I’ve just been through a rather intense month in school! I was supposed to blog during my Easter break but that didn’t work out because my essay deadline got extended a couple more days so I took my time with that submission. Plus, I had friends from Singapore and Sydney visiting and well, you know how it is with me and playing tour guide.
Some exciting news: The blog got featured in Singapore’s Malay paper, Berita Harian, last Friday!! I really wanted to put this up on Friday itself but I didn’t have time D: Thank you Nur for writing this amazing article, I’m very grateful you chose tea noir amongst the many other great blogs to feature! It’s great that my fellow muslim sisters are taking to the internet to write about their views on fashion and beauty! I know tea noir isn’t strictly a “hijab-oriented” blog since I write about everything I find remotely interesting, not necessarily about my religion or the hijab, but I feel privileged to be clustered together with these other hijab-wearing muslim bloggers. Our content may vary but we have one thing in common: we’re a niche. And a pretty awesome one at that!
Excerpt from the article VERY loosely translated by me:
Singapore isn’t left out with the muslimah blogging trend either. Even though we do not have a group of dedicated muslimahs blogging about fashion such as “Scarflets”, you can still find a few Singapore-based fashion and beauty writers on the Internet. One of them is Ilyana Idros, who blogs at Tea Noir (REPRESENT!).
Apart from discussing issues pertaining to fashion and beauty, she also takes beautiful photos and occasionally shares Western and Mediterranean recipes.
You can read the rest of the article in Malay here. Sorry ah I only got B3 for my Malay ‘O’ Levels. I seriously admire Malay journalists, I don’t know how they’re able to write long articles in the language but RESPECT!! Thank you so much Nur and congrats on your blog feature too ;D
And so the secret’s out! The blog I desperately tried to hide from my family (apart from my dad and selected cousins) has been trolled excessively by my mom and all my other aunts last I heard. I wanted to keep the article a secret from my mom and repeatedly told my father to hide the papers from her but my cousin called me that same evening and revealed to me her whole family knew about it. I must have mentally said “Oh shit!” a thousand times lol so yeah I told my mom shortly afterwards because obviously, if someone was going to tell her, it had to be me.
Mom didn’t react as badly as I thought she would shockingly – she was mostly distracted by the Royal Wedding during our phone call ROFL THANK YOU KATE AND YOUR BEAUTIFUL MCQUEEN. She’s proud of me, I guess. I’m just thankful I didn’t list the prices of most of the stuff I’ve bought or I’ll be getting a serious talk about my finances HAHA! Hi Mom! No, I haven’t bought anymore shoes I swear! The shoes you see on this blog were bought during a time of emotional turmoil and I needed them to fill an empty void in my soul. Plus, they were on sale! ;p Hope you’re having a nice time shopping in KL, miss and love you! <3 <3
Now that my 5 seconds of fame are up, I have photos of my ELLE Collections magazine to share with you guys! They release it every season as a recap of the major fashion collections and srsly, I would buy this magazine just for its stunning layouts! I like that the magazine isn't just about the clothes, you get to see a compilation of all the invites each designer sends out, what the front row is wearing, how to make Prada banana earrings (I'm not kidding) and great written pieces on what went on backstage.
Stellar huh? Grab a copy if you can, it is exquisite! Thank you so much for sticking around despite my absences guys, I’d really like to blog and comment as often as I can but school will always, always remain my top priority. It’s terrible but I have no life outside university. Depression aside, hello to my new readers (and my extended family) who found this blog through the Berita Harian!! Don’t be shy and say hi! Please subscribe to my blog and follow me on twitter so you don’t miss out on any updates! See you all soon x
Perhaps the only Resort 2011 collection worth your time (and mine). I think Sarah Burton is doing a fantastic job at McQueen – it’s not easy taking over where he left off but she’s done it. That last dress is stunning, beautiful and left me wanting to see more. I hope to dream of this dress tonight, I don’t think I’ll ever get the chance to see it in person but it doesn’t matter. I’m just happy McQueen’s label is in the hands of someone capable and talented (too bad this doesn’t apply to Chloé, someone needs to fire Gibbon STAT.)
Nothing else can be said about the other Resort collections srsly. I don’t know why Anna Wintour is pushing for Resort collections this year, it just takes time away from the designers when they really should be focusing on their main collections. Who the hell buys Resort anyway? Miu Miu + Prada were terrible and Celine- Phoebe Philo honey, can you please leave the color blocking to Marni and Dries Van Noten? God.
photo credit: style.com
Watch the video of one of fashion’s most memorable moments here. I remember showing this video to a group of friends and sadly, they weren’t impressed by your ideas which is why I’m proud to say I’ve dumped all of them in the fashion gutter and have never looked back since.
Alexander McQueen
16 March 1969 – 11 February 2010
You were pure genius, RIP.
img credit: synaes @ flickr, onsugar.
