Fashion Blogger Gathering by Galeries Lafayette and NYLON Indonesia

Good Morning!
May you all have a happy day at all :)

Today, I'd like to tell you a very exciting story I experienced on 24th & 25th September in Galeries Lafayette, Pacific Place, Jakarta. What was it? and How was it going? It was actually a pleasureable gathering along with the 20 Indonesian fashion bloggers who had been invited by NYLON and Galeries Lafayette to join the event.

But not only a gathering, the event also provided us a very exciting moment when in the 1st day of the event, we had to compete each other first, for a styling competition. The styling competition was separated into 4 groups which every each person in the group had to choose one of the three represented style themes, those are, Smokey Rock, Mixology, and Cocktail Time. I actually did not know how was it going on my mind, when Kak Vera from Galeries Lafayette asked me what kind of style I'd like to represent, and I was just suddenly said that I choosed the Smokey Rock theme, Lol. However, either it is based on my unconcious interest or not, something which is dark and bold are going to be my addiction in these current times. I know that I've just fallen too deep in pastel coloring, and to be something which is out of my range, is sometimes very exciting. Well, unfortunately I was not able to capture a lot of good pictures for the first day because I was very busy choosing the stuffs I need, but Galeries Lafayette is such a very heavenly shopping place where you can choose the beauty and/or fashion products you need, from the luxurious fashion couture till a high-street one.

The first group (Bethany Putri, Arnold, and me) that I choosed to join with was started the competition in 10 o'clock in the morning, I always prefer to work in morning rather than at any other times, but the traffic killed my time that I just came to the place when there was only a hour left, fyuh. And this is how I style for Smokey Rock, I mostly choosed Zadig & Voltaire from top, shirt, long dress, clucth and accessories, also white blazer from Maje and a pair of leather boots to make it complete.

The 2nd day of the event was held in the evening, and we were required to give  a 4 minute presentation about the concept of the style we created. I personally feel nervous and confuse at the same time, because I have to compete all the famous and great fashion blogger, furthermore because this competition was judged by NYLON's fashion and beauty editor, Anindya Devy, Mrs. Sarah Sugandy from Galeries Lafayette, and the editor in chief of NYLON Magz Indonesia was also here! Just like 'wow' but yet exciting! I hoped I can give my best presentation as well.

Here is one of my favorite idol, Kak Genu when he was doing his presentation, he is amazing!

Judging team : Sarah Sugandy & Anindya Devy

After the presentation session was over, we were pleased to relax our selfs, to taste some delicious foods and drinks and also took a lot of photos, yes we just had a great time there :). 

The BIG thing happened when the time for winner announcement came! I just still can't believe that the judging team took me as the 2nd winner of the competition! GOD, it was really a big surprise and a big present also for me! I just can't thank enough for everything, just thank you and thank you so much for NYLON and Galeries Lafayette! <3 <3. Another 2nd winner is Tara Amelz and the 1st winner is June Paski :D!

But for me, all of the styles are super stylish and it would be very hard for the judges to decide, because all the fashion bloggers were very talented, and that's why I just still can't believe that I won hehe. Just click here to see the detail news of the event. 

with Kak Elco :D

with Tara and June

my addiction to June's platform!

Olivia and kak Genu

 

with kak Ario! :D

Arnold, Mitha, and Chaterine 

with Lulut :)

 And here they are all the bloggers along with the Editor in Chief of NYLON Indonesia, Mrs. Ein Halid!

After all, I'd like to say thank you once again, and I promise my self to study more and more to be better than before, thank you so much for the opportunity and thanks God for blessing me as always :)

Have a nice day

Monicha Nelis 

Representation

Comparing and Responding to the Frequent Relation of an Unitary Term of Representation and Literature

Representation and literature have never been separated into parts and this tradition might have caused the most frequent topic of problem which still remains unbreakable.  If we talk about the role, representation itself owns a very important role to literature. As it is clear enough till this day that the question about their relationship has never systematically been ended. Representation, as an aspect of language, as the most essential role of understanding literature; may seem too far to be defined to its latest meaning. Indeed, it might because of representation hold a very great value of life, like as we formally know that literature had been simply bonded with life since a very classic era of Plato and Aristotle.

As the person who lives under the laws we have commonly known about our country’s governmental system, we found that we have been represented  by people who we formally believe they have the ability of representing our self. Then, why we have to be represented? Why we cannot just present our self? Let me  give an invitation for an example in literature. Gilbert and Gubar’s The Madwoman in the Attic constructs the idea of women’s incapability to present their selves to society. Women lost their power of defining their selves as a subject of authority, in this case when she turned to be a writer or a poet.  “Thus the "anxiety of influence" that a male poet experiences is. felt by a female poet as an  even  more primary "anxiety of authorship"-a radical fear that she cannot create, that because she can never become a "precursor" the act of writing will isolate or destroy. “ Literature in a history of western was never authorized to a ‘second sex’ –  by what Mitchell calls "the inferiorized and 'alternative' (second sex) psychology of women under patriarchy.", and the literature itself was a very male-dominated. It means, to gain the authority, women have to find a way to establish their ‘own power’ over the men. The condition of woman seeking an excessive ability in a particular form to gain a power which exist beyond herself is, I think, a condition of seeking a representative for her presentation. The same like what we do now, letting someone to be the representative of our self in the government’s seats, because that someone has a greater value and a greater strength than ours in controlling the governmental system. The tendency of letting another person represent ourselves, in fact, we admit that person owns more ability to be presence than the amount of ability we have.               

A representation that we have known only as a word implicitly occurs to the surface as not only just as a word. Refers to its lexical meaning as the ‘process’, representation itself is supposed to have its own regulations. An understanding of what Mitchell said in his “Representation” that there is a part of society which constitutes representation using the ‘invisible rules’, “The formula “let this stand for that to them” is regularly subjected to restrictions on subject matter (“let this stand for anything but that”) or on the audience/spectator (“let this stand for that, but not to them”).” (pg. 15). In a very general way, we might say that representation occurs because of the social agreement which do exist.  An ‘agreement’ which exist without any kind of action for questioning about its origin, an aesthetic representation which have lived among the society that somehow we have accepted and agreed to this way. However, no matter how strong the representation hold an aesthetic value in its own, there will never be such thing occurs with the way it is only by itself. There must be always a reason that cause representation to be established. In Plato’s “Ion” we see that the knowledge for a rhapsode comes from the inspiration about something which is inspired him. Similarly, a written text was made because of the author has been given the power of God so he could write words; but that is how we can sum up to one valid statement that even for a particular thing which sounds very spiritual and arbiter, there will always be something that cause something to be true. An agreement of representation also, has been designed by a particular power and authority which consist of particular persons; If we relate it now with what had been said in Mitchell’s Representation “It should be clear that representation, even purely “aesthetic” representation of fictional persons and events, can never be completely divorced from political and ideological questions;” (pg. 15).       

            And, after all, we may back to the start with a question, if Plato and Aristotle regarded literature as the representation of life, how can the whole ‘life’ is simply represented to thing called literature? Let me go further for a moment to Edward Said’s “Jane Austen and Empire”, here Said described how the signs and symbols in Austen’s Mansfield Park (1814) constitutes the presentation of an empire. Through Mansfield Park, the signs and the symbols show the ‘concept’ of empire for Austen in her era, known by what Said says “Austen reveals herself to be assuming the importance of an empire to the situation at home.”  ‘The situation at home’ which represents ‘the importance of an empire’; must be consisted of many representational signs. ‘The situation’ itself is likely ‘a body’ of the signs, just the same like Mitchell’s ‘codes’- “a body of rules for combining and deciphering representational signs”. The ‘codes’ is, based on Mitchell, the same with Aristotle’s three ways to differ the elements of representation: object, manner, and means. As for Mitchell “what I am calling ‘codes’ here are basically the same thing as Aristotle’s ‘means’”. Aristotle defined “Means” as the material which is used in representation. Then let me back again with the problem of how representing life through literature, regarding to the theory above (Mitchell and Aristotle), then we should consider ‘life’ as an ‘object’ of representation which contributes ‘codes’ to show its ‘concept’ that will be represented through literature. Then to sum up from the examples above, representation always took something or someone’s unrealistic form. Furthermore, the understanding of what is quoted from John Locke may bring us to one step closer to the definition of representational object , especially in literature; “word is not a thing, it is the idea of a man.”  In other words, it is not a real thing which is represented in literature but only its ‘concept’. That is why, even still questionable, Plato and Aristotle could put literature as the representative of life, similar with Jane Austen ‘s Mansfield Park and its concept of the empire.                

Monicha Nelis