Sheela Writes

The Fab 40s Get Shorty

Shorts for work? Oh goodness!! Scandalous!! Fashion has always been my favourite form of escapism. Reading, writing, dancing, sketching. They all come a close second. But fashion. Fashion has, is, and will always be the tabernacle upon which I worship. Religiously. Since I was 6 years old to be precise. Since I caught sight of my very first Issey Miyake piece. And then laid my hands upon a coffee table book cataloguing what goes into the creation of a collection, courtesy of the god known as Bruce Oldfield (shamefacedly I confess to pinching this from the British Council library). From then on, I was fairly obsessed with all things style and fashion-related. Mostly European, primarily British the likes of Zandra Rhodes, Jasper Conran, Vivienne Westwood, Arabella Pollen, Philip Treacy. Life in Kuching was a bit of a bubble. A complete style bore. Yawn. Far and away from the fashion world or cultural meccas like Paris, New York, Milan, London or Tokyo. I used to think of it as a fashion wasteland. And it...

The Fab 40s Shirt Up

by Sheela Goh

Sprucing up the shirtdress. Making it fancy, schmancy, but still wearable. I struggled with this month’s theme, shirtdresses. I truly did, Dee. Can’t lie. And I don’t even know why that was so because I used to wear them. All the time. Perhaps the operative words, “used to” were a telling means to explain my conundrum. Conversely, my mental block made no sense whatsoever given (1) the frequency with which shirtdresses had permeated my wardrobe in the past; and (2) their undeniable mega “slay” factor. In my 20s, I practically lived in shirtdresses all the work week long. Mostly in jersey so I didn’t have to iron them and mainly in blacks or browns. Yes, I spent over three decades decked out primarily in black, channeling Mama Rei and bringing out The Crow in me. As such, one would think I would’ve had an easy peasy time pulling together a look based on a button-down garment but that was not the case, my friends. T I M E T O S H I...

The Fab 40s & Our Soles

by Sheela Goh

Give a woman the right pair of heels. Then sit back, and watch her conquer the world. Amen, sista. I never thought I’d ever credit something so insightful to Ms Monroe GRIN insightful and evergreen with a dose of such unexpected humour. But it’s so true, yes? The perfect shoe design equipped with an equally perfect heel height makes for taking the most empowered of strides, figuratively as well as metaphorically. As Michael always tells me, I am my sexiest when I’m feeling comfortable. After all, comfort begets confidence, and confidence is the consequent vessel to sire a sense of power, a sense of empowerment. A sense of f*ck you, self doubt, not today. T H E P O W E R O F A G O O D S H O E I’ll be the first to admit to being somewhat obsessed with shoes, I mean, I think the whole world knows that by now so it truly doesn’t behoove the situation for me to even pretend that 99% of my outfits...