Interview with Asyiha Ams

"HEARING"
This week, our task was to interview a blogger to find out more about his/ her life and relationship with marketers. We were more than honoured to be able to speak with Asyiha Ams, blogger of http://amskttns.blogspot.sg, and blogshop model of various blogshops like JustAmaze, SecondSkin, DirtyBling and many more! She also shared with us her experience and journey as a semi-finalist in Elite Models, a competition for young models in early 2012.
Let's hear what Asyiha has to say! Do watch the interview video below in HD!
Asyiha Ams, a only a young age of 18, is able to juggle the lives of a student, blogger, as well as a freelance model.
She often has to spend her hours after school going for shoots for various blogshops and sometimes when her schedule is tight, she has to go for several shoots at a go. Despite admitting that it gets tiring sometimes, she still enjoys being a blogshop model as she relishes in the sheer feeling of being able to try on different clothes and being immersed in the "fashion" world, as well as laughily disclosing that her job gives "good money".
Also, the fact that the various blogshop owners are friendly and pleasant, makes working with them a pleasurable experience.  They have treated Asyiha to dinner, and built more of a personal relationship a with her rather than a professional one, and this will definitely show in the pictures and in turn, their sales and profits. Asyiha also mentioned to us behind camera that sometimes, the blogshop owners also give some of the clothes sold in the collection to her! How sweet of them ☺ Besides modelling, Asyiha sometimes get contacted by other blogshops to do advertorials, where the blogshop owners will send her pieces of clothings that she likes and she'll talk about them in her blog, while advertising the blogshops!
Actually, we can tell that not only has Asyiha established good ties with marketers (blogshop owners), she herself is a marketer as she is often selling blogshops' clothes through modelling or even advertorials!
A big thank you again to Asyiha for being so friendly and nice to agree to the interview and we, here at The Empiricists, wish you all the best in your future endeavours! ☺
Stay tuned for next week where we'll provide you with a... hands-on experience! ;)
Signing off, THE EMPIRICISTS

Singapore's latest fashion trends

"SIGHT"

This week, we set out to discover Singapore's latest fashion trends and we thought, what better place to give our eyes a treat than... our school - Temasek Polytechnic! TP has been always known for the polytechnic with students for loud, expressive and fashionable dressing, and besides, every student in a polytechnic will need to dress up for 5 consecutive days a week and they will tend to do more shopping than anyone else and be on the top in terms of the latest fashion trends!

To kick off this post, we present to you a video of the trends we've identified and the students we've found pulling them off! There's also an Q&A in the second segment of the video, so do watch the whole video in HD!

So, we've noticed that the three trends going around in Singapore are:
1. DOCTOR MARTENS  
Though Singapore's summer all-year round and boots might not be perfectly appropriate, who says fashion has any boundaries? Dr. Martens has been commonly seen on teens' feet for the past year or so and it's because it's highly versatile and incredibly durable! What's more - THEY'RE UNISEX!    
Guys who are fond of wearing jeans, these are the perfect companions for your feet. If you're a girl and you wanna grunge up your girly outfit, these will definitely do the trick! These babies can definitely be paired with anything at all - shorts, jeans, skirts, rompers, dresses... Although they are a little pricey, they'll be a staple in everyone's wardrobe and you can pretty much wear them for many years to come because of their high quality leather and thick rubber soles. You can wear them rain or shine for almost everyday and jazz up practically any and every outfit you have - definitely worth every penny!
2. PRINT (FLORAL, TRIBAL) Who can ever get enough of prints? It is safe to say that prints have never been out of fashion. Floral has been reappearing on fashion runways during the Spring and Summer seasons and now even the Fall but there's always a change in the prints, they can vary from small and dainty to big and bold! So it's practically floral prints all year round!
  Floral and tribal printed tops, skirts, shorts, pants, trousers, leggings, bags... You can definitely see them all on the streets! If you're a guy and floral's too big a step to take, you can opt for tribal prints! They're also perfect for you girls out there if ya'll find floral prints too girly for you! Tribal print has been around for quite a while now and they're in our opinion, easier to match with more types and colours of clothing! 3. VINTAGE Singapore has been going back in time and we've all been witnessing young adults pulling off the trends back in the 80s and 90s. From high waisted jeans, shorts, dresses to loafers and oxford boots/ heels... You see it, you name it!

Certain elements from the past have been infused in clothes today such as the cutting and design of clothes. In fact, we can all tell that all the current fashion inspiration and trends are all inspired from the 70s, 80s and 90s!
OUR CONCLUSION: From the interviews that we've done, the most common point made between the young adults were that comfort is key. There is a no point dressing according to trends and following them if you don't realize that they don't suit you or you don't feel comfortable in them and are just following the trends just because. Being yourself is the most important and you'd have to explore all that fashion has to offer and find certain styles that suit you and make you feel comfortable! Feel free to mix and match prints, colours, patterns, fabrics according to your mood and style and don't be afraid of what others might think because at the end of the day, what you think of yourself is the most imporant! Feeling good in what you're wearing - that's all that matters.
We hope your eyes had a feast in this week's blog post, stay tuned next week for a very interesting blog post. You won't be disappointed, we promise! Signing off, THE EMPIRICISTS

Our trip to Udders

"TASTE"

We were tasked to uncover the latest and hippiest F&B outlet in Singapore, and the first place that popped into our minds was Udders!

Udders, named after a cow's mammary glands (because of its freshness of ice-cream), is a Singapore-based ice cream cafe serving fresh, home-made, original, natural and healthy ice-cream! Udders has a wide range of flavours available, and they've liquer flavours, asian-inspired flavours and cosmopolitan flavours. Some of their best-selling flavours are Mao Shan Wang Durian, Rum Rum Raisin and Tira-miss-u! With their unique flavours and quirky names, no wonder Udders is the place for ice-cream lovers!

Not only does Udders sell ice-cream, they've also pancakes and even ventured into selling western food. Some of their outlets are at places like Tampines, Siglap, Novena and Upper Thomson, with each outlet serving different types of food!

We wanted to give Udders' famous pancakes a try, so we headed down to Tampines outlet! 

  Tampines Mall, B1-K16 (next to Famous Amos)

Opening hours: 8am to 10pm daily.

We decided to try the sausage pancakes, which comes in a set of four pancakes with a sausage! They also provide you with maple syrup and butter! ALL FOR JUST $3.90 ☺
Next, we went to try the oh-so-famous and always-talked-about ice cream and waffles at the outlet at Siglap!  
Their different flavours of ice cream belong to different categories and they're all of different prices! However, you can save a little by purchasing a flavour from each category!    
Bored while waiting for your ice-cream? Just ask the staff for a marker and show your best artwork on the boards with your friends!   Udders has also really good customer service, which is always a good thing ☺   We had a hard time choosing from the wide range of flavours available, we ended up settling with Awesome Chocolate and Cookies & Cream! Thumbs up for the staff at Udders for making the ice cream look so presentable, it made taking pictures of the ice cream so hard because all we wanted to do was just dig in! With the nice ambience, presentable display of ice cream, friendly staff and delicious ice-cream, $9.70 was definitely more than worth it! ☺
87 Upper East Coast Road, Singapore 455223
Tel / Fax: 64488732 Opening hours:   Sunday to Thursday: 12 noon to 11pm
Friday, Saturday and eve of PH: 12 noon to 1am   What we thought: The outlet at Tampines, though a small branch, serves both pancakes and ice cream! The price was affordable, but we wished there were seats available so we could sit down and dine there instead of having to settle for other places to eat at!
The outlet at Siglap is spacious and the moment you enter, you get a whiff of the waffles and ice cream! The whole vibe and atmosphere inside is exciting yet relaxing, no wonder there will always be crowds of young people found inside spending hours eating ice-cream and catching up with your friends. You can even head to the second level where you can lounge and enjoy your ice-cream. Something else cool about Udders? They provide customers with water coolers because they know ice cream can cause quite a thirst! Understanding consumers' needs - a plus point indeed ☺
With their affordable food and friendly customer service, no wonder Udders is the "it" place for youngsters to hang out in Singapore! We would definitely recommend it to everyone in Singapore to give Udders a try and we know you'd definitely not regret it!
In case words and pictures weren't enough for you, we took a video of both the outlets and the food we tried to provide you with a more visual and personal experience! Do watch in HD ☺
Do stay tuned for our next post next Sunday!
Signing off, THE EMPIRICISTS