How to create a unicorn

I love En Lazim. He is one of the nicest, kindest and sweetest gentlemen that you will ever meet. He is also the creator of a lot of the batik artworks for the SENI by Fit Rebel leggings. Here is a photo of him proudly displaying one of his latest artworks for our next collection, a fairy! He was so in love with this piece that he almost didn't want to hand it over to me after completion... but luckily he did!

After this piece, we discussed our next project, which was a unicorn inspired piece. My brief to En Lazim was as follows, "I want a majestic white unicorn. However, the highlight of this piece would be his hair, because I want his mane to be rainbow colored".

En Lazim nodded and got to work.

2 weeks later I showed up at his gallery and he proudly displayed his artwork as below:

I was stunned when I first laid eyes on his piece. To a certain extent, En Lazim totally nailed this piece. Here was a majestic white unicorn with gorgeous rainbow colored hair.

But... unfortunately he had crazy eyes and looked a bit too badass for my liking. In fact, this unicorn looked kinda scary. 😨

Wasn't quite sure how to react and I didn't want to upset En Lazim especially since he looked so happy and proud of this piece. I smiled and said the nicest thing I could, "His hair is gorgeous!!!".

I then left the gallery sweating. SHIT. What was I gonna do about this?

I frantically got in touch with the only person I knew who could save this, Illustrator Extraordinaire, Soefara Jafney

We both agreed that his hair is gorgeous but he was one scary looking unicorn.

"Don't worry. Can be fixed", said Sophie.

And relief spread through my body and soul.

With much care and love, Sophie made small adjustments and gave Mr. Unicorn kinder eyes.

I remember staying up (pretty much) all night admiring his kinder looking eyes and asking myself what else can be done to turn this piece from good to great. So I took a shot at editing this piece.

Here is my version below (pay attention to his mouth to see the difference).

When I finished making the edits, I remember taking a step back to just stop and look. It was almost as if Mr Unicorn was finally smiling at me. And I smiled back.

Finally crept into bed at 3am and woke up at 6am to prepare for a presentation that I had to give at OCBC Bank's belated International Women's Day celebration.

It was a great event which was organized by a bubbly and friendly bunch. The audience was awesome and the energy was extremely positive. I had a blast.

Me with Kok Lai Ching, Head of Human Resources of OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Berhad

 After the event was over, I got home and crashed.

Woke up the next morning and shared the edited unicorn with En Lazim. He loved it.

Later in the day I was emailing some of the ladies from OCBC Bank who attended my presentation and this email came in:

This is the best. thing. EVER!!! 😍

When you give good vibes, you get good vibes.

And that ladies and gentlemen is how you be awesome... and create a unicorn!

XOXO

#OnceUponATime Collection

The upcoming collection has been one of the most challenging collections that I had to create so far.

In fact, it has been harder to create this collection compared to July 2017's 'Fantasy Collection' which was inspired by Game of Thrones. For that collection, we had some really imaginative pieces like a Dragon, Wolf, Raven, Weirwood tree (GOT fans would know this) and an abstract fire & ice (red & blue) piece. It took us foreverrr to come up with original, imaginative pieces that were inspired by that hit TV show.

The upcoming #OnceUponATime Collection is inspired by Disney Princesses and Popular Fables. Seems like we are taking longer than forever, due to the ambitious ideas that I have. The artworks that I wanted to create would be inspired by the following:

• The Little Mermaid
• Swan Lake
• Tinkerbell
• Rapunzel
• The Last Unicorn

Since my batik artists managed to pull off a Game of Thrones inspired collection, I figured that they could pull off anything.

I was almost right. Kinda. Sorta. But not quite.

When we started designing for the #OnceUponATime Collection, our first few attempts weren't great.

Check out our very first mermaid sketch:

The Swan Lake piece wasn't great either.

I wasn't exactly thrilled with the results and figured that we needed to start over.

I decided to enlist the help of an old friend and extremely talented illustrator, Soefara Jafney.

There are no words in the dictionary that begins to describe this amazing young woman who produces jaw dropping artwork. Her passion is drawing girls. As soon as she was old enough to pick up a pencil and draw, she was the happiest and most creative when she was drawing girls. 

Check out some of Soefara Jafney's work below.

Here are her finished pieces:

Here are her doodles:

Crazy talented, isn't she?

With the help of Soefara, we got off to a new start for the #OnceUponATime collection. 

After weeks of trial and error (MANY errors, mind you!) we were finally nailing this collection.

Check out our Tinkerbell inspired piece below:

We seem to be hitting our stride and the Rapunzel piece which was just completed today looks really pretty too. We will not be revealing it today, muahaha! Stay tuned for moreeeeeeee!

For a peek at the collection of our art inspired leggings, click *HERE*

The December 2016 Collection Was Suppose To Consist Of 6 Designs, But We Are Only Going To Release 2 Of Them. Here's Why.

A few weeks after the launch of Seni by Fit Rebel in August 2016, I headed back to the art studio to work on new designs for the upcoming December 2016 collection. I was chatting with a friend over the phone and she commented, "You're with your artists, working on new designs? Oh Nadia, your job is so much fun!".

I remember thinking to myself... if only you knew.

As the title of this post suggest, I had the intention of releasing 6 new designs in December. However, life is such that it messes with your best laid plans & not everything will turn out how you would have liked. So we'll just need to go with the flow and make the best of every situation in order to maintain our sanity (not as if I have much of it left. Lol!). Just kidding! Or maybe not...

Below are the 6 designs that were created over a period of 2 months by two of my best batik artists. Out of the 6 designs, 4 were accepted. 2 were rejected. Here are the ones that made the cut.

 

This Edgy Peacock design in an inspiration from it's original, the 'Bonnie' print. The Bonnie print was soooooooooooooooooooooooo popular that I was asked to recreate this design, but in different colors.

Ask and you shall receive. Me thinks that this actually looks better than the original. This is fierce! Bad ass!

 

This Fighting Fish design was something that the artist and I brainstormed together. I wanted something beautiful & graceful, yet powerful. After weeks of throwing ideas back and forth, we came up with this concept. Three weeks later, this artwork was created.  

The vertical lines incorporated into this design was done on purpose & meant to create a more flattering look. The prototypes leggings are already out and they look fantastic.

 

Butterflies are pretty and I knew that I wanted butterfly inspired designs at some point. Nuff said. 

Here's a cute behind-the-scenes photo of Mr Lazim, hand painting the butterflies:

 

Below are the 2 designs that didn't make the cut. Once you see them, the reason why becomes obvious (why they were rejected).

Here's the first one...

Like, omg. The brief to the artist was to create a whimsical, dandelion inspired design. And this is what he came up with. *Face palm* It's not entirely horrible, but not exactly what I had in mind...

Here's the second (rejected) design:

 

I gotta admit. This is a bit better. But compared to the designs from the previous collection, this is nowhere near as cool as my existing designs. 

Then someone said something which made me completely rule out this design entirely.

"You can position this as Harley Quinn inspired pants & launch this over Halloween".

And I was like... No.. just no. I'll leave the Marvel inspired apparel to Black Milk and concentrate on producing gorgeous & inspiring leggings featuring hand painted works of art. 

The 4 approved designs were then forwarded to my manufacturer who created the mock ups as follows:

 

 

A few days later, these prototype leggings arrived at my doorstep. The Edgy Peacock and the Fighting Fish are GORGEOUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. So proud of them. I am arranging for them to be photographed in the studio and will reveal the images when they are ready. Friends who have already seen them are already drooling and pre-orders are already piling up. Good stuff.

The butterfly leggings were a disappointment, though. Here are the images:

I know what you're thinking. They are not bad, Nadia.

Problem is, 'not bad' isn't good enough for me anymore. All my designs have the WOW factor & customers really have a hard time choosing their favorite design because they were all amazing. And that is the standard that I have set for Fit Rebel & something that I want to maintain and surpass over time.

Something that I've learnt this year is that when love, care and attention to detail has been put into something, it shows in the final results. People will notice these things and it does matter. And personally, I will feel a bigger sense of pride and satisfaction in knowing that I have created something amazing. Not something that was 'not bad'.

So that is why, I will only be releasing 2 out of the 6 designs in December. Sorry for any disappointment caused, but it's only gonna be the best from me to you.

Thanks for reading, folks. X

Fit Rebel Will Be At Murfest This Year!

Yup, you heard right. We'll be there again this year. Here's one of our favorite throwback photos from the event in 2014. (Our website has changed from fit-rebel.com to fitrebel.com ever since, though).

 

We will be located at booth #60 of the Health & Wellness Market place. I (Nadia) will be there personally to man the booth, along with some friends.

We'll be there with our range of SENI by Fit Rebel leggings, as well as matching sports bras to go with your favorite pair of yogapants! ;)

Come drop by and say hi, stay for a chat & share your ideas for future collections that you would like to see on our leggings! 

Anyway, back to the event itself. For anyone who is into health and wellness, this is THE event to attend.

This year, Murfest will be held from 4 - 6 November 2016 at the Malaysian Tourism Center located  along Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. 

Ok, so why should you care & why should you attend?

BECAUSE THEY ARE OFFERING FREE WORKSHOPS which includes yoga and dance!

(Got your attention yet? Hehe).

Over the 3 days of the event, there will be 80 workshops by 30 Master Presenters from all over the world. Some are free and some require a paid pass for access. 

For more information, head on over to their website here: murfest.com

Namaste and looking forward to meeting all of you!

xoxo

********************************************************************************

Update on 1 November 2016:

For this year, the organizers of MURFEST have shared a 30% discount code with all participating vendors which we can share with family & friends to encourage you guys to check out this event. 

Simply enter promo code VENDOR30 at checkout at www.murfest.com/tickets

This is pretty much a FLASH SALE, and this code will be valid for 24 hours only.

Come check out this event, MURFEST promises to be a feast for your mind, body and soul.

X

My Experience On Creating My Own Line of Fitness Leggings

SENI by Fit Rebel leggings has officially launched and the first batch of orders has been processed and delivered to the backers of our crowd funding campaign.

The best moments from the previous weekend was receiving emails, messages and seeing posts from friends & customers receiving their leggings & doing social media shout-outs.

Here's Claudia from Vienna, Austria, enjoying the weekend, going about town in her fun, new leggings.

Suhana was spotted engaging in the #22pushupchallenge in our phoenix inspired leggings.

 

Alya was captured ice skating in our Japanese Koi inspired leggings! 

When good things happen in life, one has to take a moment of silence to feel gratitude and to give thanks to the universe, and to everyone and everything that has helped me along this journey to make this moment possible.

I believe that things are better when shared, so I would just like to share some learnings and observations that I picked up/ experienced through out this whole journey of creating my own line of leggings and running a crowd funding campaign.

LESSON #1: To Build Something Great From Nothing, You Must Really, Really, Really Want It

All I started with was an idea. Just an idea. Something in my head.
Literally, it went like this, "I want to create the most beautiful yoga pants in the world".

I didn't know how I was gonna do it, or what it took. I just really, really, really wanted it.
And the reason why I wanted it was due to a calling that was much bigger than myself. I realized that most women would get more excited about their workouts if they had fun and beautiful workout attire. Having been through some difficult times in the past 4 years (death of father, broken engagement, etc) I have personally felt the positive benefits of exercise which helped me overcome some of the most difficult moments in my life.

If having fun and beautiful active wear can get women to exercise more often, then I was going to create the most beautiful leggings in the world to inspire women to do just that.

It took me 12 months, which consisted of the following:

• 2 months of design, and finding the right artists to work with
• Going through 20 different prototypes before I was happy with the final product. 
• Traveling through the region, visiting fabric suppliers and manufacturers to compare fabrics, printing and manufacturing quality
• Weeks of stress testing the prototype with friends who engage in a wide variety of sports such as running, yoga, aerial hoops, martial arts and dance. Making improvements to the prototype based on their feedback
• Photoshoot, videoshoot, running the crowd funding and doing all the necessary marketing activities required to grow awareness
• etc

 It was hard. But I was clear on my vision and my intention, and I was unstoppable.


LESSON #2: You Must be Willing To Give Up Everything For What You Really Want

There really is no other way about this. To get something you really want, you need to do something you have never done. It's a shift of priorities that comes from within, once you have committed yourself to the goal.

I quit my job.
I think twice, three times before going on vacation, because that means I'll be away from work.
Hanging out with friends for a period longer than 3 hours makes me uncomfortable because it's time away that I could be doing something else for my business.


LESSON #3: People Will Surprise You

This has got the be the best lesson/ observation that I gained from this entire experience.
What I realized is that most people who can help, will do everything they can to help you succeed. Everyone from my models, photographer, artists, friends and family rose up to meet me and carried me even higher.

I can still remember the day of the photo shoot, when we were on our feet from the crack of dawn until sunset. I was barking out requests to friend & photographer (Jonathan Khee) the whole day, and he patiently obliged to everything I wanted. Till this day, I am filled with gratitude that he put up with my moment of crazy and we remain good friends :)

The flip side to all this light is the 'dark side'. Some people disappoint.

I guess that is life. Everyone is fighting their own battles and I should not judge people for what they did or did not do. I can only hope that with time, everyone will show their good side eventually.

And that's all for today, folks!

To view the SENI by Fit Rebel collection, you can visit the Fit Rebel website here: https://fitrebel.com/

The #PACEforward Movement

This summer, two fitness enthusiasts, based halfway across the world from each other, have decided to collaborate and start a movement to encourage women to lead and maintain active and healthier lifestyles, fuelled by fashion, photography, art and culture. 

The #PACEforward movement stands for Photography, Art, Culture and Exercise and is the brainchild of two friends, one from Malaysia and the other from United Kingdom. The background story of this movement can be found in our post titled 'Encouraging Sports Through Fashion and Art' if you click *here*.

The driver behind this movement will be a series of photographs released by the duo on the Fit Rebel and Neil Shearer Photography Facebook and Instagram accounts. These will be released on a weekly basis for 18 weeks, starting from June until September 2016. 

These photos will be a stunning collection of images showcasing women engaging in active pursuits, decked in the colourful leggings of Seni by Fit Rebel. The end goal of #PACEforward is to produce awe inspiring art through stunning sports photography to inspire viewers to get active.

To further strengthen their commitment to this movement, Fit Rebel will be holding weekly giveaways throughout the entire summer for all followers. By simply sharing their social media posts, followers will stand a chance to win products from fitrebel.com every week!

Fit Rebel ships internationally, so women all across the globe are welcome to follow this movement and stand a chance to win prizes all summer long through Fit Rebel’s weekly giveaways. 

 Be a part of the #PACEforward Movement! Details below:

• Photos will be released every Friday, starting 3rd June until 30 September. Therefore, one photo will be release every week, for 18 weeks in the Summer of 2016.
• Photos will be released on both our Instagram and Facebook accounts. Follow any one you prefer:
• Fit Rebel
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/fitrebelapparel
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/fitrebelapparel
• Neil Shearer Photography
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/neilshearer_photography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/NeilShearerPhotography
• Share our photos on either Facebook or Instagram.
• Mention both Fit Rebel & Neil Shearer Photography in your caption (Or to make it even easier, just share the original caption of the photo which will already have all the details).
• Please include this hashtag #PACEforward.
• Tag us in your photo.
• A new winner will be announced every Thursday via our social media accounts.
• A winner will be selected at random, so everyone stands an equal chance!
• The winner will win one free sports bra as below. Colors and sizes are available while stocks lasts. We will ship this item for free, anywhere you are located, so women all over the world are welcome to participate.
• Share our photos with your girl pals and get ready to be inspired to have an active and healthier summer! With the possibility of winning a new sports bra, there is even more incentive to follow the #PACEforward movement!

 *Stand a chance to win any one of these sports bras below every week for the next 18 weeks starting from 3 June 2016 till 30 September 2016*

Encouraging Sports Through Fashion and Art

There is no such thing as a bad workout. The only bad workout is the one that you did not do. 

This summer, two fitness enthusiasts, based halfway across the world from each other, have decided to collaborate and start a movement to encourage women to lead and maintain active and healthier lifestyles, fuelled by fashion, photography, art and culture. 

The #PACEforward movement stands for Photography, Art, Culture and Exercise and is the brainchild of two friends, one from Malaysia and the other from United Kingdom. 

Nadia Hasbi hails from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and is the founder of Fit Rebel (fitrebel.com), an e-commerce site which offers fashionable and affordable active wear for women. Named as one of the top local e-tailers by Timeout Magazine, the site has also featured in Women’s Health Magazine, Shape Magazine and Urbanette. The brands carried by Fit Rebel include Seni, a line of leggings created by Hasbi which features the hand painted works of art by traditional batik artists from Malaysia. The line supports local artists and gives them an alternative platform to showcase their work. The idea is to create leggings so beautiful that women can’t wait to wear them, get out of the house and get moving!

Neil Shearer is from Manchester, UK and is an accomplished photographer, specializing in sports and active lifestyle photography. He has shot various sportsmen such as footballers, cross fitters and even the Ford GT racing teams in USA and UK. The founder of the ‘Sports As Art’ Project, Shearer spends his free time working with athletes to elevate his craft and further explore his passion for sports through creative ways. In May 2016, his work received the Gold Image Award from the National Photographic Society of the United Kingdom. 

Huge admirers of each other’s works, Hasbi and Shearer decided to combine their passions in fashion and fitness to initiate a movement to motivate women to be more active. Thus, the #PACEforward movement was born.  

The driver behind this movement will be a series of photographs released by the duo on the Fit Rebel and Neil Shearer Photography Facebook and Instagram accounts. These will be released on a weekly basis for 18 weeks, starting from June until September 2016. 

These photos will be a stunning collection of images showcasing women engaging in active pursuits, decked in the colourful leggings of Seni by Fit Rebel. The end goal of #PACEforward is to produce awe inspiring art through stunning sports photography to inspire viewers to get active.

To further strengthen their commitment to this movement, Fit Rebel will be holding weekly giveaways throughout the entire summer for all followers. By simply sharing their social media posts, followers will stand a chance to win products from fitrebel.com every week!

“Seeing Seni’s art inspired leggings on athletes, shot against scenes across the UK has resulted in incredible imagery which I believe, firstly, will make you fall in love and then will motivate you to get more active this summer. We are combining the arts and culture of both our backgrounds to create this international movement for all women to enjoy and participate in. It takes 21 days to form a new habit, and in this case, we are pushing this movement for the entire summer of 2016, which leads me to believe that women will continue to lead active and healthy lifestyles even beyond this,” said Hasbi.

“I was interested to work with Nadia as we share the same passion for sports and finding ways to make it beautiful and more enjoyable. Our shared dedication to create images to inspire women to get active has turned this into a fun project and I am looking forward to the responses received from women who decide to follow this movement,” said Shearer. 

Fit Rebel ships internationally, so women all across the globe are welcome to follow this movement and stand a chance to win prizes all summer long through Fit Rebel’s weekly giveaways. 

#PACEforward is a testament to what happens when fashion meets photography, coupled together with passion and culture of two uniquely distinct individual’s love for leading active lifestyles and wanting to make a difference. For more details, please visit fitrebel.com.