Just because I’ve started a blog, does that make me a blogger?

That is the question. How does one define what I do into one word. Stylist? Writer? Fashionista? Blogger? Having joined the bloggersphere (once again), it is so easy to lump my personality, my entire entity into a category.

Most of the connotations associated with the term “blogger” have been negative and unfairly stereotyped. This is part in due with the explosion of anonymous people wanting to vent, articulate, voice their opinions or just post images of cats. The internet have allowed us to become connected, sync, uploaded and shared with every citizen of the wider world of connectivity.

Having myself resist “blogging” about fashion for sake of not wanting to compete with the Bryanboys, Susie Bubbles, or Margaret Zhangs of the world (whom I all utterly respect and religiously follow), writing has always been a craft that I’ve kept coming back to.

This epitome, sadly, did not arise from my own thought processes. That credit belongs to a young traveller from Wales whom I had the pleasure of sharing several hours with. After an exhausting five days of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia in Sydney, I sat down in the plush common room of the hotel I had resided all week to flick through the piles of designer press releases, look-books and fashion magazines I had acquired.

This discerning young woman commented on my fashionable stash and subtly got this hardened fashionista to slowly open up on my world of fashion and previous life adventures. As a traveller, her youthful exuberance was infectious. She and her male travelling partner found my life story utterly fascinating. Not because of my involvement with the world of fashion, but because I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life.

I happily answered questions (“no, it isn’t glamourous,” “yes, this is my fourth career,”) and discovered that I thoroughly enjoyed encouraging others to find what gives them joy and for them to actively pursue them. Whilst this mentoring business is nothing new to me, in the midst of our friendly banter, she made a pertinent discovery about me.

Throughout my seemingly disjointed, juxtaposed careers, writing have always been the principal connection. From the scientific research of my Honours thesis, to my foray into the music world to now gracing fashion runway shows, writing has always been the journey.

So I’ve bit the bullet and decided to add a blog to my portfolio site. It will be deeply personal, as I’ll share experiences that many of my colleagues from my “day job”, friends to strangers have never experienced before. So welcome to my world.

“Cut to me,” has a two fold meaning. The first represents a parody of the somewhat narcissistic interjection that occurs in the fashion world where opinions on taste and style permeate, and the second is a more subtle approach of a designer trimming a piece of material to fashion it into a section of a garment. It’s unfinished, deconstructed, rough, but highly integral to the finished product. And this blog hopes to bring that notion. My thoughts here are unpublished, sometimes blunt and unconstructed, but they form part of the (yet) finished product. And I hope you, my readers, enjoy the manufacturing of my greatest garment.