MELISSA SIN From her days of playing with her mother’s jewellery as a child to starting up her own minaudière label, founder of The Bag Atelier, Melissa Sin knows a thing or two about accessorising. By Amy Yasmine.

There are some things a girl just really can’t help herself with: Net-a-Porter sales, Netflix, and blinged out accessories. “It’s like adding a little bit of sparkle to your everyday outfit,” says Melissa Sin, founder of The Bag Atelier, an accessories company that specialises in — you guessed it, to-die-for embellished minaudières. “I love anything from sequins, beadings, embellishments, and beaded lace on clothing, to big crystals, semiprecious stones, and diamonds on my accessories and minaudière pieces. You can’t go wrong with these!” she adds. “It’s like that one quote by Marc Jacobs back at his Fall 2011 show, ‘What was our favourite colour? Shiny.’” In that regard, Melissa sparkles like a disco ball. Fresh-faced at our shoot on an early yet scorching Tuesday morning, she describes her style philosophy as an adventurous one. “In a year, I could go from an all-white phase to pastel, and then all of a sudden, I’ll be obsessed with anything black and textural,” she quips. “But over the last 10 years, perhaps the one thing that hasn’t changed is that I love anything with an extra splash of bling.”

True to her word, the selfprofessed magpie emerges in a pastel pink tutu skirt and a bright fuchsia leather jacket, decked out to the nines. “I am an accessories kind of girl,” she confesses. “A friend once told me, she noticed that I tend to have more accessories on whenever I am in a happy mood. I’m not so sure if that really is the case, but I do realise I get really hyped-up every time it comes to choosing ‘arm swag’ for my outfits!” Melissa explains, laughing. Luckily enough for us, the fact that she had more than an arm swag going on that day meant that she must’ve been in high spirits.

As they say, no habits (or appreciation, in this case) come without influence. “My earliest memory of ‘fashion consciousness’ was of me as a little girl playing with my mom’s earrings and jewellery while she was at work,” she recalls. “I would pick different clip-on earrings from her jewellery organisers and mix-

The Bag Atelier founder goes casual-glam with a lacy- black dress from ShoesShoesShoes, a summery panama hat, and fingerless Chanel gloves

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