Going digital is a boon
Fashion and bridal designer Nurita Harith tells Amalina Kamal about her digital side
01 HOW HAS TECHNOLOGY ENRICHED YOUR WORK?
When I started doing fashion about a decade or so ago, there weren’t many digital tools/platforms that I could take advantage of (not like today with all the business management applications readily available) to maximise the productivity of my work.
Sure enough, business was quite slow and I guess it is because clients were not able to reach
out to the brand as well as they can today. For example, being able to create and personalise my own website means I am able to not only share my work better, but also gather more feedback from potential customers. I fully utilise my web page (I see it as a sophisticated digital catalogue), especially in all my promotional/marketing strategies. I think digital technology is great because it introduces us to things such as cloud storage (allows me to archive and share photos of my campaign over the years without a sweat) and social media (I use it to maintain engagements and
drive traffic to my website).
02 WHERE DO YOU SOURCE FOR ONLINE INSPIRATION?
I go on style.com (now known as farfetch.com) and browse through Pinterest — it’s like a mood board of endless pictures that links with one another based on themes. But as much as I am online, I prefer to source for ideas offline through hard
copies (books) on fashion and style. I usually look at seasonal trends, prints and colours. Sometimes what I am attracted to doesn’t
necessarily suit my personal aesthetics, but I just love observing the creative interests of other
designers.
03 HAVE YOU TRIED TO DIGITALLY PRINT FABRICS FOR ANY OF YOUR COLLECTIONS?
WHAT HAS YOUR EXPERIENCE BEEN LIKE? I have meddled in print works for a Hari Raya collection a few years ago when I collaborated with an online e-commerce. One thing I learnt is that it does take patience because you certainly
need room for (a lot of) trial and error. Those who are familiar with my work know that prints are not what I usually do. It takes a certain set of skills — from the sizing and layout to the colour
approaches. The pre-production was great. I got Malaysian-born painter Dura Hana to help me with the illustrations. When I got the print fabrics after it was manufactured, the colours and movement of the patterns didn’t pop
the right way. I felt that the whole fabrication of my collection at the time didn’t translate to how I wanted it to and it was so sad because the paintings were already brilliant. We were constrained for time so we had no choice but to make do with the materials we had. If I had known how the outcome would be, I would definitely have focused on perfecting the
printing process.
04 NAME ONE ONLINE PET PEEVE AND YOUR ADVICE AGAINST IT?
It’s when social media users flaunt their follower counts freely without being mindful of respect. I have
encountered a number of influencers who would come up to me with all sorts of requests, especially when it comes to garment loans and attending fashion shows (being part of the guest list) just
because of their online popularity.
If the invite does not come from me or the requests aren’t viable to sustain the business, I won’t even
reply or bother to entertain them.
Another thing that bugs me is people messaging me through Instagram. If you want to get in touch, you
should definitely send out a proper email.
05 NAME ONE MOMENT WHEN TECHNOLOGY TOOK YOU BY SURPRISE?
When Spotify or music streaming in general was introduced. I honestly can’t imagine my life without the ease of getting my favourite tracks. I mean music helps me get through my work. Interestingly enough, I designate a song to a particular collection, and it would be the only tune played throughout the creative process.
06 WHAT IS CURRENTLY ON YOUR PLAYLIST?
Get You Good by Roy Woods, Say Aah by Trey Songz and Ascension by Maxwell.