What Now, CMF?

Back in October 2017, for once I had the courage to get back on blogging again. I've been thinking about a sequence of posts to begin blogging again. I had typed an entire post as an introduction, and other four following posts. On January 2018, I edited the introduction post, but somehow another year has passed, and I didn't have the gut to hit the publish button.

There has been something wrong with me. I have been burdening myself with expectations, I was not ready to meet. Other reasons must be that: a transition in life phrased as 'quarter life crisis', and I complicate it with a suck at management. I realised that the core of my problems is that I'm not grateful. With an ungrateful heart, you can make wrong out of anything.

Without further due, here's my introduction post:

Modern Girls Uploaded

If you are also a 'Fashion Bloggers' TV series lover like me, you will be familiar with the title of this post! Yes, it's the title of Fashion Bloggers' S01E02. So, this post is inspired by that episode where Sara and Zanita had a casual street style photoshoot together around the town. And I thought.. It must be really fun to do a shoot together with another fellow blogger, or with your best friend! Then, I saw this post on Topshop Indonesia's Instagram:

A Come Back!

After almost a year with the absence of blogging, hereby I present myself (again) on this personal blog page of mine with so much gladness, and a renewed energy. The month of October in 2014 has eventually became the time for me to rise up, and begin to execute numerous plans for this blog after I had to collect back my blogging spirit—due to some trials I had to pass: one crashed external hard disk and the loss of some important files, including the projects I was planning for this blog. 

This is a fresh restart, and hopefully I can manage myself to be able to constantly be involved in this creative world, and keep on 'the move'. I shall begin this with:

Bismi-llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm, in the name of Allāh most gracious most merciful.

Nouveau Grunge

- A day off in white shirt, pencil skirt, and the joy of blogging -  

Brown Brows

One day, I saw one of my girl friends looked totally different. I was wondering what was so different about her face whereas she didn't wear any heavy make up or something so eye catching. Oh, then I realized that she got her eyebrows plucked. Since that moment, I realized that the shape of our eyebrows has the ability to frame our face. A friend of mine who is also a makeup guru said that makeup around the eye area is the most important part that gives the 'whole' look.

Since I don't do any eyebrows plucking, I wanted to give a try experimenting with the eyebrow colouring brush. Luckily, I have a college friend; Ellysee who sells original Etude House products with cheaper price! So, I bought the Color My Brows product number 2. I chose the light coloured one because my eyebrows are dark, thick & bushy already. This one blends perfectly with my eyebrows because it lighten up but not too striking.   

First Experience: Jakarta Fashion Week 2014

When I saw this post on my instagram feed, I was so excited to win this invitation because I need to get rid of my curiosity about the fashion week event. The requirement to win the invitation was to regram the photo above, alongside with the reason why we want attend the show. So, here's my entry in Indonesian language:   

Assalamu'alaykum kak @fitriaulia_, perkenalkan namaku Mila, asal dari Bandung. Alasanku ingin mendaptkan salah satu undangan Fashion Show kak Fitri karena, selama aku mengikuti perjalanan karir kak Fitri, kerap kali aku terinspirasi dengan karya-karya kak Fitri untuk KIVITZ. Berpakaian stylish namun syar'i itu menurutku bukan lagi menjadi penghalang bagi muslimah dalam menjalankan syariatNya sekaligus mengespresikan diri. Menurutku hal itu tidak mengapa karena, dalam hadist pun Rasulullāh mengatakan bahwa kita boleh makan, minum, dan berpakaian sesuai keinginan kita, namun jangan biarkan kemewahan atau kebanggaan membuat kita menjadi lalai. Dari situlah, aku selalu suka style kak Fitri yang kreatif namun tidak terkesan berlebihan dan sederhana. Dengan berpakaian stylish, aku rasa hal tersebut bisa menunjukkan bahwa Islam adalah agama yang ramah, dan terbuka pada siapa saja. Dengan menampilkan kreatifitas, maka orang-orang yang 'belum' paham tentang Islam lebih jauh, akan cenderung bertanya-tanya dan ingin mengetahui Islam lebih dalam. Mungkin.. *ngarangya aku nih ya kak* hal ini juga bisa disebut dengan pendekatan kreatifitas. Tapi tetap, hal yang esensialnya adalah untuk mendakwahkan Islam. 

Alasan keduanya adalah, karena kak Fitri mengangkat tema suku Moors di Andalusia. Andalusia adalah salah satu tempat yg sangat ingin aku kunjungi suatu saat nanti. Tentunya fashion show kali ini menjadi sesuatu yg aku harap bisa saksikan. Aku selalu tertarik dengan ragam kebudayaan di dunia. Terlebih lagi aku baru tau akan adanya suku Moors di wilayah tersebut.

Dan tentunya, kalau aku terpilih, ini akan menjadi kali pertamanya aku menghadiri sebuah peragaan busana. Dan aku akan senang untuk meliput acara ini untuk menjadi bahan tulisan untuk di blogku. Terlebih lagi, aku ingin bertemu dan berbincang sedikit dengan kak Fitri yang shalihah, cantik, dan inspirasional itu :)

Terimakasih sekiranya sudah membaca postinganku ini. Sukses selalu kak! Go go go #FitriAuliaforJFW!

- @milaanzib (dengan sedikit perubahan)

Briefly, I said that I've been inspired by kak Fitri's design for KIVITZ which is simple, modest, yet stylish. Referring to a hadith: "Eat what you want and dress up as you desire, as long as extravagance and pride do not mislead you", said by Muhammad salAllahu alayhi wasalam, lead me to the thought that for a Muslim to look good in appearance is absolutely fine. Even when we use creativity to represent our identity as a Muslim, perhaps others who don't really acquaintance with Islam would be more interested to know more about this beautiful religion. Through this 'creativity approach', Islam could be felt more like an open and friendly religion for anyone. But still, the main intention is for dawah. Another interesting thing is the theme for Fitri Aulia's collection. It was called "Glorious Moors", the tribe from Andalusia, Spain—one of places I want to visit one day because of its historical sites & cultures. And the last one is I surely wanted to meet the shalihah & inspiring kak Fitri in person too.     

Alhamdulillāh! I got the chance to attend the show. Soon after knowing this, I contacted my friend; Hutri to join my very first fashion show experience to Jakarta. 

Eid al-Adha 1434H

"Their meat will not reach Allah , nor will their blood, but what reaches Him is piety from you. Thus have We subjected them to you that you may glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you; and give good tidings to the doers of good." Q.S. Al-Haj (22) : 37

Alhamdulillāh, today we all are still able to taste the graceful day of eid. The event of slaughtering which is commemorated every 10th Dhul-hijjah has reminded all Muslims about the great sacrifice done by Ibrahim A.S. He has incised a noble example for us all to show our submission to Allāh S.W.T. On this day, thousands years ago, Ibrahim A.S. was commanded to slaughter his own son, whom he had been waited for years. It was such a huge dilemma, how could he sacrifice his beloved one. More than that, his love for Allāh S.W.T is greater than anything. 

The Arabic word islam means 'to submit' or 'to surrender', and 'to enter into peace'. As the name of this religion, it means submitting and surrendering oneself to God and thereby entering into peace. Islam teaches that the whole of the universe around us, the earth, the stars, the sun, the trees, everything is in a state of submission to God. The Holy Quran says:

"To Him submits whatever is in the heavens and the earth" Q.S. 'Ali `Imran (3) : 83

This means to say that everything in nature is working according to fixed laws and cannot deviate from those laws. Your own body, and all its parts and organs, are working subject to the laws of nature, and have no choice but to work as they are intended to. But God has given the human soul freedom whether to submit to Him or violate His laws. And then through His Prophets, God revealed what that guidance is, to which man must submit.

Have we sacrifice our love to this worldly life for akhirah's sake? From this event, we can learn something really important that must be applied to the way we are living. Allāh S.W.T wants us not to be enslaved by this dunya. Therefore, we must not have an excessive sense of belonging towards everything in this dunya. Even our body, our existence in this world has its own time limit.