Shiny Things

Annabelle very aptly describes her personal style as “tropical grandma”. We bumped into her when she was on her way to a themed party, and so she’s dressed in a resort-style, breezy dress, with an additional tropical shirt in her bag for layering and good measure. “Ill-fitting clothes and outfits that say nothing about someone’s personality make me depressed,” she says. It seems she gets a lot of style inspiration from old people, with whom she says she’s obsessed with. “From rare birds like Iris Apfel to the ah ma on the street with a matching printed ensemble or the ah pek with a hat perched just-so on his head — I love how they’re all just going about life being their cool gangsta selves. We have so much to learn from them, and so much to look forward to. After all, as Diana Vreeland once said, too much good taste can be boring.” As a writer and the founder of independent magazine retailer, Magpie, Annabelle loves that she gets to be involved in all things magazine-related, and being able to meet all sorts of interesting people through her work. “But I definitely spend a lot of time wishing the magazines I sell aren’t such (literal) heavyweights.” She says she’s always wanted to be a trend forecaster, because “it just seems like the coolest job ever”, but at whichever job it is, she says that it’s important to pay your dues. “It’s never cool to be the newbie with a (false) sense of entitlement.” Juggling a freelance job and her own business can get challenging, but Annabelle says that she’s blessed with friends and family who support her and her “#startuplyfe”. “They help by blurring the lines between personal time and my working life; from helping me out and/or visiting me at my many (many) pop-ups, to attending Magpie events, and always being there whenever I need a listening ear/drinking buddy/personal cheerleader.”