Shedding Skin

Introduce yourself!
Hi, my name is Daniel, and I’m currently a final year university student studying engineering. My hobbies are gaming, tennis (or at least I try), and going to the gym. I also like having a lot of alone time, so I try to go on as many solo dates as I can because I feel like it really helps my mental health, and I really being by myself.

Okay, this might be stereotypical of us, but you don’t look like an engineer.
Exactly! I get that a lot also. I’ve actually been doing maths and whatever all the way through school, which I guess became my strength and hence why I’m pursuing engineering now. But there’s always a part of me that wants to explore the more creative side of things. Even now, as I’m looking to apply for jobs, I realise that a lot of the things that I want to do as a career will probably not be related to what I’m learning right now.

Even though I’m on this engineering path, I feel like my passion is still more towards the creative industry. I really cannot see myself sitting at a 9-to-5 job and being desk-bound basically, doing something that I have almost no interest in. That’s just damn depressing lah, so in the future I would probably want to do events or project management—something that will get me around and interacting with people more.

Interesting, you treasure your alone time but you’re also a people person!
Yeah I’m an ambivert I guess! So when I can, I’ll socialise, but then once I’m back home by myself, I’ll just block off everything and recharge.

We can relate. Going back to your studies, do you always dress up for school?
Yes, I always try my best to dress up for school. No shade, but in engineering, I feel like we can all do better when it comes to dressing up (laughs). Sometimes I feel a bit conscious of what I’m wearing to school, but I mean, I’m being conscious about a good thing, so I’m like meh, I’ll wear what makes me look and feel good!

Preach! Have you ever gotten criticised for the way you dress?
Actually yeah, but of all people, it’s usually from my own family! It’s always the closest ones around us ah. They’ll be like “oh, you dress like that not hot meh? Now people your age dress like that meh? Why can’t you just dress like everyone else?” But that’s so boring!

The most annoying phrase is when they say “oh, it’s just a phase, you’ll grow out of it,” but I’m like “you don’t know that…”. They just want this party of me to be over so that I can be the person they want me to be, but I know for a fact that I’m not going to change.

Considering your more conservative upbringing, how did you get into fashion?
I feel like a part of me was always into it, but I only started putting myself out there a lot more post-NS actually. When I had more freedom, I socialised more and got to know more people that I really vibed with, and then slowly I just became more daring in the way that I dressed, and less self conscious overall. My social media for you page also helped (laughs). The algorithm just started to work well with me.

This is also why this year, my personal goal is to prioritise myself and my own happiness, and to look out for the ones I love in the process lah. I also want to stay healthy and put my passions first as much as I can, especially since I’ll be graduating soon.