This is the photo I submitted for the contest.
Last year September, I saw a tweet about the eBay LookBook Contest where people could submit a photo of their fashion look and compete for the grand prize of $5000 pay pal shopping spree, a Lucky Magazine style consulting, and a photoshoot with Micheal Waring Photography.
"Wow, that sounds fun!" my first reaction. Then I said to myself, "Why not?"
The next day, I asked my good friend at work, Sara, to help me take some photos during lunch time. (Thank you so much, Sara!) At that time, I already had some locations and photography style in mind — I wanted to have an urban look & feel to my photos. I loved how the color of the bricks contrasted with my outfit. Unfortunately, the sun was really bright during that time, and there were a lot of overcasting shadows. But Sara did a great job on the photos :>
I wasn't sure how to pose in front of the camera at first.. But I grabbed a couple of the fashion catalogs with us, so I referenced their poses during the shoot. haha. Sara also did an amazing job instructing me. Here are some of the photos from that day:
At last, we both agreed that I should submit the one that I looked straight to the camera, which showed confidence in my style (see the first image).
About my style, I guess I really like to mix and match patterns, colors, and textures together on my everyday outfit. Pattern & color usages in textiles and interior design have always sparked my creativity during the mix & match process. Because of my skin tone and hair color, I carry bright colors & patterns pretty well. Therefore, I am not afraid to wear colors or patterns that might seem "risky." Besides, mixing the unexpected items / color scheme together often help create a unique and fresh look ;>
In this look, I have a couple of different patterns & textures mixed together : the crochet of my blouse, floral prints on my skirt, dot pattern on my tight, and the geometric print on my purse. That is 4 different patterns & textures. haha. Is it a bit much? Maybe. Of course, when you choose to mix more than one pattern together, they can't all be equally "loud." Some need to be more subtle to help balance the whole outfit :> In this case, my blouse & tight are playing the subtle parts.
Back to the contest >>
The voting of the contest lasted till the end of October. When I found out about the contest, it was already the end of September, so I only had about 3 weeks to pull some votes. Only the top 25 participants with the most votes would be eligible as finalists. I knew it was late when I submitted my entry, but "Why not?" I posted the photo & link on my facebook, I tweeted about it, and sent personal messages to my friends, even my friends from Hong Kong. I was really excited about the contest and was constantly monitoring my votes. haha. I really have to thank you all my friends, and family for their support. They were probably annoyed by me for asking them to vote 5 times a day for me! ha ;p
At last, I ended up with 366 votes. But I wasn't sure if I was one of the top 25. Because some people were still voting after the due date and when I checked I was right around 26, 27. Just when I was wondering if I was qualified to be one of the finalists, an incident happened. Life became hectic, and I had put the contest aside..
I was first in my category—eclectic :>
A few weeks later, I received an email after I came back from an out of town job interview. The title was eBay LookBook. "OMG!!!!!! Did I win?" I said to myself. I opened the email and the first sentence was "Dear Chi Hiu, Congratulations! We’re pleased to inform you that you have been selected as a potential Grand Prize Winner (subject to verification of your eligibility and compliance with the official rules) in the EBAY Fashion lookbook CONTEST."
"OMG. Does that mean I won? or I am the top 3 finalists? Or..?" I had to read the email more than 10 times to make sure I got the right idea. After that I called Sara. But it went to her voice mail, so I left a crazy-woman-screaming-hysterically voice mail and called my another friend. "I NEED TO SHARE THE NEWS WITH MY CLOSE FRIENDS!!! I (MIGHT) WON!!!" I wish I could call my family right away, but it was 5am in the morning in Hong Kong when I received the good news. haha.
So yes. I won. I officially won. I just want to say life is full of bad and good surprises. And this is definitely the good one. I'm so lucky that I won. I remember when I told one of my close friend about the good news, she said "OMG. I actually know someone who won this kind of contests. This is a real deal!" hahahaaaa ;> yes. I can't believe it myself either.
On the next post, I will write about my trip to NYC for the photoshoot with eBay & Lucky Magazine. Please stay tuned!
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I've also decided to post pictures of my daily fashion style regularly on this blog :> This is a little project that my friend, Drew, is going to help me with. He is a really talented motion graphic designer and photographer. Check out his vimeo at http://vimeo.com/imagoodbo
This blog will primarily focus on design & fashion. Of course, anything (such as cultures or other subject matters) that inspire my design & fashion sense will also be documented in this blog.
Please stay tuned for more updates :>
