Photo: Nelly Nguyen Styling: me
Why blog anyway?
I first started writing a blog at age 14 when I was learning to sew and knit. It was a lovely way to document the things I'd made, the trials I'd undergone whilst learning the crafts, and to interact with like minded people online that I wasn't meeting in real life. (This was long before crafting was cool in the mainstream.)
I blogged very little at university, then sporadically over the last few years as blogging exploded and my own blip of the Internet grew broader but less focussed. To combat this, I tried to restart a more specific blog about sewing in the Winter; but haven't managed to write very often. What's the point, when I can much more quickly share progress and projects on Instagram, where people connect much more immediately with what I'm making?
So why blog anyway? I mentioned this to my mother (wonderful, compulsive writer with a wicked imagination): why write if people aren't really going to read it? And she disagreed strongly, because it seems that the novel-writing-blogging community is thriving. Of course, if those bloggers are writers by trade, it stands to reason that they're also readers, and willing to 'commit' to reading a whole blog (rather than a few sentences' description on a FB or Insta post).
At the end of much rambling discussion I came to the conclusion that I should write for the sake of writing and for the joy of having a medium in which to explore my many thoughts and opinions on things I am seeing, reading, and talking about. And if a few other people want to read, and are willing to write back, then so much the better.
What is this?
Welcome to Dress Me Up, Drag Me Out, where I'll be writing a hodgepodge collection of thoughts on: feminism, dressing up, clothes, the making industries, portrayal of gender, and other hot topics.
Who am I?
I'm Anushka, self-described seamstress and songstress. I'm a multi-disciplinary artist working across writing, music and making with a background in costume and theatre. I wrote my dissertation on drag queens and write songs about fairytales. I read a lot of books and have a lot of opinions.
