Born in the vibrant city of Singapore with a unique Eurasian blend of Portuguese and Chinese heritage, my journey has taken me from the bustling streets of Singapore to the serene and open landscapes of Sweden. My educational pursuits in Singapore culminated at tertiary level with two separate Master degrees, after which I embarked on a new adventure in 2002, moving to Sweden. In Sweden, I pursued with deep interest, the knowledge field of applied linguistics, particularly corpus linguistics research methods, earning a doctoral degree from one of northern Europe’s largest universities, the University of Gothenburg. I currently work as Project Manager, focusing on EU and international projects, at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, at the Division of Bioeconomy and Health, Department of Agriculture and Food. My office is located in Mölndal municipality. Mölndal, known also as the Valley of Mills, is located about ten minutes by bus ride from the city center of Gothenburg to the south. If you’re ever traveling south from Gothenburg to Malmö, whether by train or car, you will likely come by Mölndal municipality. In these pages at cmariec.com, you’ll find my lifestyle musings on culinary and travel adventures from Singapore to Sweden, and from when I lived and worked the Arctic City of Tromsø (2018 to mid-2022). SINGAPORE | SWEDEN | NORTHERN NORWAY Life in Singapore Pursued all academic interests in Singapore, of which the post-graduate years were founded in two separate disciplines. In 2000, graduated with two separate Masters Degrees: (i) Master of Science in Information Studies at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore (ii) Master of Arts in the English Language at the National University of Singapore (NUS). In 1999, represented the Republic of Singapore at the Miss Universe Pageant in Trinidad and Tobago. With this came a variety of film, educational TV, media, and ambassadorial work for the Singapore Tourism Board. Life in Sweden In 2002, moved from Singapore to Sweden in order to pursue a PhD in Gothenburg, where a number of international corporate head offices were located that all had a substantial business presence in Singapore and also Asia in general. In 2009, graduated with a PhD in applied critical linguistics from the faculty of humanities at the University of Gothenburg, with a cross-disciplinary thesis entitled, Swedish management in Singapore: a discourse analysis study, looking particularly into the concepts of assimilation, integration and hierarchy, at top management levels of Swedish-Asian corporations in Singapore. 2013, as research fellow at the Centre for International Business Studies (CIBS), School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, researching the future implications of increasing Asian-Swedish cooperation within the field of international business. The project is entitled Gothenburg in Asia, Asia in Gothenburg, funded by the Anna Ahrenberg Foundation. The project is aligned with the 400 years anniversary of the city of Gothenburg in 2021, and falls under the broad category of Kunskap Göteborg 2021 initiated by city representatives of Gothenburg, Göteborg & Co, University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology. 2015, was granted the Flexit post-doctoral scholarship by Bank of Sweden Tercentennary Foundation (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, RJ) for a three year project together with the Swedish-Swiss multinational enterprise ABB. From 2015-17, the research will take place at ABB Corporate Research Sweden HQ in Västerås, and at CIBS during 2017-18. The research focus of the project is how new technologies are perceived and accepted by users and customers, using linguistic methods of data analysis. More information can be found at RJ’s website, at Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ) Felxit 2015. Life in Northern Norway (2018-2022) 2018, late summer. I acquired new work as Market Scientist at Nofima. Having moved to the county of Troms in August, I’m currently enjoying myself, exploring the island city of Tromsø. From the 1900s, this city became known as Paris of the North due to how the people of Tromsø were exceptionally stylish and sophisticated in contrast to the fishing village preconception that many might have of a city located in the Arctic Circle. In my years in Sweden, I have known Sweden to be called the land of the midnight sun. During the long summer mights, it was beautiful to sit and watch the sun’s languid pendulation between east and west, touching the horizon out at sea before going up again. Northern Norway takes this languid pendulation of the sun to the extreme. It is not only known as the land of the midnight sun, but it is also the land of polar nights and the northern lights. This is my new adventure. And in these lifestyle blog pages, you’ll find my personal thoughts, insights and musings. Cheryl Marie Cordeiro | PhD MSc MA ACADEMIC REFLECTIONS | CV LIFESTYLE BLOG

Cars that go BOOM

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Nibbling the Big Apple VIII

At around 07:30 hrs, Stephen Korte, myself and his Dodge

It was such dreary and cold weather to begin the day. Walking down the street half frozen and half awake, I expected nothing to happen, at least not before the first triple vente whole milk latte at the first Starbucks. And then I heard, an unexpected hip-hop beat in the far distance. At 07:30 hrs in the morning?

As I walked, the street beat got louder and louder. It was catchy. So catchy, I began to walk to the beat of the music, not caring if the DKNY black patent coat looked displaced in the hip hop genre. Perhaps it was a club that forgot to turn down their music from the previous night? Continue reading “Cars that go BOOM” →

New York by Horse

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Nibbling the Big Apple VII

At New York’s poshest address, where 5th Ave meets Central Park South, you are invited to take a 19th century horse carriage ride through Central Park.

These horse carriages, which define New York City as much as the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building, can be found parked along the oval roundabout almost directly in front of the toy store FAO Schwartz.

The city sight at this particular spot where the skyscrapers tip the doorstep of nature, is fantastic! Standing with hands outstretched where the horse carriages are parked, you can almost touch with your fingertips, Trump Tower, FAO Schwartz, Cartier, Saks 5th Ave, Bergdorf Goodman, Henri Bendel, Gucci and Louis Vuitton. Continue reading “New York by Horse” →

The Empire State Building and Macy’s

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Nibbling the Big Apple VI

Empire State building from the corner of Broadway and 34th west street

It’s easy to slide between fantasy and reality when walking around in New York. The city has featured in so many movies that you begin to recognize places you’ve never actually visited in real life, places that render you a feeling of déjà vu, when really, it isn’t. Continue reading “The Empire State Building and Macy’s” →

Prada along 5th Ave, New York

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Nibbling the Big Apple V

A pair of Prada boots from their Runway, RTW S/S 2008 collection.

I couldn’t help but bound into Prada along 5th Ave after spotting it from across the street. Their Spring 2008 collection on the Runway seemed interestingly creative this time around, with inspirations from the 60s and 70s, woven into swirls of fairy mystic. The cut out boots I was trying on in the picture above, are quintessential in exhibiting the spirit Prada in Spring 2008. It’s also one of the more wearable of shoes and boots this season from Prada, without looking too much of a fruit cake. Continue reading “Prada along 5th Ave, New York” →

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

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Nibbling the Big Apple IV

The Statue of Liberty, New York, May 2008. An appropriate and symbolic view. This is the view you will have at the exact moment you are told that your ticket does not include a visit to the monument itself, i.e. this is as close as you’ll get. Tickets for checking out if the X-men actually could have had that final fight inside the monument needs to be booked at least two days in advance.

A stay in New York is not complete without a visit to the Statue of Liberty, with a visit to the former immigrant facility office at Ellis Island included. Tickets can be bought at Clinton Fort, Battery Park, at the south western part of the Manhattan Island, just a few blocks away from “ground zero” where the WTC Twin Towers once stood.
Continue reading “Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island” →

Staying at The Roosevelt, New York

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Nibbling the Big Apple II

An official picture from The Roosevelt Hotel, showing the hotel lobby.
The picture, from their Internet web site.

The Roosevelt is a good place to stay close to the middle of what many may want out of a short stay in New York. Located at Madison and 45th, it’s a stone’s throw from the Broadway theaters, merely three blocks from the Times Square and just around the corner is the Grand Central Station with its old fashioned Oyster Bar Restaurant in the basement. With 5th Ave not too far away more or less “everything” is within reach, by a few short cab hops.
Continue reading “Staying at The Roosevelt, New York” →

Dessert heaven Serendipity 3: Eccentric Artistry at Upper East Side, New York

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Nibbling the Big Apple I

The menu at Serendipity 3, New York City.

What struck me most about Serendipity 3 was the eccentric artistry of the place. From the many Tiffany lamps adorning the ceiling to the wonderfully drawn, creatively fonted menu that came in the size of a daily broadsheet newspaper. It looked 1920s, though born in the 1950s. Continue reading “Dessert heaven Serendipity 3: Eccentric Artistry at Upper East Side, New York” →

Happy Birthday Stephen Bruce at Serendipity 3, Upper East Side, New York

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Stephen Bruce and myself, Serendipity 3, New York.

Yesterday I took the opportunity to visit Serendipity 3 and meet with Stephen Bruce, the owner and one of the three founding Princes of New York’s legendary dessert restaurant and boutique. Continue reading “Happy Birthday Stephen Bruce at Serendipity 3, Upper East Side, New York” →

Fashion: an expression of Hegelian geist

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Oyster Dress by Alexander McQueen for S/S 2003. Ivory silk chiffon and silk organza.

I’ve been revisiting Adressing Fashion by the Metropolitcan Museum of Art (the avatar to the left will bring you to the MM’s website) and have picked out my favourite pieces from the their exhibition, to write about in this post. This is a subconscious streaming of thoughts, as it were, back on my favourite ponder on fashion, its connection to language, inspiration, geist and towards an understanding of a people.

My favourite pieces from this exhibit were the ones with a fuller silhouette, with soft flowing volume; their diaphanous design and characteristic, bordering on the ethereal. Even the ash grey of Theyskens piece below, with tones of grey darker than that of Badgley Mischka’s on Sarah J. Parker didn’t pull down my spirits or enthusiasm for the dress.

Evening dress by Olivier Theyskens for Nina Ricci, S/S 2007 in steel grey crinkled silk organza.

I’ve always thought fashion and personal style as a broad language of sorts. Looking at how the various designers expressed themselves in their pieces and how clothing changed with the times, the pieces in this exhibition called to mind Lars Svendsen’s philosophical take on fashion in his book, Fashion: a Philosophy. Svendsen (2006:64ff) didn’t quite agree with Lurie (1983) when she wrote that clothing was language. He was rather more convinced of Barthe’s (1967) theorizing on fashion as a system, paralleling that of Saussure’s signifier and the signified. I haven’t as yet read Lurie’s (1983) work but in light of Kress and van Leeuwen’s (1996) work on The Grammar of Visual Design, perhaps a more concrete theory on the grammar of clothing isn’t too far away?

As fashion today is so diffused in culture, the grammar of clothing and thus clothing as a concrete language is difficult to assume diachronically. Fashion is studied diachronically, most of the time with regards to their transformation, perhaps as a commentary on the life and times of the people, “an immediate expression of our zeitgeist” as the Met Museum has it. What for example, could have expressed a certain meaning for a sub-culture, is today more diffused. High heels in the late-1800s associated with street walkers for example, are today standard office wear for most women. And most people today would gawk at the thought of one equating wearing high heels solely with prostitution purposes (which tangently reminds me in this instant, of the song Free Your Mind, by En Vogue).

For Halliday (1994, and almost all works from the 1960s ff), the system of language and meaning making is a conscious choice of words, people choose what they want to say it and how to say it, to fit the context. I think that point of view can be broadly associated with the fashion system. The fashion system, in designing and building up a wardrobe within one’s limits and means, is also a choice. It is a choice of textiles, textures, cut, silhouette, colour, function etc. Synchronically, perhaps fashion is an expression of personal spirit, as defined closest to Hegel’s geist.

Madame Grès (French, 1903–1993). A hand-pleated silk jersey dress by Grés herself, from 1971.

The work of Madame Grés (1903-1993) was part of this exhibition and she is to me, the epitome of self-expression in clothing design and manufacture. A tragic biography to behold, Grés reached the peaks and depths of the fashion industry. A legend already in her time with a Golden Thimble award in 1976, she passed on without word and in poverty in 1993.

Madame Grès silk jersey draped evening gown, c.1945. Picture from Vintage Textile.

Grés was a sculptress at heart and in training. In her 50 years or so as atelier, her designs shifted not with the raveling fashion trends of the time, but towards a concretion of a greater sense of personal style, personal achievement and perfection of her technique.

In light of Grés, I see many out there who use fashion as an immediate expression of personal style and spirit. From designers such as Westwood, McQueen and Galliano to individuals on the street who use current trends to their own understanding and purposes. Even those who are uncomfortable with being ‘fashionable’ haven’t missed a beat, as Stella Blum has observed,

Fashion is so close in revealing a person’s inner feelings and everybody seems to hate to lay claim to vanity so people tend to push it away. It’s really too close to the quick of the soul.

And so it goes that to understand a person or a people’s history, in addition to the study of events, language, culture and architecture, one would do well to include a study of the people’s sense of style, their choice of clothing for a particular era or period of time in order to understand their history, their lifestyle. Perhaps likewise in getting to know an individual.

Adressing Fashion in blog format is now closed, and I hope the Met Museum will have more of such showing formats in future, since it allows for an international audience to view and comment on the pieces on exhibit.

References

  • Barthes, Roland, 1967. The Fashion System. Translated by Matthew Ward and Richard Howard. Published again in 1983 and 1990. New York: Hill and Wang.
  • Halliday, M.A.K, 1994. An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold.
  • Kress, Gunther and van Leeuwen, Theo, 1996. Reading Images: the grammar of visual design. London, New York: Routledge.
  • Lurie, Alison, 1983. The Language of Clothes. New York: Vintage Books.
  • Svendsen, Lars, 2006. Fashion: a philosophy. Translated by John Irons. London: Reaktion Books Ltd.