Second on our "Women Who Walk Ahead" series is Tengku Chanela, whose passion for boutique cosmetics translated into a new venture as she rolled out the Dida brand.

It is no secret that Tengku Chanela&nbsp;Jamidah (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/tcjamidah/?hl=en" target="_blank">@tcjamidah</a>) is quite the fashionista. Every&nbsp;social event she graces is like another&nbsp;runway spectacle that she&rsquo;s headlining.&nbsp;

Every ensemble she sports is as chic as&nbsp;the look from a tear sheet of a fashion&nbsp;handbook, which in 2015 turned into a&nbsp;lookbook of her own clothing label Thavia.&nbsp;

Always on the lookout for the latest trend,&nbsp;her passion for boutique cosmetics&nbsp;translated into a new venture for the&nbsp;Pahang royal as she rolled out her own&nbsp;beauty&nbsp;offerings under the Dida brand.

(Photo: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thaviathelabel/">@thaviathelabel</a>)

Do you remember the first time you&nbsp;discovered fashion and makeup?

As I was growing up, I didn&rsquo;t realise&nbsp;that I was into fashion, but I remember&nbsp;ransacking my mother&rsquo;s closet and&nbsp;going through her extensive collection&nbsp;of costume jewellery. I remember being&nbsp;in awe of her every time she paired the&nbsp;pieces with those Gianfranco Ferr&eacute;&nbsp;and Escada pantsuits; I was so into the&nbsp;details of every piece, which is what&nbsp;Thavia is all about&hellip;the details.

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What was the idea behind the&nbsp;founding of Thavia?

My partner and I, we both noticed that&nbsp;in our market there were blogshops&nbsp;and there&rsquo;s the big luxury fashion but&nbsp;nothing in between. So we wanted&nbsp;to create something that&rsquo;s more&nbsp;accessible, along the street-style kind&nbsp;of spectrum. We wanted to show that&nbsp;you could achieve that high street/luxe&nbsp;look without breaking the bank. Thavia&nbsp;carries classic pieces with a little bit of&nbsp;on-trend twist.

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What would you say your style&nbsp;aesthetic is?

Effortless in a sense that I always go&nbsp;with the model off-duty look. My dayto-day get-ups are super casual, super&nbsp;light and comfortable. I&rsquo;m not too&nbsp;feminine; I don&rsquo;t like prints and I don&rsquo;t&nbsp;like anything that&rsquo;s too busy. But I do&nbsp;like to get a little edgy and expressive&nbsp;when I go to events. That&rsquo;s when I really&nbsp;dress up.

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What&rsquo;s the one recent fashion trend&nbsp;that you are obsessed with and one&nbsp;that you cannot stand?

I love everything that&rsquo;s Paloma Wool.&nbsp;She incorporates artistic and creative&nbsp;elements into the making of her pieces.&nbsp;They&rsquo;re effortless and yet artistic. Her&nbsp;aesthetic is quite similar to Jacquemus,&nbsp;another designer that I love, but it&rsquo;s a&nbsp;toned-down Jacquemus. That&rsquo;s also&nbsp;the direction that I&rsquo;m leaning to for&nbsp;Thavia. As for the trend that I can&rsquo;t&nbsp;stand, it&rsquo;s definitely the ugly chic trend.&nbsp;I really hate it.

(Photo: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/didaforwomen/">@didaforwomen</a>)

What has been the high point of&nbsp;your career so far?

Definitely seeing people from all&nbsp;across the world wearing the Thavia&nbsp;pieces. We even had stylist Rachael&nbsp;Wang, whose followers include&nbsp;big social influencers like Chiara&nbsp;Ferragni, feature a Thavia piece in one&nbsp;of her projects.

For Dida, hitting that&nbsp;seven-figure revenue and making a&nbsp;brand that people feel engaged and&nbsp;related to, it&rsquo;s something that we&nbsp;never thought we could achieve.

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Cover Photo Credits

Photography: Chintoo&nbsp; 
Styling: Jeffrey Yan 
Makeup: Khir Khalid 
Hair: Juno Ko 
Styling Assistant: Joyce Fan

Women Who Walk Ahead: Tengku Chanela Jamidah

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