So my creative writing lecturer was giving us a task to write a fictional story. He asked us to generate our ideas from the word dress. He asked us to list down all the things connected with a dress in a mind-mapping manner. I listed out hand-me-down, girl, black dress, tailor-made, party, and expensive brand.
Then, I picked out girl, hand-me-down, and black dress from the list. I was in a mission to create a story. And the idea for the story turns out to be like this. [PS: I am using the first person point of view to write this story, but for the synopsis, I write it in this manner.]
By the way, I name this story as "Measure of a Success."
It is a story of a girl who was the youngest among three sisters. She never really owned her own dress as a child, and she always wore the hand-me-down dresses. She was envious of her classmates who got to wear brand new expensive dresses to school everyday. Her parents, on the other hand, could not afford to buy her a new dress as they came from a poor family. She wore her sisters' hand-me-down dresses and she was quite annoyed because they usually ran out of style once it was her turn to wear them. So, she had an idea to decorate her old dresses with flowers from her backyard or beads from her mother's bead collections. She showed up at school with her re-designed hand-me-down dresses and it was a hit. The next day, the other girls followed suit. She was proud, because by the tender age of six, she was already a trend-setter.
Everyone was impressed by her passion in redesigning her own clothes, except for her mother. Apparently, her mother disapproved of her hobby in clothes-designing. Her mother commented that she ruined the dress by making them looked funny, and that she should just focus on her studies or mix around with the other kids, instead of sitting indoor, designing clothes. Her mother wanted her to be the same like the other children, yet outstanding, like being smart in studies and sports. So, to please her mother, she gave up her hobbies in designing clothes and occupied herself with studies and school stuff. She became straight-A students, from primary school till secondary, just like her sisters, but she felt that she was losing her essence, her one true self. She was good at studies, but studies wasn't her niche.
One day, while babysitting for her neighbour's kids, she ran across an advertisement for a clothes-designing contest. The theme for the contest was "Dare to be Different". The advertisement stimulated her yearning in designing clothes, but there was a catch. The registration fee for the contest was RM50. It was a big amount for her as she came from a poor family. But the prize money was attractive, RM 10 000. She was determined to join this contest, and she went back home to fork out some money from her saving. She only had RM50.
At the same time, her mother asked for RM45 from her to buy a text book for her sister. Her sister needed the text book for her experiment the next week, so she urgently needed to buy it. She was torn. There was no way she is going to give up on her passion for the second time. She walked silently to the store room, took out some old dresses from the plastic and she saw a beautiful black dress. She tore the long skirt to a certain length, added some feathers and shiny black beads and voila, it transformed into a trendy, modern classic black dress. She saw the result and was satisfied with it. After drinking in the look of the dress, she finally made her decision.
She gave her RM50 saving to her mother.
A week later, she felt quite anxious because it was the competition day. She felt the anxiety though she wasn't one of the contestants because she couldn't let go of the thoughts of "What if I had registered for this competition?" from her mind. Her intuition led her to the store room to change into the black dress. She wanted to attend the competition in the black dress to express herself, and to mourn for her opportunity being gone. By the time she arrived at the competition venue, she saw all of the finalists for the contest standing in a line, waiting for the verdict to be announced by the judges. She looked at all of the finalists, realizing it could be her standing there. Tears stung in her eyes. Maybe her passion and ambition to be a fashion designer would not come true and remained just a dream, she thought sorrowfully. She could not control her emotions, and she sobbed, loudly enough for the other audience to stare at her strangely. But she could care less about their impression towards her. Even the judges seated at the front noticed her. The judges were whispering something among themselves, she was embarrassed and walked out of the building to the stairs. There, she sobbed her heart out.
Out of the blue, she saw a masculine hand handing her a handkerchief. She looked up and saw a familiar face. It was Sheeko, the famous fashion designer in Malaysia. He introduced himself as one of the judges and he told her he was intrigued by her sudden appearance among the crowd. He asked if she made the dress herself. She told him redesigned an old dress and he seemed impressed. He apologized that he could not put her into the competition due to the rules and regulations, but he said he would like her to join his team of designers, as one of his protegees. He said that she was what this competition was all about, being "Dare to be Different". She could not believe her ears. Even the cheers from inside the building as the winner was announced could excite her no more.
Her family was speechless when she blurted out the news to them. Her mother was amazed by her determination as she'd always gave in to her before. Teary eyes, her mother looked at her and apologized for not accepting her hobby which turned out to be her ambition and her dream. She told her that she realized that brain and intelligence is not the only measure of a success, but being happy with what you do is the real measurement of success.
Up till today, she still keep her black dress in her boutique, exhibited for all to see. The black dress would always be a reminder and a symbol to her that your passion is the real measure of your success.
PS: I know this story is not a masterpiece, but I still want to put a sign of "DO NOT PLAGIARIZE" and Maureen's copyright.
Then, I picked out girl, hand-me-down, and black dress from the list. I was in a mission to create a story. And the idea for the story turns out to be like this. [PS: I am using the first person point of view to write this story, but for the synopsis, I write it in this manner.]
By the way, I name this story as "Measure of a Success."
It is a story of a girl who was the youngest among three sisters. She never really owned her own dress as a child, and she always wore the hand-me-down dresses. She was envious of her classmates who got to wear brand new expensive dresses to school everyday. Her parents, on the other hand, could not afford to buy her a new dress as they came from a poor family. She wore her sisters' hand-me-down dresses and she was quite annoyed because they usually ran out of style once it was her turn to wear them. So, she had an idea to decorate her old dresses with flowers from her backyard or beads from her mother's bead collections. She showed up at school with her re-designed hand-me-down dresses and it was a hit. The next day, the other girls followed suit. She was proud, because by the tender age of six, she was already a trend-setter.
Everyone was impressed by her passion in redesigning her own clothes, except for her mother. Apparently, her mother disapproved of her hobby in clothes-designing. Her mother commented that she ruined the dress by making them looked funny, and that she should just focus on her studies or mix around with the other kids, instead of sitting indoor, designing clothes. Her mother wanted her to be the same like the other children, yet outstanding, like being smart in studies and sports. So, to please her mother, she gave up her hobbies in designing clothes and occupied herself with studies and school stuff. She became straight-A students, from primary school till secondary, just like her sisters, but she felt that she was losing her essence, her one true self. She was good at studies, but studies wasn't her niche.
One day, while babysitting for her neighbour's kids, she ran across an advertisement for a clothes-designing contest. The theme for the contest was "Dare to be Different". The advertisement stimulated her yearning in designing clothes, but there was a catch. The registration fee for the contest was RM50. It was a big amount for her as she came from a poor family. But the prize money was attractive, RM 10 000. She was determined to join this contest, and she went back home to fork out some money from her saving. She only had RM50.
At the same time, her mother asked for RM45 from her to buy a text book for her sister. Her sister needed the text book for her experiment the next week, so she urgently needed to buy it. She was torn. There was no way she is going to give up on her passion for the second time. She walked silently to the store room, took out some old dresses from the plastic and she saw a beautiful black dress. She tore the long skirt to a certain length, added some feathers and shiny black beads and voila, it transformed into a trendy, modern classic black dress. She saw the result and was satisfied with it. After drinking in the look of the dress, she finally made her decision.
She gave her RM50 saving to her mother.
A week later, she felt quite anxious because it was the competition day. She felt the anxiety though she wasn't one of the contestants because she couldn't let go of the thoughts of "What if I had registered for this competition?" from her mind. Her intuition led her to the store room to change into the black dress. She wanted to attend the competition in the black dress to express herself, and to mourn for her opportunity being gone. By the time she arrived at the competition venue, she saw all of the finalists for the contest standing in a line, waiting for the verdict to be announced by the judges. She looked at all of the finalists, realizing it could be her standing there. Tears stung in her eyes. Maybe her passion and ambition to be a fashion designer would not come true and remained just a dream, she thought sorrowfully. She could not control her emotions, and she sobbed, loudly enough for the other audience to stare at her strangely. But she could care less about their impression towards her. Even the judges seated at the front noticed her. The judges were whispering something among themselves, she was embarrassed and walked out of the building to the stairs. There, she sobbed her heart out.
Out of the blue, she saw a masculine hand handing her a handkerchief. She looked up and saw a familiar face. It was Sheeko, the famous fashion designer in Malaysia. He introduced himself as one of the judges and he told her he was intrigued by her sudden appearance among the crowd. He asked if she made the dress herself. She told him redesigned an old dress and he seemed impressed. He apologized that he could not put her into the competition due to the rules and regulations, but he said he would like her to join his team of designers, as one of his protegees. He said that she was what this competition was all about, being "Dare to be Different". She could not believe her ears. Even the cheers from inside the building as the winner was announced could excite her no more.
Her family was speechless when she blurted out the news to them. Her mother was amazed by her determination as she'd always gave in to her before. Teary eyes, her mother looked at her and apologized for not accepting her hobby which turned out to be her ambition and her dream. She told her that she realized that brain and intelligence is not the only measure of a success, but being happy with what you do is the real measurement of success.
Up till today, she still keep her black dress in her boutique, exhibited for all to see. The black dress would always be a reminder and a symbol to her that your passion is the real measure of your success.
PS: I know this story is not a masterpiece, but I still want to put a sign of "DO NOT PLAGIARIZE" and Maureen's copyright.
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