It has been a terrific ten!

Exactly ten years ago today, we published our first blog post. It was not a major story, just a short, three-paragraph commentary on Miley Cyrus’s non-existent stage costume at the 2003 Video Music Awards. Today, a decade later, we cover far much more than pop stars’ crazy clothing choices. Admittedly, we were late to the game. Style on the Dot (SOTD) began as a traditional weblog. By then, in 2013, blogging was beginning to sound dated and the practice had evolved into quite something else—microblogging. Tweets—now known as Xs, were preferred to blogs. As it’s often said, short is sweet. Tweets were celebrated and enjoyed as the “SMS of the Internet”, and it soon could be accompanied by pictures and videos. We did not succumb to the brevity that was the appeal of Tweets—first 140 characters and then 280. Conversely, SOTD became known for its long reads. As we blogged on, and wrote what the media here in general would (and also could) not, it was apparent that our readers really took to the more detailed and critical stories that would otherwise be avoided by others for fear of reprisals, overlooked due to the aversion of the potentially negative, or simply brushed off.

The birth of SOTD coincided with what to us was the second era of fashion weeks on our island, beginning with Fidé Fashion Weeks in 2013 (alas, fashion weeks are no more here). It was fascinating, to say the least, attending those shows that featured local, regional, and international names. After each evening’s proceedings, we gathered with friends for very late dinner, and each time it was a voluble session about what we had just seen. Through these chatter, sometimes captious, oftentimes hilarious, we were encouraged by our friends to pen our thoughts and share them online. And so we did, taking care not to sound as caviling or bawdy as we were in our lively confabulations over kopi C siu dai. But, we soon realised that discussions among friends transmuted to an online journal that strangers could read was not met with the same enthusiasm that guided the bearing of SOTD. The thing is, we have been constantly attacked for not saying what some readers had hoped we would say. Those who differ in view hit back at us, chided, and belittled, in language that we do not care to share here. The kindest would call us “harsh”.

As much as there have been responses that were distasteful and abominable, it was also heartening that many viewers have said that they enjoyed SOTD’s long reads and the incisive examinations of fashion’s good—and not, as well as the modern antics of fearless influencers. And our viewership has gone from strength to strength, with an average increase of 56% year on year. Throughout these past ten, we have remained the independent voice that we have wanted to articulate with from the start. We receive no renumeration from brands or companies for anything we share, even if we feature products or creators we think are exceptional. Style on the Dot is not aligned to any label or organisation, and will remain so. As we push on into our second decade—hopefully with you, we hope to continue with what we have done all along: to be frank and to cast a critical eye on fashion and its fashionable surroundings, whether on this island so many of us affectionately call a Dot, or further afield. And for your impassioned and continued support, we say a warm and earnest thank you.