Miraculous Mera

Norwegian Fashionista Merete ‘Mera’ Mei-Jin Noer has done quite a few things beyond an average lady at her age.  After being on Malaysian TV, modeling, being in a band, she is now Marketing Director of the luxurious brand ZARDOZE, a DJ and has recently launched an iPhone application.

 Mera is not like any other 24-year-old:  this young businesswoman has experiences in fashion, music and entertainment businesses. She is an ex-TV figure, ex-model, DJ, artist, marketing director and a business developer.

After working for five years in Singapore, the Norwegian born – half Malay – has recently made a big step in the fashion and music industries where she is part of the team managing the luxurious ZARDOZE Diamond Dress worth 500,000 Singapore Dollar –an estimated 2,3 million Norwegian Kroner.

The former FHM Model is now working full time at the ZARDOZE Boutique as Marketing Director for exclusive gowns and dresses. She also DJs at Singapore’s known bars and lounges.

THE APARTMENT – STYLE EDITION

Mera first appeared on TV in the reality TV show ‘THE APARTMENT – STYLE EDITION’ that broadcasted in Singapore and Malaysia from August to December 2012.

“I joined the show with a friend from KL where eight couples competed to win The Ultimate Dream Home in Malaysia. We had to renovate a room weekly of a five-story penthouse.

Every week there were different themes and eliminations. I was eliminated in the first round, but came back on the show after five episodes as a surprise” she says.

The interior TV production aired on StarWorld is now showing all over Asia. It was one of the highest rated shows on StarWorld for the season, featuring Australia’s Jamie Durie, the well-known interior and garden designer and author of nine best-selling books. Another known TV figure of the show was Britain’s favorite designer and home renovation host, Laurence Liewelly Bowen. With a mentor as Durie and a lead judge as Bowen, Mera participated in an international TV Show and received recognitions both in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

“I have been recognized a couple of times but not on a daily basis. The interesting thing was that during the show I met this fashion designer from New York who used to design for Michael Kors. I hired him a month ago as our creative director, and he got more recognition than me. Those who recognize me in Singapore tend to be families and housewives. Also, they include modern people who like interior shows,” she says.

The Fashionista

As Mera studied Bachelor of Design Communications at LASALLE, she got a job with Alcovia, an advertising agency under GRAYDEN CAPITAL, doing designs.

“When this fashion label ZARDOZE started, I was very lucky to be part of the whole startup and I realized how much I like doing marketing and events – I have always liked planning things and that is how I got into it” she says.

 ZARDOZE is a new Fashion label founded in 2012 under GRAYDEN CAPITAL, with an in-house international design team of luxury gowns, dresses and corporate outfits.

“I basically handle Public Relations, loans, media relations, journalists and I also do the design for them. I help out with the graphic design, the social media marketing and I do event management as we have a lot of events now that we just launched in Kuala Lumpur and in Indonesia,” she says.

With a price range of SGD 120-500, ZARDOZE also features more exclusive creations of dresses for those who enjoy indulging themselves. Mera tells ScandAsia that they currently have “Helen”, a diamond dress inspired by Helen of Troy in Greek Mythology.

Made in Paris, the dress has 500 diamonds – a total of 130 carats. Each diamond is between 0.28 and 0.30 carat. Mera reveals that the dress uses the fabrics from one of world’s most respected fabric houses: Janssens & Janssens, which also supplies fabrics to Royal Families all over the world.

Besides handling diamond dress creations as Helen, all the dresses are designed in the Singapore Office design room.

“We have four main designers who are from China, Vietnam, New York and Singapore. All the designers are here but our clothes are made in India, as Indians are very good with hand embellishment, which is our brand’s specialty. We do everything handmade because the kind of patterns we have can only be handcrafted,” she says.

 ZARDOZE is available at Robinsons, Marina Bay Sands and Centrepoint targeting fashionable trendsetters and people who like to put on ‘that something amazing’ for functions and everyday clothes for work. As the Marketing Director, Mera says that her team aims to get the brand recognized globally within five years.

Modeling

After moving to Singapore, Mera met a lot of people through events including the writers for FHM Asia. And she decided to join a few competitions.

“I won this Bikini Babe Search competition, and was featured on the front cover of FHM and also a spread in the media. I have also modeled to brand Olette Lingerie,” she says.

However, she says she is no longer modeling as it was just something she did for fun on the side. Her true passion is music and fashion.

 

 

 

 

Passion for music

While other Norwegian students were busy studying in Singapore, Mera managed to find time to explore more than the Fashion industry: the Music Community.

“I was in a six-piece rock band called ‘Close Apart’, performing at places like Esplanade and Blue Jazz,” she says.

After recording their album and having fun as a lead singer in the rock band, Mera realised she didn’t actually want to sing in the rock genre.

“The band broke up after a year and I started singing as a solo artist. I also started a new Funk Band called Meracle, doing Hip-hop/R&B covers. The love of music helps balance my life and work stress. Every time I DJ or sing, I am really happy,” she says.

Dj Mera started her spins in 2011 at Lucky 13, the newly opened club at the time. After six months of training, she became the resident Dj spinning records five days a week. She now plays a mix of classic hits and contemporary music on a weekend basis at Avalon, Club 83 in Club Street, the W Hotel and fashion events.

Launching iPhone application

With a Design Communication background, she has joined her friend Sherizan Sheikh on the development of a social media application.

“I am working on this application called qlubbr where I do the marketing tasks. Sherizan Sheikh is former user and experienced designer at Yahoo, and he started this company together with the programmer and then brought me on,” she says.

To officially launch in June this year, qlubbr is an iPhone app designed to inform users about events in Singapore.  The app is tied in with Google maps and Four Square, allowing users to see who check in at different locations.

“If you are at one place and not knowing where to go next, you can go to nearest event. You can also see what is happening the week ahead and the following,” she says.

Mera and Sherizan Sheikh will showcase their applications and meet investors at Asia’s Tech Industry exhibition for startups, ECHELON 2013 in Singapore.

To follow Mera, click here

Fashion photos: ZARDOZE

 

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