Sereni & Shentel – fashionable bridal accessories

B is for... Bridal

When we think of Borneo… images of rainforest, orang utans and snippets of those infamous Malaysia (TRULY Asia) ads – probably to come to mind. But as a Borneo girl myself, I know all too well that us small-towners are full of surprises! If you’re in the know, you may of heard of ‘sereni & shentel’, whose hair accessories are creating a buzz that runs from Kuching to Sydney. Despite living all the way in the ‘east side’, the savvy duo are already no strangers to the public eye, having both graced the cover of Tatler Malaysia (Sereni was voted Most Stylish for 2009).

But rather than be the typical socialite, these two have admirably taken the path less traveled; powering their passion in fashion. Not only do they handle the designs, but all products are also personally handmade by S & S! Hmmm, can you imagine Blair from Gossip Girl working hard all weekend? All I can say, is that you can’t take the Kuching out of a girl :)

The design duo - Sereni (right) & Shentel (left)

Who are Sereni & Shentel?

Shentel is a graphic designer and Sereni is a Business Development Manager with a Property and Management company. We are a perfect marriage of creativity and reality. Shentel was brought up in Sydney and Sereni in London. We both now live in Kuching in East Malaysia on the exotic island of Borneo.

Sereni & Shentel is all about decoration without explanation.  It is about having fun and a laugh with your look and injecting individuality into any fashion situation. The pieces are conversation starters, they are not dull or discreet. Eye catching, memorable and mad with a bit of humour is what the label is all about.

The latest from the ICE & BOW WOW collections

Why hair accessories?

Kuching is a small city and although we both travel a lot there were many a weekends where we found ourselves with simply nothing to do. We both share a love for the handmade and decided one weekend to make headbands for a Lady Gaga concert that we were to attend in Singapore. The reaction that we received from the concert crowd was overwhelming. We were bombarded by photographers and taken by all the Singaporeans asking us where we got our headbands from. Shentel even made it into the newspapers the next day for the headband that we made. It wasn’t until we had the opportunity to create hair accessories for a Tatler Shoot in the Philippines when we really started to get serious. Sereni got to meet the hair guru Kim Robinson at the shoot and after his praise for the range we decided that we would start a small online store to showcase our designs.

We know Borneo is known for its nature and scenery. Looking at your collection – it’s more tea parties in Soho rather than Kuching Cat?
We are simply addicted to the Internet. We LOVE that you can get visual references to just about anything with the click of a button. We follow blogs, twitter and facebook religiously and read online magazines through zinio.com as it is the fastest way to get overseas publications. A lot of our inspiration comes from our mothers as well as visual pin boards that we create from clippings and bit and pieces that find their way into our handbags through our travels.

One of their bridal accessories

Do you think hair accessories will be a trend for brides come 2010?

Hair accessories have always been a trend for brides and their bridesmaids. We can customize Hen’s night veils that brides actually want to wear and keep for your future children. We also have Bridesmaid ‘Ice Ice Baby’ headbands in pastel colours as well as after-party pieces for when the bouquet has been tossed and the bride wants to let her hair down. We are also working on creative editorial pieces that are more about visual candy over practicality – and also on a range of freshwater pearl headbands and pins. We’ve had requests from brides to customize headbands to go with their wedding gowns and now we’re taking that one step further by offering personal monogramming on the inside of the pieces. Our aim is to help the bride make her day as special as possible.

What is your price range?
Our hair accessories range from USD20 and above, so there’s something that can cater to different budgets.

How can we buy them?
You can buy them online at www.sereniandshentel.com

Which one is your favourite!
We love every piece. They are our babies and we love them all equally.