Fashion & Books: Allysha Nila
Fashion publications, styling and meaning-making
Fashion & Books is a monthly column where we speak to Southeast Asian creatives about the fashion and books they read, love and collect. This series dives into the ties between the worlds of fashion, the literary arts and independent publishing in and around the region.
Allysha Nila is a Jakarta-based fashion stylist, writer and educator who has a deep love for fashion magazines from a young age. In this conversation, we talk about a few of her go-to titles, how she incorporates them into her work as a stylist, and why she consistently returns to the written word for inspiration and guidance.
Allysha Nila.
Dressed in a blue top and brown cardigan with contrasting overlock trimmings in an Instagram reel, Allysha shows off her haul from Press Print Party, one of Jakarta’s art book fairs, which happened from 7 to 9 November 2025 at The Brickhall.
“When I went to this event, I was on a mission. I wanted to look for fashion zines,” Allysha says while holding up Christabelle Adeline’s If The Trousers Fit, published by Cahyati Press. She also talked about other publications such as IRENE – A Burmese Icon, published by Fraglich Publishing, from the Un Obtanium booth. There was also a neon-coloured risograph zine titled Mi: Colourless World published by Vietnam-based risograph studio wedogood, written by Nhu Tran and illustrated by Ngoc Ta that comes with paperdoll cut-outs reminiscent of adolescent girlhood. Finally, Nila holds up Double Take: On Luxury, a publication that reframes perceptions of luxury through personal experiences, published by Further Reading.
Allysha’s excitement for these fashion publications is palpable. With a mother who is an avid magazine reader, her exposure to fashion publishing began early. She recalls her mother’s copies of Harper’s Bazaar Indonesia and Dewi Magazine, and the trips she took as a teenager to Aksara Bookstore in Kemang, Jakarta. She would buy her first fashion magazine there – an early issue of self service. “It was quite atypical,” she describes, “and had a whole editorial spread out throughout the issue.”
Allysha’s home library features half of her book and magazine collection. Image courtesy of Allysha Nila.
She adds, “That was the first time I wanted to buy a magazine. I remember it being USD30 to 40, so I started saving up to buy a copy. This was the beginning.” Publications, particularly fashion publications, are often pricey, but she splurges on them from time to time to support the publishers, writers and designers who make them happen. With Aksara gone, she now has Un Obtanium and POST Bookshop that she loves to visit.
Publications mentioned during our interview. A Magazine is great for world-building, and Vestoj and Address have well-written stories of fashion and culture. Image courtesy of Allysha Nila.
Another title she holds close is A Magazine Curated by Martin Margiela, which she used as material for her International Baccalaureate visual arts assignment. “A friend scanned the whole issue and put it on the website The Fashion Spot, and they had share the link and access code with friends so they could read it too.”
Looking back, she says, “For the first time, I understood what world-building was. It had a DIY manual for making a sock sweater, and I used it for my visual arts assignment. This has informed the way I approach clothing and styling… we can actually just make things!” Allysha experiences magazine reading as an immersive experience into an unfamiliar world. It is not so much about owning the magazines, she explains, but getting to know the different ways of seeking information on fashion.
After graduating from LASALLE College of the Arts with a BA(Hons) in Fashion Media and Industries, Allysha joined L’Officiel Singapore, and has also taught back at her alma mater. As she progressed in her fashion career, Allysha found other titles that are now staples on her bookshelf. She names System and Double Magazine as sources of inspiration and material for her work as a fashion stylist and visual cultures educator. According to Allysha, System is good for “getting a pulse for the fashion industry,” and Double Magazine expands the way images can be perceived through print. She also cites PEARS Magazine, a Jakarta-based publication, which has had three issues so far, as a source of inspiration.
A little corner of Allysha’s house with books she is currently reading, along with her favourite art. Image courtesy of Allysha Nila.
As a fashion creative who is an avid magazine reader, Allysha does a lot of meaning-making through text and with text. Text is not just an origin, but also a medium, where she starts, then traverses with them, before eventually landing somewhere. This explains why she returns to magazines to inform her practice. “I go for publications for perspective, really,” she explains. “Reading helps me approach fashion holistically because it feeds information through curiosity, not through isolation or superficial understanding. Reading allows me to see more than what I am seeing,” They offer her multiple perspectives and truths that she has then made into her own worlds.
Allysha is also a writer, and the act of writing is quite literally a muscular release for Allysha, who has epilepsy. “When I was a kid, I gave my teachers a hard time because I was writing twelve-page recounts of my daily life,” says Allysha. “Writing helps me clear my mental load. When I was a kid, it was one of the ways that helped me feel better physically. I was not a sports kid, or a dance kid. Rather, it was writing that relaxed my muscles.”
Reading, however, was a challenge. “I struggled to read books” says Allysha. I remember we had assigned readings and we would have to write a reading reflection every day. I would struggle to fill them up, skip weeks, and then fake it by writing a whole week’s worth at once. Writing the whole week felt more natural for me than reading every single day.”
In her practice, textual material has become Allysha’s go-to for a catapult, or stewing ground, for personal projects. “My starting point starts with my muscle memory, which always begins with thinking about keywords,” she shares. “Moodboards work in a commercial setting, but in my own creative process, I like to start with words.”
Crediting this way of working to her long-time collaborator and friend, Natsuko Teruya, she says, “I am lucky to have people I have long-term collaborative relationships with.” She elaborates, “Natsuko, whom I met at LASALLE, is one of the first people I have clicked with in terms of working with text in theway. We spent so many formative years together that it became the normal mode of operation for me, even if I am not working with her.”
Pears Magazine at the Jakarta Book Fair 2022, featuring the blue photograph on the table, an editorial styled by Allysha. This was her first post-pandemic event. Image courtesy of Allysha Nila.
When asked what she wishes to see more of in independent fashion publishing, Allysha contemplates before responding that she wants it to be looser. “I want silly stuff,” wishes Allysha. “Fashion is serious, and I am too. But if I read something silly, I tap into my inner child, maybe hidden under the seriousness. A book about discarded lingerie, embarrassing fashion moments... A lot of stories around clothing are like that, but they are not reflected in the publications we read.”
Allysha’s next personal project will culminate in a collection of her perspectives on fashion. Returning to Adeline’s pocket-sized zine, If The Trousers Fit, on the journey of landing on a fitting pair of trousers, Allysha says, “The images I currently make are more aspirational and conceptual, but I want to read more about what Christabelle is writing about,” muses Allysha. “I want an ecosystem that also documents the silly, mundane and everyday stuff. This is what I am yearning for.”
About the writer
Xingyun Shen is a fashion researcher, educator, and co-founder of the publishing project Clothes Press. Since 2020, she has been keeping a running list of literary quotations on clothing and dress drawn from her reading. She currently lives and works in Singapore.