Nothing evokes as much respect in us than seeing someone use their platform for the betterment of others, which was what initially attracted us to lit New York-based jewellery designer, Arpana Rayamajhi.

In case you jumped on the Arpana bandwagon a little later than others, and are yet to venture back into the deep recesses of her Instagram feed (throw a sheet mask on and get scrolling friends, ‘cause you’ve got some quality catching up to do), the Nepalese natural beauty once documented a particularly bad run-in with steroid allergies for all her 50k followers to see back in 2016. Photos of her puffy, swollen face sat alongside the usual mix of her traffic-stopping beauty and absolute #goals life, and were accompanied with heartfelt and hilarious captions, where she spoke about health as being the epitome of beauty, as well as the normalisation of narcissism thanks to social media, and the temporality of looks and life itself. She did it with the intention of helping “others who might be going through something similar,” and said that, puffiness or no puffiness, she was still the same “legend w a smile on [her] face.” The internet can be a scary, judgemental place. Wearing your heart on your sleeve, or, in this case, your allergies on your face for all to see, is a plucky move, and we take off our veritable hats to anyone who has the valour to do so.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our titanic love for Arpana. The multidisciplinary artist is as humble as she is creative, talented as she is beautiful, and empathetic as she is funny. Born to creative parents — her mother an actor, her father an artist — Arpana was predestined to make the world a brighter place with her creative smarts, which she is, one handmade treasure at a time.

Her style constantly makes us rethink our inclination for the comparatively boring jeans and t-shirt combo, and is a good reminder that getting dressed should really be about having a good time. Like the Leandra Medines, Poppy Lissimans and Chloe Hills of the world, she gets dressed only for herself, and that sincerity permeates every colourful, covetable look she puts together.

This is a pretty sizeable call, but it’s one we’re ready to stand by: Arpana might be the coolest person in the entire world. Chatting to her made us want to be better versions of ourselves — the ultimate end goal when meeting new people — and her curiosity for the world around her is palpable. One of her wishes in life is for “people to never be able to describe [her],” so we’ll put a halt on trying to do that, and let her quotes and images speak for themselves. We hope you enjoy getting to know her as much as we did. <3.

Words, Madeleine Woon. Photography, Edith Young. With thanks to Arpana Rayamajhi


Her Style File