I’m totally over runway shows. Ever since Instagram arrived the major fashion brands have been trying to top their previous seasons’ runway shows with more and more spectacle.
For Fall-Winter 2017/18 Ready-to-Wear, Chanel actually stuck a rocket on the runway. Can anyone tell me what the clothes looked like? No. But everyone remembers the damn rocket.
When I first started attending fashion shows (yes, back in the dark ages, because I’m that old), we were treated to seeing the actual clothes making the statements, not the spaces or the runways.
We saw the clothes on models that had personalities, who didn’t all look and move the same way, and since there weren’t any Influencers in the front rows, we actually were close enough to tell if the clothes were made or wool or silk – and yes, we also knew the difference between those two fabrics too.
For those of us old enough to have experienced fashion before Instagram we have favourite collections – not favourite ‘experiences’. Mine was Alexander McQueen’s AW 1995-96 Highland Rape.
Can anyone actually remember the title of a recent runway show?
Runway shows are supposed to show you the clothes and concepts of a new collection; it should support the brand’s existing DNA and continue the theme of the collection so that buyers can see how it fits into their future buys.
Runway shows are not supposed to be multi-million dollar extravaganzas that offer spectacle alone, but no knowledge of a brand’s DNA or the direction of a collection’s theme.
Runway shows for prêt-à-porter, ready-to-wear, are the worst. They are simply entertainment activities wrapped in a bit of fashion. These days they are used to launch albums (Kanye), show off motocross tricks (Alexander Wang) or show how rich a brand is (everything from Chanel under Kaiser Karl).
I want to see the clothes. That’s why it’s bespoke all the way for me.
Even the Haute Couture runway shows are better than the prêt-à-porter shows, they feature nice venues where you can actually SEE the clothes, on models with personalities, and no rockets or icebergs or supermarkets (Ugh, Chanel).
When it comes to sustainable fashion bespoke is also the way to go. Whether its by working with an emerging designer to make new clothes that are timeless and will last forever; or using a sewer to alter something you picked up from a vintage store (or your mother’s wardrobe), going bespoke not only makes environmental sense, it also makes style sense.
You can dress as yourself, and not have to pretend you are a size 0 model.
Carla Zampatti is one of Australia’s best-known, most successful and globally recognised fashion designers, and for her Grand Showcase she showed a classic collection.
Over 30 years ago, Carla Zampatti introduced me to the idea that fashion could be a career. As a teenager I attended a talk she gave about how fashion wasn’t a frivolous pastime, but something that could become a job for life.
Obviously the designer practiced what she preached. Zampatti opened her first store in 1972; that’s almost 50 years ago. And she hasn’t stopped working to create the classic Australian woman’s wardrobe.
For her Grand Showcase affaire at VAMFF, Zampatti held her own on the runway – the only brand to have a stand-alone show – with a series of wearable, stylish and elegant looks that held little overt drama but a whole lot of ‘chic’.
Luckily for me I was seated next to the lovely, warm, friendly and funny Robyn Baillieu, wife of the former Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu.
Chatting about her interest in fashion, especially how innovation is changing the industry, Baillieu said that she, and her two daughters both wore, and loved, pieces from the brand. And as Baillieu happily pointed out looks she loved and some that she already owned, it was clear that Carla Zampatti has developed into a label that suits a wide range of ages.
While the runway show was all about Zampatti as a designer, and the brand, it was also heartening to see so much inclusion on the runway. Globally there has been a lot of talk about the importance of including all races and creeds, and sizes.
While Zampatti featured stunning black models and Asian models, and included two hijabi looks, it would have been fabulous to see a few elegant mature women and women of different shapes on the runway too. Melbourne model Hanan Ibrahim (pictured below) was the first hijab model to walk the runway for Melbourne Fashion Week.
Melbourne model Hanan Ibrahim was the first hijab model to walk the Melbourne Fashion Week runways
With a soundtrack provided by Eurovision songstress Dani Im supported by Nick Wales, Peter Simon Phillips and Jonny Seymour, the set of the Royal Exhibition Building resounded to a mix of contemporary soul and more instrumental sounds – the perfect accompaniment for the collection that was also a mix of classic and contemporary.
Opening with a series of classic Carla red looks, working through sky blue satin, a glittery houndstooth jacquard, leopard and zebra prints (with added bling), it was the tailoring, coats and jackets that showed why Australian women love the brand.
A stunning boxy double-breasted coat in boucle tweed stood out as one that would stand the test of time; as did a white wool suit with swinging fringe.
The houndstooth pieces, rather ironically considering the passing of Kaiser Karl, were reminiscent of classic Chanel – a comparison that can never be escaped when using that pattern in black and white. However Zampatti deftly added her own touch with a simple long skirt in once case, and a neat pair of capris in another.
There were a number of capes and capelets; the most successful being a beguiling caramel coat-dress in a lovely suede.
Less successful were a series of graphic evening dresses – one with a mound of maribou, another not quite fitting the model correctly – as they seemed a little too ornate, especially when compared to other evening looks.
A classic ‘sexy’ mini encrusted in shining sequins and another evening gown that cleverly created a zebra stripe of shimmer seemed more streamlined and elegant.
Perhaps the most interesting and memorable look was a delicately pleated maxi dress with string-sized straps, a low vee neckline and perfect pleats front and back; the cut of the back was done to perfection as it sat proud from the shoulder.
This was a stunning example of quality tailoring, however it didn’t seem to entirely fit the rest of the more classic collection. Perhaps it is a new concept we will see more of in the future.
The show closed with a collection of black evening frocks that were again, more classic than cutting edge, not that this is a bad thing.
Since the fashion industry currently appears to be having a crisis of conscience around the issues of sustainability and ethical fashion, it may be time to invest your money in pieces that will always look stylish, rather than just jump on a passing trend.
As the show ended, Zampatti received a standing ovation. Not many designers, even the big names in Paris, get that.
I attended VAMFF as part of its Writers Programme.
Sustainable fashion, slow fashion, closed circular fashion production system … all these things are the future of fashion and we need to start doing them now.
At the Future Fashion. Is it a stitch up? conversation held as part of VAMFF’s Independent Ideas Event series, and in collaboration with The Possibility Project, a group of like-minded individuals came together to examine the future of the fashion industry in Australia and beyond.
Examples of fabrics from Ink & Spindle, an Australian brand that create textiles that have a minimal impact on the earth. The brand uses organic cotton/hemp and eco-linen basecloths for their prints that are free from harmful chemicals. .
With Kim Pearce from The Possibility Project and slumwear108, Marnie Goding, the Creative Director of fashion label ELK, and Karina Seljak co-founder of Seljak Brand on the panel, the focus was on the importance of changing the current fashion industry system, with the hope to improve the overall sustainability of making and wearing clothes; and doing so with kindness and ethical awareness.
As Pearce said: “It is time for the fashion industry to open the conversation, and reimagine the industry in a way that is not all about technology but also about common sense”. She believes that historical fashion choices by both industry and consumers have led to “immense damage”, not only of the environment, but also how people and their work is treated.
Like the Fashion Revolution movement and its popular hashtag #Imadeyourclothes, The Possibility Project focuses on the social movement behind changing people’s shopping choices. They don’t want people to feel guilty about how they shop for clothes, but they do want to educate shoppers about what they’re buying.
Fabric from Ink & Spindle.
For Karina Seljak, one of the co-founders of Seljak Brand – an Australian company that makes blankets from recycled wool – getting the technology, machinery and skills behind creating a fully sustainable and closed circular fashion production system is most important when it comes to creating a better fashion system.
“One of the main inhibitors to moving to a closed loop system in Australia is that we are still shipping our textile waste offshore; those recycled products don’t come back to Australia. We need to our on-shore manufacturing to be circular [to make a difference],” explained Seljak.
This issue of waste was also emphasised by Pearce, although her perspective was as much about how human potential is being wasted in the large scale fashion industry.
And waste, plus the sourcing of the right materials, also came up in Marnie Goding’s comments on how her brand ELK currently operates. “In Australia we don’t value our waste products. There is a factory in Vietnam that we work with that completely recycles all of its waste water used in making jeans. They put it back into the environment,” said Goding.
Although Goding wants her brand to be as ethical and sustainable as possible, her core concern is that not just in Australia, but globally, the established manufacturing industry has not kept up with the move towards more sustainable fabrics and textiles. She also mentioned that although ‘sustainability’ is currently a global fashion trend, customers are not yet educated enough to understand why they need to change their shopping habits.
The team at Ink & Spindle showing how they hand screen print their eco-friendly fabrics.
Shown by the few questions asked by the audience, all three speakers were preaching to the converted. A few asked about how younger shoppers can be converted when they are focused on cheap prices and social media trends, however apart from discussing the importance of education, and shopping at Op Shops, there was little that the speakers mentioned that could impact in any great way.
While it is obviously important for more people to know about why we need to stop sending clothes to landfill and choosing to buy fewer, better, things, the relatively small turnout for the Future Fashion conversation also showed that a great deal more needs to be done to get the message out. As long as it’s done with kindness.
The Singapore brand, Love, Bonito, might have begun in 2010 as a ‘blogshop’ but it has now expanded into a multi-outlet bricks ‘n’ mortar lifestyle brand with the opening of its second Singapore store in Jem. This is on top of its flagship store in 313@Somerset, and its two retail stores in Kuala Lumpur. Love, Bonito is obviously thriving, not just surviving the current troubled retail market.
The latest collection from Love, Bonito. Image: Love, Bonito
Continuing its focus on being a ‘retail friend’ to its customers, the Love, Bonito brand has stepped easily into the new retail world of experiences and technology, its founders becoming social media influencers in their own rights, and their fans becoming loyal customers. Despite the so-called woes of retail, this disruptor fashion brand is powering ahead.
To discover more about how the brand has grown, developed and succeeded, I got in touch with Rachel Lim, the co-founder of Love, Bonito, and the current face of the brand’s marketing, to answer a few questions. With 106K followers on Instagram alone, Lim is not only a successful business woman, she’s an inspiration to hundreds of entrepreneurial Singaporeans.
The latest collection from Love, Bonito. Image: Love, Bonito
Did you have any female business role models when growing up? Rachel Lim: No particular ones but there are strong females I had as role models growing up – my mom. She was a strong inspiration because even though we went through so much hardship as a family she showed a lot of grit and tenacity, all while keeping her joy and positivity, which was the key in us getting through the difficulties.
When did you know you wanted to run your own business? RL: When I decided to drop out of my final year in university to start Love, Bonito with my Co-Founders. I knew that I wanted to create something that didn’t exist for women.
Do you think being a female entrepreneur has made a difference to how you have built your business? RL: Not so sure if it’s because I’m a female but being a real woman creating for other real women has definitely helped shape who Love, Bonito is.
What were the factors that led you to start Love, Bonito? RL: The clear gap in the market. There weren’t any pieces out there that really suited and fitted Asian women in a flattering way. That was how we started – by understanding the needs of other women, what they were looking for, and creating for them.
What sort of resources (besides financial) did you have when you started Love, Bonito? RL: We had guts (haha). Because we were pioneers in the business of e-commerce back then, we had to pave the way ourselves. For example, there weren’t even any courier services who were well-versed in this format of business.
What kind of market research did you do before starting Love, Bonito? RL: Honestly, we didn’t do much research initially. We learnt via a lot of trial and error and from making mistakes. Most of our learning was done on the go.
Did you feel prepared to start the business when you did? RL: Back then I felt more excited than prepared. And in some way that drove me to push forward regardless of the problems that surfaced.
Have your goals and values changed since starting Love, Bonito? RL: I have really evolved as a person. Since starting the brand I have found myself, and I continue to discover myself everyday. I have learnt to accept my strengths and weaknesses and embrace them. More importantly, I have learned how to grow and use my talents to contribute while surrounding myself with others who compliment my weaknesses.
What were some of the key lessons learned? RL: That one can’t do it all. And one shouldn’t do it all. I wish I had known earlier to discover my areas of strength and to develop and hone them so that I could contribute strongly in those aspects.
What are your plans for the future of Love, Bonito? RL: Right now we are empowering women and reaching out to women through fashion. The dream is to reach out to even more women through other different vehicles.
What advice, based on your own experience, do you have for women starting a business today? RL: Don’t just start a business because it’s the sexy, in thing. I truly believe that there is no age limit to being an entrepreneur. Find and know your why and more importantly, surround yourself with people who will love you enough to be honest with you. If and when you have decided to start a business, the right team at the right stage of your business is absolutely essential.
The Love, Bonito Jem store opens on 8 December 2018, in Singapore. The Love, Bonito flagship store is located at 313@Somerset. To shop the brand online go to: www.lovebonito.com.
Here’s another piece from my Masters’ blog that I think is worth reposting …
Are couturiers and their ateliers still relevant?
Dior Haute Couture SS18 finale: The list of Grand Couturiers that showed during Haute Couture SS18 fashion week included Givenchy, Alexandre Vauthier, Giambattista Valli, Julien Fournié, Jean Paul Gaultier, Stéphane Rolland, Christian Dior, Alexis Mabille, Franck Sorbier, Chanel, Schiaparelli and Maison Margiela. Image: Dior via WWD
Fashion is not just about high street stores, online shopping and $5 t-shirts. Fashion at its core is about the making of garments to fit and suit your body perfectly.
Who are the couturiers and what is haute couture?
With the current fashion trends focused almost entirely on streetwear and sportswear, it’s easy to forget that fashion used to come first from the delicate hands and exacting minds of the haute couture ateliers – the studios of ‘high elegant sewing’. Basically sewing by hand.
Over the years, however, it has come to be defined as being: ‘fashion that is constructed by hand from start to finish, made from high quality, expensive, often unusual fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable sewers, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques’ (Huffington Post 2015).
The Chambre syndicale de la haute couture as it is now known was originally founded in 1868, and rigorously chooses a very limited number of 100 members in three groups or Chambres Syndicales – Haute Couture including Grand Couture, Couturiers’ and Fashion Designers’ Ready-to-Wear and Men’s Fashion as exemplars of quality fashion and design (Chambre syndicale de la haute couture 2018).
Of these three groups, to become a member of the Haute Couture Chambre Syndicale is considered the highest honour a fashion designer can aspire to (Chambre syndicale de la haute couture 2018).
Why should we care about haute couture ateliers? Haute Couture can be defined as being the highest level of the creation of garments; the Chambre was founded to promote ‘Haute Couture and creation [to] have a major impact by combining traditional know how and contemporary technology at all times’ (Chambre syndicale de la haute couture 2018).
It is the work of these couturiers and their atelier teams that continue the core skills and history of handcrafting garments to perfectly fit a body. These handcrafting skills are the basis for every factory machine action that is used to create prêt-à-porter, or ready-to-wear clothing.
Without the continuation of revered ateliers like embroiderer Maison Lesage which partners with Chanel for its haute couture collections, so much knowledge and skill would be lost.
Without the couturiers and ateliers, there would be no fashion; just a lot of clothes.
As part of my current Masters of Fashion [Entrepreneurship] course I had to produce a blog – yes, I know, it’s basically my job :).
But there were some issues and think pieces that I think are worth sharing … this is the first one:
Quality or sustainability … which is more important?
Those of us working in the fashion industry system are supposed to be aware that ours is not currently a sustainable enterprise.
Sewing is hard: I’ve had some experience learning to sew. Sewing is not too difficult if you know what you’re doing, but it is time consuming and fiddly. Most people who wear clothes have no idea what it takes to actually make them; whether to the costs to the environment or the costs to lives and livelihoods, just buying a t-shirt could become an ethical dilemma. Image: Niki Bruce
The general clothes-buying public, however, have probably no idea that their $5 t-shirts are harming not only the environment but that we might just end up eating the microfibres are clothes are made of (Bauck 2017).
Sustainability …
In a pointed post entitled ‘How many gallons of water does it take to make a single pair of jeans?’, influential fashion website The Fashion Law points out that just about everything we wear is somehow damaging our planet and therefore, the future of the fashion system (The Fashion Law 2018).
Until very recently I didn’t give much thought to the environmental impact of my love of shopping. I did rail against the rise of blogshops and fast fashion outlets, but that was more in support of independent designers being ripped off by multinational brands, than concern over the environment, or the sustainability of the fashion system as it now operates.
Quality …
Quality, I believe, is something that’s worth paying more for; you’re paying for the art and skills of a young designer who has put everything into creating something special for you to wear. Quality also equals unique or luxurious materials, handcrafted work, and a sense that the item will last forever. And, more often than not, quality fashion costs more.
Quality versus sustainability …
Are quality and sustainability the same thing? If we only buy quality items, are we being more sustainable? Or are quality items affecting sustainability? Should we just not buy anything? But then who will employ the millions of women in developing nations who currently work in the industry?
No clear conclusion … Personally I find that I cannot come to a clear conclusion on this issue at this time. It is complicated, ongoing and there are more questions than answers.
I have decided, however, to give shopping a break and join the #shopyourwardrobe movement until I can come to a conclusion.
Note: As the issue of sustainability and ethics in fashion continues to be discussed, major fashion designers and emerging brands are offering a variety of thoughts and options that take the issues of quality and sustainability into account, and which are being picked up by mass media.
For a long time I’ve had an issue with Singapore media describing certain companies that make clothes as ‘fashion brands’ but which are actually ‘retail’ labels. These brands – Love, Bonito is one of them – are not really ‘fashion brands’; they are companies that make nice clothes, at reasonable prices, with a bit of personal style, for people to wear on a daily basis. These brands are more similar to Topshop and Uniqlo than they are to Dior or Chanel, or even Vetements.
In Singapore there are number of quite successful retail brands that have been making their way into popular shopping memories, but which are not fashion brands per se. Brands like Love, Bonito, By Invite Only, Beyond the Vines and Benjamin Barker, were recently featured at the Singapore Fashion Awards 2017, as part of the ‘marketing’ section, not as part of the design awards. And having been a founding judge for the awards, I know that the reason these brands are featured is because they are popular and much more retail-friendly than many less wearable or conceptual designer brands. Designer brands that are more appropriate to be considered as ‘fashion’ labels.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that more retail-friendly brands are worse than the more fashion-forward labels. What I’m trying to highlight is that these types of clothing companies are not ‘oranges and apples’, they’re more ‘oranges and coffee-smoked buffalo tongue’. The first is something that doesn’t scare the shopper, the second is only for the very adventurous.
I have a great deal of respect for Love, Bonito’s founders. They have created a very lucrative business in a fashion retail environment that’s been under a great deal of pressure for the last 2-3 years. The brand knows exactly who their customer is; they know what she wants; and they know how to give it to her in a seamless online-to-offline experience. The brand has a variety of price points, but retains its core directive from its launch, expanding only as much, and as directionally, as is needed to grow the business. Love, Bonito is not a fashion brand swinging on the weird wind of trends and concepts; it’s sailing along smoothly along in a clear direction. And this is not a bad thing.
Image from Love, Bonito Chinese New Year 2018 capsule collection. Model: Jasmine Sim
While I may not consider Love, Bonito to be a hardcore fashion brand – you can read about the Singapore brands I do consider more ‘fashion’ – the founders have never claimed it is one. They are purposefully creating a business that has long term prospects in the retail market.
There are a few other Singapore brands that are also not exactly pristine when it comes to plagiarism. Whole9Yards has been cited for knocking off first, Self Portrait – the classic coloured lace dresses of its earliest collections – and now Malaysian designer, Jonathan Liang. Pleatation is obviously a copy of Issey Miyake’s Pleats Please label.
For Pleatation, the concept arose at the same time as micro pleated skirts started flooding Zara and Topshop; the brand cleverly linked up with this trend.
Image from Jonathan Liang SS17
When Whole9Yards first launched there was not a whole lot to talk about. The design concept was very ‘office lady’. However, after Self Portrait’s iconic lace dresses took off in 2013, Whole9Yards began to specialise in lace dresses the average OL could afford. The lace dress became a staple of its output. And very successful it was too. Although I’ve noticed that the brand has massively increased their prices now that they’re doing items that look like those of Jonathan Liang.
Image from Whole9Yards AW17
Again, I’m not saying that affordable retail options are an entirely bad thing. What I am saying is that making items that so closely echo the creative work of other designers is not fashion; it is copying. It is the lack of original design coupled with riding a wave of commercial popularity that makes it ‘retail’ and NOT fashion. At least as far as I’m concerned.
As I was quoted in this very flattering story by Adele Chan, the Editor-in-Chief of Nylon Singapore … “As always, I want to remind readers that this is my personal opinion, and as with anything, you can always have your own.”
There is a tendency in small communities to rave about any local brand or designer simply because they ARE local.
While it is important to support local talent, it is just as important to give praise where due, and to not simply celebrate the ‘localness’ for its own sake.
This is what has happened over the last 6 years in the Singapore fashion industry. Local brands with little to no true originality have been patted on the back and given media coverage simply because they exist. It’s like giving all the kids in a race a certificate and no medals for first, second or third.
When you don’t appear to get anything more for standing out from the crowd and being better than others, what’s the point of trying?
Conversely, just because you have a lot of friends in the local media, it shouldn’t mean that your work is placed higher on the tent pole of adulation.
In Singapore there has been a general creep towards admiration for retail brands that have successful social media accounts, rather than support for labels that do their own thing and focus on creating original work.
Yes, we should be proud of the brands that have continued to be economically viable in the current difficult retail environment – and indeed, they deserve praise simply for surviving. However, retail-successful brands are not going to be cutting edge fashion design in a trend-focused, shopping-driven country like Singapore.
Over the last 9 years in Singapore I have seen so many fashion brands come and go. Some deserved to disappear from our fashion radar, but others succumbed due to the lack of media attention, the lack of fashion education for shoppers – also media-led – and a general oversupply of any, and every, fashion brand in the world. Not to mention, of course, the increasing rise of online shopping.
Out of this complicated mess of being ignored in favour of someone’s friend’s new blogshop sourced from Dongdaemun Market; fighting for sales against global retail giants; and forever being forgotten by the fashion media except for the annual ‘Singapore issue’, there have risen a few fashion and accessories brands worth talking about.
These are my personal picks for Singapore fashion brands that actually work from a creative base of originality; no, they’re not all perfect (no brand is) but they have worked to ensure that they have a brand identity that doesn’t depend on ripping off other brands.
DEPRESSION
Image: Depression
Yes, I admit that I am personal friends with the designers behind Singapore streetwear unisex brand Depression. However, this doesn’t mean I can’t objectively appreciate what Kenny Lim and Andrew Loh have done over the last 10 years. Yes, Depression is 10 years old.
A brand that began as t-shirts for the impoverished junior industry creatives and hairstylists of Singapore, has grown into a brand that has a distinct DNA, is stocked globally and has shown at Berlin Fashion Week.
Depression is not a brand for everyone. It’s mostly black, drapey, oversized, punk-influenced streetwear for guys who work in the creative industries and girls who don’t like wearing pink lace dresses. But this doesn’t mean it’s not good.
Depression has a particular point-of-view and a targeted customer. And these are the reasons why it has survived Singapore’s ‘retail apocalypse’.
Image: Depression
Depression does have some issues. Over the years the brand has had hiccups in fabrication and fitting, but the team of designers tend not to make the same mistakes twice. As the brand owners have branched out into a multilabel store – Sects Shop – and a number of in-house brands, their ‘learnings’ have been incorporated into improving the Depression label.
Despite, or in fact, because of this, Depression is a Singapore fashion brand worth celebrating, whether or not you love an all black wardrobe.
Depression is available from Sects Shop located at Orchard Gateway #04-14, Singapore, and online at www.depression.com.sg.
IN GOOD COMPANY
Image: In Good Company
Designed and owned by the creative team behind now-defunct original Singapore brand Alldressedup, In Good Company is a tight collaboration between two designers who have their own specialties, and who know exactly who they are designing for. I’ve always said that the team, who worked together for about 10 years, made all their mistakes with someone else’s label, which is why they have grown from strength to strength since the brand launched in 2015.
Image: In Good Company
Jaclyn Teo, Sven Tan, Kane Tan – no relation – and Juliene Aw, are the co-founders of In Good Company, which started out with contemporary womenswear designed specifically for Singapore and the Southeast Asian region’s hot weather in a series of capsule collection ‘drops’, and has now expanded into matching ‘mini me’ collections for kids, and menswear. The brand is stocked in a number of stores in Singapore and the surrounding region, including in Jakarta, and has its own ‘tropical minimalist’ flagship store in ION Orchard on Orchard Road.
Image: In Good Company
The reason I describe the brand as being ‘tropical minimalist’ is that its aesthetic is a mix of Scandinavian minimalist design (yes, there’s a fair bit of COS in the shapes of the clothes) combined with a love of strong colours, ease of wear and machine-washability; perfect for tropical weather.
Image: In Good Company
Cuts tend to be on the smaller, Asian side, however the brand launched first as an online store and has a wide range of global customers. The signature very-fine shoulder and back strap details, and unique fabrics like machine-washable silk and cotton ‘neoprene’ means In Good Company remains modern without being trend-driven. Pieces from early collections can just as easily be worn with the latest launches and also fit nicely into ‘arty’ wardrobes that feature a lot of Comme Des Garçons. Yes, there are a few ‘basics’ that have a tendency to look like COS summer collections, but overall, In Good Company retains its own voice.
Image: In Good Company
The co-founders knew exactly who they were selling to before they launched the brand, and continue to stick to that very defined demographic despite the brand’s increasing profile as original Singapore design. They’ve been offered opportunities internationally – in countries that are definitely NOT tropical – but have stuck to their guns when it comes to designing for the region, not being beholden to global weather and not sticking to arbitrary fashion seasons.
It’s the combination of sticking to their preferred business model, knowing their customers and always exploring technology to create new, more comfortable fabrics, that has seen In Good Company continue to grow and establish itself as a strong independent Singapore fashion brand. This is not a brand that wants to become a global behemoth, the founders are all about staying true to their personal aesthetic and likewise living a life that allows for family and friends.
In Good Company is located at ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn, #B1-06, Singapore. Open daily: 10am – 9:30pm, Tel: +65 6509 4786. You can shop the brand online at www.ingoodcompany.asia, and the store is also home to a cool cafe, Plain Vanilla Bakery.
CARRIE K. ARTISAN JEWELLERY
Image: Carrie K. Artisan Jewellery
Once again I have to own up to being personal friends with the team behind Carrie K. Artisan Jewellery, but hey, Singapore is a small place.
Carolyn Kan, the founder and designer of the brand is the perfect example of a Singapore creative just doing her thing, being excellent at what she does, and ignoring the shallow, wider world of globally focused trends and social media ra-ra.
Image: Carrie K. Artisan Jewellery
Carolyn launched the label way back in 2009 as a way to ‘tell stories’ after changing her career. Almost immediately the brand took off as an international jewellery exporter; her quirky designs based on everything from nuts & bolts to paint splatters and morse code, struck a cord with people looking for ‘wearable art’ that was not only affordable but also unique and told a personal story. Carolyn has always done commission work, creating very personal pieces for customers who want something that tells their own story.
Image: Carrie K. Artisan Jewellery
The retail side of the business has grown over the years to encompass pieces in silver for less than a $100, to fine jewellery versions that can go for thousands. Every collection starts from Carolyn’s odd-but-interesting brain and continue to tell fun and unique tales about her world and the fans who have bought into it.
Image: Carrie K. Artisan Jewellery
On top of all this, Carolyn has been the backbone of the creative design scene in Singapore. Her creation of the Keepers Studio concept from pop-up weekends and stores, to a permanent retail space at Singapore’s National Design Centre, has seen her become the most important person in the national design scene. Without her, there would not be successful Singapore brands – a bold claim but one I’m ready to defend.
The Carrie K. Artisan Jewellery atelier is located at National Design Centre, 111 Middle Road. #02-03 (Annex building along Queen Street), Singapore. Open: Monday to Saturday, 12:00 – 7pm, Tel: +65 6352 2559. You can also shop the brand online at www.carriekrocks.com, and at the Keepers store. For a full list of stockists including international, go to www.carriekrocks.com/stores.
These are my current best Singapore designer fashion and accessories brands. I’ll continue to update and add to the list.
Everyone seems to agree that Singapore has some of the best shopping in the world. You really can buy everything in the shopping city, especially when it comes to fashion, shoes and accessories … There are all the European, American and Asian international brands, as well as some unique Singapore-centric labels as well. For my money, the best places to shop are some of the more eclectic multi-label stores … Sects Shop, Keepers and Biro Shouten.
SECTS SHOP
All images by Niki Bruce, shot on iPhoneX
Sects Shop is the store for people who love streetwear, alternative fashion and anything a bit spooky and goth. Founded in 2014 but the two creative minds behind Singapore fashion brand Depression – Kenny Lim and Andrew Loh – this multilabel store located in Orchard Gateway is always at the forefront of the next big trend. Although it’s mainly a menswear store, there’s a strong unisex component to the buy that neatly covers the new Korean streetwear trends of oversize, unisex ‘skirts for boys’ trends as well as generously-cut ‘drapey black goth’ pieces that are definitely female-friendly. Shoes are available in smaller sizes for women, and there are always accessories like bags and jewellery that can be adopted by both sexes.
All images by Niki Bruce, shot on iPhoneX
What I love most about Sects Shop is that it’s always got something new – a new label, a new fashion-forward trend – and the staff are extremely knowledgeable about not only the labels in-store, but also about the current trends for styling.
All images by Niki Bruce, shot on iPhoneX
The interior consists of various ‘shop-in-shop’ spaces that curate the various looks and trends into different spaces. The furniture pieces have been specially created to match the store’s concrete-industrial-tropical-trash feel and are used to create different spaces. Sects Shop is also home to semi-regular pop-up party events that basically include a runway show of the store’s hardcore fans in their best Sects Shop looks.
I have to admit to being a bit biased about the beauties of Sects Shop. I am a longtime friend of the co-owners 🙂 and also a big-spending customer; I do LOVE Korean fashion brands.
I was also the creative director for the shop’s recent Spring Summer campaign shoot … READ MORE HERE
Sects Shop not only has a great Instagram account that lets you know what’s new in-store, the owners have recently also launched an account called sects.education that’s designed to show Singaporean’s how to be a bit more cutting edge when it comes to their street style looks, and features images from some of the city’s more interesting fashionistas. Well worth following for some interesting Asian fashion inspiration.
Sects Shop is located at Orchard Gateway #04-14, Singapore.
KEEPERS
All images by Niki Bruce, shot on iPhoneX
If you are looking for genuine Singapore design then you need to check out Keepers in the National Design Centre, which is worth checking out in its own right if you like any sort of design.
Created by one of Singapore’s most prolific and genuine artisans, Carolyn Kan of Carrie K. Artisan Jewellery which also has its studio in the same group of buildings, Keepers has had a number of incarnations, starting as a pop-up store on Orchard Road and ending up with its permanent spot in the Design Centre.
Carolyn is Singapore’s number one style and design collaborators – Singapore’s godmother of design. She has created numerous opportunities for all sorts of emerging artists and designers to come together to create unique capsule collections, but has also spearheaded the development of space for these artisans to actually SELL their creations. As a multilabel store, Keepers offers everything from jewellery, fashion, furniture and homewares, to unique flavoured teas and chocolates. Keepers is also behind the annual Singapasar fleamarket that features only Singaporean creations.
Thomas Wee capsule collection at Keepers. All images by Niki Bruce, shot on iPhoneX
So, back to the store. Situated in the front of the ground floor, the store is a free-form space that morphs into different design concepts based on individual brand concepts.
Currently Keepers is holding is a pop-up capsule collection from Singapore’s ‘Dowager Empress’ of fashion, Thomas Wee. This all-white range of beautifully hand-finished, couture-cut fashion pieces are based on Thomas’ all-time best-sellers. The designer himself was there opening night, taking measurements and informing customers that he would tailor various bits and pieces to better suit their body shapes.
Thomas Wee capsule collection at Keepers. All images by Niki Bruce, shot on iPhoneX
This is the type of personal service that adds to the joy of visiting Keepers. Carolyn and her creative husband/partner Chong can often be found hanging out in the store making useful suggestions to customers over which pieces of jewellery to buy, or which Ling Wu exotic skin bag looks best. Hands down, Keepers is the best place to buy stylish souvenirs from Singapore; and it’s the best place to snap up artistic presents as well.
Thomas Wee capsule collection at Keepers. All images by Niki Bruce, shot on iPhoneX
Keepers is located at National Design Centre, 111 Middle Road, #01-01, Singapore. Open 12pm to 8pm daily. The National Design Centre is also home to Carrie K. Atelier and super hot dining & cafe spot Tanuki Raw plus another cool multi-brand store Kapok.
BIRO SHOUTEN
All images by Niki Bruce, shot on iPhoneX
For shoppers who are more into the extreme hardcore minimalism of very select hand-curate objects and fashion items; or stylistas who are obsessed with the normcore purity of Japanese design, Biro Shouten is the tiny, perfect store for you.
This is where the brothers bring together their concise curration of the very best versions of micro-targeted accessories, homewares, organic home scents, jewellery and clothing, including Mastery handmade small leather goods and Takashi Endo Ceramics.
All images by Niki Bruce, shot on iPhoneX
The store itself is small, but perfect in layout and design – very Japanese in concept and feel. Although it’s located in a somewhat odd area (a very Singapore heartland shopping mall), it’s directly next to the Lavender MRT stop and well worth making the effort to visit.
Biro Shouten is located at Kitchener Complex, Level 3, 809 French Road, Singapore.
I suspect that few fashion people have ever considered Finland as a source of more than nice interior decor prints from Marimekko. Perhaps a few people interested in architecture and industrial design may have heard of Alvar Aalto. Finland, despite it being home to some of the founding designers of what’s now described as ‘Scandi’ style – white, minimalism, blonde wood, hand-crafted ceramics, pops of primary colours – is generally lost in the recitation of other Scandinavian countries when it comes to descriptions of style and design capitals of the world.
Detail of the embroidery by Sini-Pilvi Kiilunen. Image: Niki Bruce, #shotoniphonex
This lack of awareness is rather unfortunate. Helsinki, the capital of Finland, is home to a number of excellent designers from fabric and fashion to interiors and architecture. It is also home to a rather good design school based at Aalto University, the country’s premier education institution.
In November 2017, at an elegantly intimate event in the new Andaz Hotel, a select group of Singapore’s fashion literati were finally introduced to some of the talent that’s currently coming out of the land of forests and lakes.
Finland’s Fashion Frontier was the first time Finnish designers were showcased in Singapore. Organised by Helsinki New (a really innovative company that promotes Finnish design and fashion), Helsinki Marketing (owned by the Finnish government) and in collaboration with Aalto University, five young designers’ capsule collections were shown on a runway.
All in all it was an interesting snapshot of a country’s design aesthetic, and quite an eye-opener for many a jaded fashionista’s palate.
Full disclosure … I have to explain that I once spent an enormously fun, cold, fascinating year in a small town in Finland – with lots of trips to Helsinki, of course. A town that was described by visiting Finnish makeup artist Miika Kemppainen as ‘hard core’. So I have a bit of a soft spot for the land of forests and lakes. 🙂
FINLAND’S FASHION FRONTIER … THE REVIEW
Backstage at Finland’s Fashion Frontier show. Image: Franz Navarrete
Overall, I have to say that I was mostly impressed by the quality, and design sensibility of the five young Finnish designers – Rolf Ekroth, Anna Isoniemi, Sini-Pilvi Kiilunen, Janette Friis and Ida-Sofia Tuomisto. The menswear from Rolf Ekroth and Sini-Pilvi Kiilunen was particularly strong, and the disco-ball party outfits from Anna Isoniemi stood out as being very on-trend.
ROLF EKROTH, menswear
Rolf Ekroth creates the Finnish version of oversized on-trend streetwear. He will be one of eight invited Finnish designers at Pitti Uomo in January, and has already collaborated with Paris’ Galeries Lafayette on a Spring Summer 2017 capsule collection. His grasp of the current trend of ‘futuristic sportswear’ is obviously the reason behind his rise to popularity, since it’s so ‘hot right now’.
A look from Rolf Ekroth backstage. Image: Franz Navarrete
What makes Ekroth stand out from the general pack doing similar things is his use of materials. This is, in fact, the true strength of these young Finnish designers. Ekroth uses a material similar to foil warming blankets to create voluminous garments that are as light as air, but totally insulating (rather hot in Singapore according to the model); he also used a quilted waxed paper-like fabric, again lightweight but super insulated.
Up-and-coming Singapore model Gabe Yap wearing a look from Rolf Ekroth. Image: Franz Navarrete
His colour choices and layering of prints is also solid and interesting; a jacquard camo print particularly stood out.
A look from Rolf Ekroth. Image: Franz Navarrete
However, some of the pieces were just a touch too close to what’s happening in Seoul and around the world; the ‘coat as backpack’ and the connected jackets and coats zipped into each other, are reminiscent of Yohji Yamamoto’s latest collection and of course, Rei Kawakubo’s designs for Comme des Garçons. ‘Homage’ as they say is not entirely a bad thing, but with more exposure and growth the influences will become less obvious. Rolf Ekroth has a strong future; one to watch.
ANNA ISONIEMI, womenswear
If you believe you can never have too many sequins, Anna Isoniemi is the designer for you. The collection on the runway was inspired by racing cars and 1960s futurism – the second influence was clearly obvious in the graphic checked pants and polo-neck top, the linear stripes and the use of primary colours. The racing car influences were more hidden as textiles that imitated brand names and the simplistic use of numbers.
Looks from Anna Isoniemi. Image: Franz Navarrete
The stubborn choice to use sequins en masse was a fortuitous decision; the ‘shine’ became a texture, adding a robotic fluidity to garments that really were very basic in cut and concept. Without the sequins, the collection would have been quite humdrum, with no quirks of cut or silhouette to make the clothes any more than current high-street items of pleated skirts, polos, wide-legged pants and oversized boxy jackets.
Anna Isoniemi is also a textile designer, which is why the colour choices were well thought through, but unfortunately we didn’t get to see her best work in this area, the sunset ombre sequin patterns that are also in her collection are lovely. It would be interesting to know what her clothes would sell for; too expensive and price herself out of the market for shiny party clothes.
SINI-PILVI KIILUNEN, menswear (or womenswear)
The feminisation of menswear is also a current fashion trend – JW Anderson, Blindness – and was covered by the work of Sini-Pilvi Kiilunen at the Finland’s Fashion Frontier show. His sumptuous velvets and indulgent embellishments of floral embroideries and ruffles layered over boxy military style coats could easily be worn by men or women. The fact that the fabrics and embroideries were also recycled added to the very ‘now’ feel of Kiilunen’s collection.
Detail look at piece from Sini-Pilvi Kiilunen. Image: Franz Navarrete
While the concept could have become overwhelmingly sweet, the addition of fabric worked with hundreds of metal rings on pants and jackets, kept the sugar way with a dash of punk. Rich deep colours of vermillion, navy and aqua also helped add a more masculine aspect. Again, it was the use of colour and texture that made this collection less ordinary; the cuts of pants, shirts, jackets and coats were more classic than fashion-forward, though the proportions were interesting.
Detail look at metal ring fabrications from Sini-Pilvi Kiilunen. Image: Niki Bruce, #shotoniphonex
Kiilunen was inspired by 19th century oil portraits of young boys, a fitting reflection on the current pop culture movement towards less gender definition in the world of fashion. Depending on how expensive these piece would be, the designer is sure to find a following. Very K-Pop; you could easily see a boy group music video coming down the runway.
JANETTE FRIIS, womenswear
Unfortunately I couldn’t really remember Janette Friis’ work until I got to the knitwear. Which, not surprisingly, is apparently her specialty. The languid, chiffon pieces in her collection were not particularly strong, too reminiscent of other designers and too obviously taken from her 1930s and 1940s inspiration. They all looked like boudoir pieces from old movies.
Dress by Janette Friis. Image: Franz Navarrete
The knitwear, on the other hand, stood out. The cozy, slightly oversized iterations of pussy-bow blouses and pencil skirts looked fresher. Although to make the concept stronger, Friis would have done well to exaggerate the proportions even more than she did.
Singapore supermodel Jean wearing Janette Friis. Image: Franz Navarrete
At this stage her work still seems to lack a strong point of difference, the more interesting items are a bit too ‘fashion’ for easy retail, and not quite ‘fashion’ enough for the high-end style market. There’s lots of potential here but it needs refining.
IDA-SOFIA TUOMISTO, womenswear
Ida-Sofia Tuomisto’s collection is apparently focused on the materials, the ‘breaking down and reconstructing [of] garments to create a final result that is both new and fresh’. Unfortunately the finished result did not seem all that new or refreshing. The mix of hard and soft textures is not new, the painting of fabrics is not new, the cuts were entirely too reminiscent of recent collections from Loewe and even Dior.
Singapore model Jean wearing a look from Ida-Sofia Tuomisto. Image: Franz Navarrete
Overall, Tuomisto’s collection was perhaps the weakest of the five shown at Finland’s Fashion Frontier. However, again, the work was saved by the use of colour – one oversized t-shirt dress showed a nice use of autumnal colour and looked much more comfortable to wear. This would be a more interesting direction to take for future work.
Look from Ida-Sofia Tuomisto final collection runway show in Finland. Image: Helsinki Now
The use of hard-textured materials combined with hand-manipulation would make it difficult to translate Tuomisto’s work into a retail range at a reasonable price; but something could be done with the dress mentioned above.
OVERALL THOUGHTS & MUSINGS …
One of the things I love about Finland as a country and culture is that it is on the border of West and East, despite not many people being aware of it. I always refer to Finland as being the ‘Tokyo of Europe’ in that it has its own slightly quirky perspective on the world; it celebrates the creation of things, not just the final product; it has an educated, polite but just-a-bit odd population that is as happy dealing with issues at a global level as it is sitting in a wooden hut in a forest next to a lake.
Miia Koski, the managing director of Juni, the company behind Helsinki Now, told me that Finnish design is a mix of Scandinavian minimalism and love of natural textures, with the celebration of bright colours more reminiscent of Asia. And she’s exactly right.
Finnish fashion is a mix of the bright and crazy colours and textures we in Asia are so fond of, with the clean lines that are not only the hallmarks of Scandinavia, but likewise of traditional Japanese design. Finland is the Japan of Europe, but it’s also very much its own world.
Helsinki New is a series of fashion projects organised by Juni Communication & Production. Go to www.helsinkinew.com and check out its instagram account @helsinki_new
Finland’s Fashion Frontier Show Venue: Andaz Hotel Singapore Production: Saara Sihvonen Hair and makeup team lead: Miika Kemppainen
niki bruce 