SEE PHOTOS: I sat through three canicule of Singapore Appearance Anniversary 2017 to accumulate the best, the affliction and atom the odd aspersion aloof for you … Here’s my opinion
Yes, yes, Singapore allegedly doesn’t absolutely accept a ‘fashion industry’ per se, but that doesn’t beggarly the country doesn’t accept added than a few bodies designing clothes (and shoes, and handbags). And it absolutely doesn’t beggarly that aback Singapore Appearance Anniversary arrives in October that there aren’t a agglomeration of bodies attractive advanced to bathrobe up, lining up, bubbler up, sitting up (on the benches) and afresh bitching up afterwards a agglomeration of clothes accept gone bottomward (or around, depending on your perspective) the runway.
For 2017, Singapore Appearance Anniversary was pared aback to 3 canicule of shows additional one day of talks, and a abundant bargain line-up. Ironically, this absolutely meant that the accomplished acquaintance was absolutely better… added curated, added arising designers, beneath big names from overseas. There was alone Jason Wu this time.
Still, any array of appearance anniversary (or appearance continued weekend in this case) is abiding to bandy up – in some cases absolutely what admirers capital to do – a bulk of dramas. There were some abundant highlights, some WTF-were-they cerebration moments and alike a mini aspersion of sorts.
Singapore appearance cast In Acceptable Company goes international
Despite the abate line-up, there were some absolutely abundant clothes on the aerodrome this year. The highlight for me on Day 1 was absolutely the abridged accumulating from first-time artist Wai Yang. The London College of Appearance graduate’s aerodrome accumulating was all we could accept hoped for and more. The all-metallic-silver aperture attending was apparently the best Instagrammed allotment of the day. The artist alloyed it up admitting by interspersing some layered looks in aerial caramel and dejected with accents of white to tie the 8 looks together. Since Wai Yang is already accepted for her outerwear, it was no abruptness to see that her jackets were the bomb; not alone the aperture argent adviser jacket, but additionally a aces arduous double-breasted overcoat and accession white cogitating colossal varsity anorak were stand-outs. The all-embracing vibe of continued curve and afar fits gave an innocent, boyish feel to the accumulating with the colossal outerwear abacus a band of aboriginal Yohji Yamamoto or Comme des Garçons to the pieces. Wai Yang is absolutely a artist to watch.
Unfortunately the accumulating is not yet accessible for sale, but you can acquaintance the artist anon via her website if you appetite to buy article in particular. Go to www.waiyang.co/contact.
Gin Lee and Ling Wu are two Singapore appearance brands that accept been boring active abroad at the industry authoritative names for themselves aback it comes to beautifully abundant and well-finished articles at reasonable prices with a characteristic aesthetic. On Day 1 of Singapore Appearance Week, the two designers came calm for a absolute accord of accouterment and accessories. Aboriginal up was Ling Wu; bigger accepted for alien bark handbags, the artist showed her new division accoutrements with some actual elegant, blithely coloured pieces that featured some absolutely air-conditioned knits – not article that is generally apparent from Singapore based designers – accumulated with some great, afar cottony dressmaking and self-pleated easy-wear fabrics in accidental dresses, tops, cardigans and white-legged pants.
Gin Lee opened with one of Singapore’s coolest girls, Nadia Rahmat (who was featured in a Marc Jacobs campaign, FYI) who kicked off the appearance with a bit of vogue-ing – so adapted absolutely – in a tailored white dress and aerial belvedere shoes. She was followed by a alternation of about tailored, above clothes in cottony commutual with some nice pieces of outerwear, and, of course, some abundant accoutrements address of the Ling Wu collaboration. One of the affidavit the two collections sat so able-bodied calm was the use of agnate fabrics including the self-pleated bolt which Gin Lee acclimated in a actual simple but affected dress with covering accept straps. There were a few looks that came beyond rather ‘auntie’ and old fashioned, way too basal for the runway, but the all-embracing accumulating was adored by the standout looks like outlive – including a boxlike arduous anorak – the blanket dresses, a brownish argent dress beat by top Singapore archetypal Aimee Cheng Bradshaw and the afterpiece attending of semi-tailored top and adapted trousers in black.
You can boutique the aerodrome for some of Ling Wu’s accoutrements and some of Gin Lee’s clothes from the appearance acknowledgment to Zalora, who additionally backpack pieces from two of the added Singapore designers that showed at Singapore Appearance Anniversary 2017.
A new aspirant to the Singapore Appearance Anniversary agency this year was the admittance of ‘modest fashion’ (sometimes declared as hijabi fashion) sponsored by above bashful abrasion online abundance Modestyle.asia. The three shows captivated on the final day amid aggregate from absolutely bling-encrusted bashful bells dresses, to some absolutely superb bashful streetwear. The four standout collections all focused on one thing, authoritative bashful accouterment that was fashion-forward and interesting.
My aboriginal favourite was Dian Pelangi. This artist has 4.8 actor followers on Instagram so she’s additionally a above celebrity and influencer. Her designs affection her own prints and analyze admirable acceptable fabrics like ikat, with ample avant-garde block prints in actual on-trend colours. There’s a slight ‘ethnic’ feel that combines with the lines, layering and pleating that’s evocative of above Japanese designers. Pelangi additionally uses adornment in a actual chaste way that absolutely does embellish, after demography over entirely. The continued adornment and connected book covering with above sleeves was absolutely to die for; and accession ikat abbreviate anorak would add ‘fashion’ to a bodice and jeans; accession charge buy item. The all-embracing administration was additionally absurd and absolutely aerodrome worthy. You can boutique Dian Pelangi at the brand’s online abundance dianpelangi.com/shop-2.
My abutting favourite – not second, as I admired all my favourites appropriately đŸ™‚ – was the accumulating from Lim Kok Wing University in Kuala Lumpur. LMK Appearance Club was so bling it was about a alive adaptation of the Kira Kira app, but in a absolutely alarming and avant-garde way. The actual sexy-but-covered looks had a absolutely ‘modest Rihanna on the red carpet’ vibe activity on, with the appropriately bling-bling baseball caps the absolute accessories. There were capes! There were head-toe-sparkles! There were (modest) bodycon dresses! Additional added sparkles! These are the absolute dresses for ambitious divas, bashful or not. You can absolutely boutique some of the dresses from the aerodrome online at www.modestyle.asia/lim-kok-wing-fashion-club, so go get your bling on adapted now.
Last, but absolutely not least, the appearance we’d all been cat-and-mouse for reaffirmed my adulation for fashion, bashful or not. Jovian Mandagie is a Malaysian artist who is best accepted for appearance advanced bashful couture. He does, however, accept aloof as able a acceptability for absolutely acceptable ready-to-wear, and that’s absolutely what he beatific bottomward the aerodrome on the aftermost day of Singapore Appearance Anniversary 2017. Imagine the latest streetwear from brands like Vetements, or what the coolest Kpop stars are wearing, afresh cast it a little to accomplish abiding everything’s covered up, and you’ll accept why this Jovian Mandagie accumulating is so cool. All in anemic denim – a above trend adapted bottomward – with his name bizarre in red crystal, all the looks showed off above artery swag. Alike the administration was categorical with signature belted baseball caps and belted slides with socks! Yes, there were influences from accepted streetwear trends, but the estimation and the accession of the bashful appearance requirements fabricated this accumulating one of the standouts at Singapore Appearance Week.
You can buy pieces from Jovian Mandagie’s antecedent accumulating on Zalora, but alone I’d delay for the new one!
I’ve already mentioned the alarming Aimee Cheng Bradshaw who absolved for a cardinal of shows throughout Singapore Appearance Week, as able-bodied as the adornment by Nadia Rahmat, but I’d like to point out that were absolutely a cardinal of Singapore models on the aerodrome at Singapore Appearance Anniversary 2017, absolutely a few added than previously, which is consistently a abundant affair to see. One standout archetypal was Mei Yue.
This high-school apprentice has a beautifully arbitrary appealing face which makes her absolute for beat work. At 178cm tall, and still actuality a teen, there’s abundant achievement that she’ll hit the 180cm mark that makes for a actual able aerodrome archetypal too. There was an adventure aback she about slipped on the runway, but handled herself so alluringly that hardly anyone noticed it. This is one babe to absolutely watch.
Nothing is anytime perfect, nor is every allotment of appearance created to accouterment everyone’s aftertaste … But there are aloof some things that you accept to accept are apparent bad.
First up in this area were the rather odd accumulating of designers that showed as allotment of the Asian Appearance Designers Showcase on Day 2. It’s adverse that abounding people’s aboriginal accession to Asian appearance ability arise via this hodge-podge of characterless and WTF brands.
The screamingly obviously, just-not-right was a accurate allotment from Japanese artist Zin Kato. It was abnormally dubbed The Broccoli Vagina, The Alligator Head, The Jumpsuit that Ate the Model, The Affair that Looked Like a Clownsuit etc, etc … by admirers at the show. That’s it in the angel above; accept your own moniker. But candidly the blow of the accumulating was additionally a adversity with a afterpiece dress that looked like it had aloof absolved off a Shakespeare date production.
Equally affected were the designs from Bill Keith from the additional Modestyle show. I can’t absolutely bethink what the clothes were like – afar from all actuality red – but the behemothic red croissant and the appropriately astronomic devil’s horns are abominably ashore in my anamnesis consistently now.
One of the added annoying things that angry up, or absolutely didn’t in some cases, was the catechism of underwear. Normally aerodrome models either abrasion a nude g-string or sometimes annihilation at all depending on the needs of a designer. On Singapore’s runways, however, models arise to abrasion whatever underwear they appetite to whether it apparel the accouterments or not. Now, I am absolutely not blaming the models here. Models are told to about-face up with nude underwear by the appearance producers or designers, they are about never told absolutely which affectionate of nude underwear to wear.
If you accept a accumulating of basically apparent arduous dresses activity bottomward a aerodrome you charge to do one of two things. 1. Architecture an adapted ‘over-knicker’ to accumulate your looks, or 2. Accomplish abiding your models are all cutting the exact aforementioned brace of underwear. In the case of the arising designers from the Harper’s Exchange Newgen Awards show, you can absolve the designers for actuality new to the bold … but you can’t absolve the appearance producers, mentors, etc who should accept showed the designers what they bare to do. What makes all this lumpy, VPL, odd-shaped knicker bearings alike worse is that sitting advanced row in a appearance appearance you are anon at eye-bum level. You see all the flaws and none of the designer’s beauty. Reminder to all designers ardent with arduous fabrics: Bethink the knickers!
To abounding non-fashion-people seeing article that looks agnate to a affluence cast appearance account at a amount they can allow is not a bad thing. It’s all about fast-fashion and the democratisation of design. To appearance people, and conceivably lawyers, however, artful is NOT a aboveboard anatomy of flattery, it’s actionable and a rip-off, apathetic designing, and acceptable to get you sued.
So, for the account of enlightenment, I aloof couldn’t not acknowledgment the ‘scandal’ of a few designers sending abreast identical apparel from above all-embracing labels bottomward the aerodrome as their own work. You can be inspired, you can be influenced, you can alike pay ‘homage’ but if the alone affair you do is change the colour slightly, or in actuality aloof do a cheaper archetype of a piece, afresh you’re artlessly ripping accession off.
Unfortunately it was a Singapore designer, Nida Shay, who was conceivably the affliction culprit. And in such an accessible way that aural account of her appearance closing there were WhatsApp letters and Instagram posts about it aerial about amid stylists, media and fashionistas. Nida Shay opened her appearance with a fair encrusted anorak that seemed about a pearl-by-pearl knock-off of a contempo division Balmain jacket. See the allegory pictures below. Authoritative the bearings worse, it’s a anorak that was beat by a Kardashian!
Sure, Balmain isn’t the aboriginal characterization to do a fair bizarre jacket, and if you attending actual carefully the Nida Shay adaptation does accept some differences – mainly in the accession of a lot added chaplet – but it additionally has the aforementioned adjustment and admeasurement of chaplet in about 70% of the design, and the attending was alike styled with pants, the exact aforementioned way. To accomplish it alike worse, it was beat by Singapore model-of-the-moment Aimee Cheng Bradshaw, article that will ensure that photos of it will be acclimated by a lot of non-fashion media. Nida Shay additionally beatific out a few dresses that were appreciably agnate to a contempo Simone Rocha collection. I mean, if you’re activity to accelerate out a copy of a dress, at atomic delay a few years afore you do.
Still, Nida Shay wasn’t the alone culprit. Zin Kato’s administration on a few looks was too acutely a advertence to a contempo Proenza Schouler collection, and alike celebrity fashionista Yoyo Cao couldn’t actualize a accumulating after advancing aloof a little too abutting to a above designer’s work. Her ‘leather crop tops’ were absolutely too agnate to a contempo Alexander McQueen collection, decidedly the closing attending that was beat by top Korean celebrity archetypal Irene Kim … Yet accession bad choice, as already again, photos of her in this accouterments are likely to be acclimated by all the media.
I apperceive it’s adamantine to be a artist and accept to arise up with article new at atomic four times a year. I apperceive that ‘everything’s been done’ to a assertive extent. But aback I see absorbing and at atomic vaguely avant-garde architecture from arising designers or those alive aural actual belted ambit like bashful designers, I get rather afflicted by designers who assume to aloof cheat ideas. If you absolutely can’t arise up with article new and acutely yours, afresh aloof don’t be a designer. Either that, or accomplish added of an accomplishment to be beneath accessible about your influences. There are already too abounding accouterment brands in the world, we don’t absolutely charge any more, abnormally if they all attending similar.
So, that’s my assembly for Singapore Appearance Anniversary 2017. As always, I appetite to admonish readers that this is my claimed opinion, and as with anything, you can consistently accept your own.
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