Model Moment: Rise of the Dragon

Vogue UK recently published an article on the rise of Asian models in their mag. I glimpsed through the article, and in my opinion, it is well written with several insights on Asian models, and the reason they are increasing in numbers at full force in the fashion industry, which still remains largely dominated by Western faces and designers.

I agree that the rise of Asian models is in tandem with the blooming Eastern economy. Western fashion houses see a growing, untapped base of customers and fans of their products in the Asian market, thus attending to their needs and wants is a smart and necessary move to internationalize. Think of how LV didn't stop at selling monogram bags in mega stores in Chinese cities, and went to conceptualize an entire Orient-inspired collection for Spring 2011. Think of how Chanel didn't stop at selling couture to the rich Chinese, and even went to open the prefall 2009 show in Shanghai, calling it the Paris-Shanghai Métiers d'Art Collection.

Above: Louis Vuitton SS 2011 shot by Steven Meisel.

Thus with the vast array of fashion collections with Mandarin collars and Cheongsam-inspired thigh high skirt slits showcased on the runway every season, it seems natural that more Asian faces walk down the runway as well.

My favourite new comer is Xiao Wen Ju. Her face resembles a chinadoll. She is definitely one of the most unique faces I see after Emma Xie. Another relatively new model in the Western scene is Sui He. She was placed among the top 10 new faces this fall on style.com, and she grabbed the opening spot at Ralph Lauren, making her the first Asian face to do so.

Below: Xiao Wen Ju, Far below: Sui He in Marchesa

I'm also excited that Singapore finally has a representative at the Ford Supermodel of the World competition next year! I realized that in the past, Singapore used to participate in this competition broadcasting the competition on Channel 8, but it has ceased for a long time till this year! The winner is Chinese-Indian Puvana S. She was called "ugly" by her classmates, according to the local press. However, she is far from ugly! Her unique look is sure to take her far in the world finals in NY.

Well, I hope that using Asian models on the runway is not like Sportswear looks on the runway -- just a trend that will fade in time. Examining the fashion scene and economy now, Western designers' love with the East should not, and I hope will not wane in the near future.

From left: Ming Xi, Sun Feifei, Xiao Wen Ju, Liu Wen

sources: thefashionspot, style.com, fordsupermodel.sg

High & Mighty High street!

Well many high street brands have great collaboration with designers & it girls. These brands come up with capsule collections coveted by all fashionistas..as they are deemed to be designer ware at a fraction of the cost! This fall, H&M will up its game with a tie up with Versace. Previous collabs with other designers like Lanvin and Stella Mccartney were already a sell out worldwide, and this time, high street will go plus haute, plus luxe with such a well known couturier. Judging from the pictures available, Versace's signature embellishment, beads and flowy pieces will not be missing in this commercial spin. Apart from menswear & womenswear, Versace will design some homeware pieces as well.

The reason I'm blogging about this exclusive collection is not because H&M is coming to Singapore, but more on the fact that many Singaporeans are hoping this collection will come to the new store here this September! and considering that I got an email from the press from H&M sg regarding this collection, I really hope they will bring the gorgeous couture worthy pieces to our sunny shores.

Heart: Donatella Versace

all pictures are from H&M

AFF Perspective no. 2

As I interned at SPRING Singapore, I had the privilege of attending STAR CREATION, the show in search of new Asian designers. Walking around the Belvedere VIP lounge tasting macarons and drinking vitamin water was a totally different experience from ushering and stuffing mags & bottles in goodie bags. It was realy exciting to be invited to a show!

Next, I realized how insignificant volunteers were in the eyes of the invited guests - yep that's a hard fact. While as an usher I may think that I did contribute a little part to the flow of the entire event, yet all the audience want is a good show with no hiccups. I guess that's the case in all kinds of shows - theatre, dance and even fashion. On a side note, Star Creation was a little disappointing. There were really great outfits from the finalists (and crazily unwearable ones), but the commercialized creations from last year's winners was a let down. It seemed as though the past 3 winners have lost their creativity to commercialism.

Apart from the Lasalle graduate show, the other show I thoroughly enjoyed was Raoul one. It was oversubscribed with several cases of double seatings, and guests standing along the ailes together with us ushers. Ok back to the show, the entire collection was amazing. It was a monochrome fall collection with bursts of tangerine and violet. Raoul did just as what the brand was famous for -- amazing tailoring of workwear. The pieces were so well made and flowy, that I'm sure they will be coveted by every working woman their among the audience!

A formal twist of stripes and bows that wil turn heads in the office:

Preppy chic even for working girls:

The hairstyle was young and fresh too, the side part pinned to the side was a unique take of asymetric hair dos.
images: zimbio, fashforward

AFF Perspective no.1

I have signed up as a volunteer at AFF! I was down at the Tent @ Orchard on 19 (opening night!!) and 21st night so far. Volunteering as usher/packer wasn't easy, for several reasons:

1. Had to wear black the whole day.

All ushers were dressed in long-sleeved black shirt and formal black pants..it got really hot after a while, doing the packing of heavy stacks of magazines and carry the heavy AFF bags to every seat.


2. Strict rules!

Strict rules were a must of course, given that the organizers wanted to portray a professional image, so photography was not allowed!!

3. Appreciated or not?

Sometimes, I felt quite unappreciated as an usher, or quite insignificant in other words. The space between the front row and the runway was so narrow, so standing right in the middle of that narrow passageway shoo ing people off the runway was really weird, especially since i was standing over a switch right in front of David Gan before The Inspiring World of Redken show commenced.
Below: Guest star creating a hairstyle live during the show.



Follow this link to find out more about David Gan's interview with Fashforward. The cameraman blocked the entire narrow passageway, thank God they didn't take too long for the interview!

Of course, the perks of being a volunteer should be recognized as well. I definitely made new friends in the short 2 days, and apart from that, I got to watch the shows for free =)


The Missoni AW show was great, with Tao Okamoto opening the show. She was a stunner on the catwalk!

The LASALLE graduate show was a show to remember as well. There were many gorgeous outfits, and what I loved about the show was te wearable yet creative designs. Not many groundbreaking and OTT creations like in overseas grad shows, but it was great nonetheless.

My two favourite looks are as above. I simply love the well-draped cyan maxi. It is something different from the other maxis in high street stores!

Stay in tuned for perspective no.2 of AFF...

images: zimbio

Living in a tropical country where fall-winter trends cannot be embraced too dearly, the Spring/Summer season is always worth the excitement and buzz. I confess that I haven't been following the runway shows lately, but Elle Singapore's March Issue which includes a S/S 2011 trend book got me all hyped up bout the latest happenings in fashion once again. And what's more, Singapore's very own Audi Fashion Festival is back again, promising to be bigger and better with the inaugural Men's Fashion Week. Missoni and Ungaro are opening and closing the festival respectively. (more info here)

In addition, sighting a festival of greater scale must be accompanied by more generous customer expenditure and a heightened interest in fashion by the general public. In my view, the population here definitely surpasses the criteria. High fashion has transformed the facades of glittering new malls along Orchard Road, high street fashion is having a greater share in this commercial pie with H&M set to open, local fashion is raking in great figures through Parco and blogshops alike. The latter has gotten me really fascinated. Right now, blogshops that modeulation is really into are missypixie, LOEF and lovebonito just to name a few.

P.S. Modeulation is very tempted to volunteer at the fashion festival or just sneak in.

Raffles Design Institute X OC

Orchard Central is one of the latest malls to hit Singapore's shopping belt. Yesterday we visited it again to view the graduation showcase by RDI, one of Singapore's leading design school. Spread over areas on L2, 4 and 5, the exhibition displayed works by the Advanced Diploma graduates in various fields of design, ranging from fashion to interactive media design.

Some really creative pieces of jewellery design were on display. I love the concept of gears fused in jewellery. The graphic design campaigns featured some extensive marketing and design research, and the variety of work was quite impressive.

The most eye-catching one was a campaign regarding chinese funeral and incense burning. The concept was creative and different. We also managed to collect quite a few freebies like a badge and a fresh apple!

Model Moment: Rachel Rutt

Spring has kickstarted in NYFW, this time, with fresh-faced Australian import Rachel Rutt. Born Half-English and Half-Singaporean, (go the little red dot!) the Pan Asian is touted as Aussieland's answer to Devon Aoki. Beyond that, she is framed at 5'11, and sweeping through New York with some of the familiar runways under her belt.

^ Backstage at Australian Fashion Week

She already modelled for several big names such as Erin Wasson X RVCA and Cynthia Steffe (below).

Looking fierce at Vivienne Tam and Mark Fast:

Be sure to watch out for her as she sets her mark in fashion in the near future - I can already picture her in adverts and campaigns in glossy mags across the world!

source: www.thefashionspot.com

Spotlight on spain III: Bershka

Bershka is knocking on the doorstep of sunny South East Asia, with its first store at no where else but sunny Singapore! I first heard about Bershka on lookbook.nu, where nearly all the wonderful Spaniard's outfits had something Bershka in it. Not much info on Bershka's fall 09/10 collection is released on the web, and here are some sneak peeks of the catalog.




Everyone loves plaid. I don't think it is a trend, it is a style.





source: http://juicy.mashkulture.net

Fresh Spreads: CATALOG

It is hip, friendly, and filled with creative pages to oogle at. Available online, CATALOG magazine sports and electic mix of high street fashion and luxe, with pages after pages of fashion news, trends and pictures of fashion and beauty products. There are no reports of the latest catwalks, but short and sweet reads of the newest it bags and shoes, wired gizmos and travel hotspots.

The artistic covers:

July 09

May 09

Spot the beauty products in Miss Match!
Catalog's editorial segment marries fun fashion with haute styling.

Pop my Cherry

Maze and Daze

With such creative and colourful spreads, Catalog magazine will be every shopper's new BFF.

Read it at catalogmagazine.com

Model moment: Supermodelme.tv

Think America's Next Top Model gone local. Self-touted as Asia's most groundbreaking online reality show, SUPERMODELME.tv showcases a fierce competition between 10 models from across the Asian continent including Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines and India to be Asia’s next hottest face on runways and magazines.

The show first aired online last Tuesday and the first 2 episodes have been rather promising. There may not be OTT girl drama or internationally acclaimed judges, yet this reality show brings me closer to home with the little red dot as the catwalk stage and local supermodel Charmaine Harn as host.

Christabel, Singapore

Yuen, Malaysia

Most contestants have modelling experience, and the ones to watch include Malaysian model Yuen, and Miss Singapore Universe runner-up Christabel Campbell, who won the first catwalk challenge on the streets of Orchard Rd.

Catch the exciting episodes every Tues and Thurs on supermodelme.tv.

Source: supermodelme.tv

Spotlight: Tribute to Lacroix

On 7 June I rushed down to the National Museum of Singapore to catch Christian Lacroix the costumier. The exhibition brought in numerous fashion illustrations and costumes from Lacroix's atelier. Through this exhibition, I got to come up close and discover for myself the couturier's ingenuity as a stage costumier.

Firstly, the illustrations of the costumes for various theatre pieces truly reflect the Lacroix aesthetics. Behind each stroke of ink and pencil was spontaneity, vibrancy and humour. His sketches were the first signs of innate creativity as a designer, expressing the silhouettes and dazzling colours on paper.

Lacroix definitely finds theatrical solutions to couture dresses. Each costume was intricately crafted with vibrant textures, such as a corset-like belt embellished with upholstery fringes and heavy layers of taffeta, lace and tulle. The tutu in Les anges ternis were my favourite. Tulle mini skirts in full swing - a depiction of elegance and grace. Lacroix commented on the ballet tutu, "It's a mad invention, both magical and surreal. But tutus are part of tradition. And that's where they take their full measure, their full value."

Les anges ternis (Tarnished angels)

Carmen

Cendrillon (Cinderella)

Il re pastore

La femme sans ombre

Lacroix's illustrations and embellished costumes paint a picture of spectacular elegance light-hearted fantasy revue. One thing to note even in the face of a shaky future for the couturier's house, Lacroix remains an unforgotten legacy on stage.