A STITCH IN TIME

The Singapore fashion community has been innovating ways to cope with the coronavirus crisis.

- KAREN TEE

Before the coronavirus pandemic, fashion designer Lisa Von Tang, creative director of her eponymous luxury streetwear label, used to host freewheeling art jamming house parties.

“My husband and I would invite friends over, stir up the sangria, bake cinnamon rolls and put on vintage Carlos Santana records. Friends would set up their canvases and we’d create the space for each to express themselves through paint,” says Von Tang.

For the past few months, social gatherings have been on hold to reduce the transmission of Covid-19. Still, Von Tang felt strongly that art could be a balm in times of difficulty. “A colleague and I wanted to encourage people to get creative and feel good about themselves – instead of just draining their energy on Netflix,” says the Canadian-born, Singapore-based fashion designer. So, they began to brainstorm for ways to encourage people to indulge in creative pursuits at home.

In April, the brand launched Hope is Contagious, a design initiative that encouraged individuals to create original artwork and enter it in the brand’s T-shirt For Hope Contest, which closed on May 30. They could also buy a T-shirt for Hope with their original artwork printed on it. The price included a US$25 (S$35.50) donation to the World Health Organisation’s Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

The contest’s judges – including artist Dawn Ng, filmmaker Shruti Ganguly and Talenia Phua Gajardo, founder of art website The Artling – will pick five winners this month.

“I love the idea of encouraging people to leave their analytical brain… and get into their artistic flow,” says Von Tang.