CATEGORIES

Sacai's Chitose Abe On How She Keeps It All Together!

From Designing Haute Couture For Jean Paul Gaultier To Working On A Collection With Dior Men That Launches This Month, Sacai Founder Chitose Abe Has Been Keeping Busy. Gordon NG Speaks With The Japanese Designer To Find Out How She – One Of Fashion’s Most Gifted Collaborators – Keeps It Altogether.

SG Based Women Creatives Tell Us About Their Side Of Asia

The pandemic has kept most of us from travelling out of Singapore. It's also prevented many who've moved here from overseas to visit home. Here, seven women in the creative industry who hail from regional cities tell us a thing or two about their side of Asia.

June Yap Tells Why And How His Pioneering Spirit Remains 100 Per Cent Relevant

From dec 10 to next march, the National Gallery Singapore will stage its latest blockbuster show: Nam June Paik: the future is now – the last stop of a travelling exhibition that also marks the late South Korean artist’s first major retrospective in the region. The man was one of the art world’s earliest global superstars and is often considered the father of video art (tiktokers, eat your hearts out). Exhibition curator June Yap tells Keng Yang Shuen why and how his pioneering spirit remains 100 per cent relevant.

Meet Coolest Asian Models Making Their Marrone International Scene

All recently in Paris for the spring/summer 2022 Fashionovrek season, here are some of the coolest asian models making their marrone international scene.

Up And Coming Stylist Sabrina Elman Tackele Notions Of Malayness

For her graduating project this year, Lasalle College of The Art's fashion media and industries graduate sabrina elman directed, wrote and produced children of the soil a stylised short film that explores notions of Malayness. Malaysian modernist painter Latiff Mohidin was a key inspiration; traditional fabrics like javanese batik and songket feature heavily; ditto audio notes sampled from local malay films from the '60s - making for a stunning and powerful display that establishes the 24-year-old as one to watch. As with some of the most groundbreaking fashion designers and image-makers to emerge in recent years (grace wales bonner, telfar clemens and Kerby Jean-Raymond of pyer moss come to mind), conversations about race, history and identity are central to her work. Here, she tells Keng Yang Shuen why she - and many others will keep talking about them.

The Pursuit Of Happiness

With a one-of-a-kind voice and the grit to tackle social, cultural and personal issues on her own terms, joy crookes is a singer-songwriter queen who exudes power, warmth and sensitivity all at once. Keng Yang Shuen gets up-close with the half-Bangladeshi, half-irish superstar-in-the-making, ahead of the recent launch of her debut album.

Legends Of Tomorrow

Whether it's the award-winning Sri Lankan designer empowering his local community or the malaysian streetwear label blowing up on social media with its rave-ready pieces, the nine emerging brands here share two things in common. One: they all hail from the region. Two: they all present alternative ways of seeing and understanding identity through their clothes. .

FULL LEATHER ALCHEMISTS

THE FOURTH AND LATEST EDITION OF T FACTORY – A SERIES OF COLLABORATIVE CAPSULES BY TOD’S – IS A CURIOUS CHANGE OF PACE. INSTEAD OF ROPING IN FASHION DESIGNERS LIKE BEFORE, THE ITALIAN LUXURY HOUSE HAS PARTNERED WITH ANOTHER NAME KNOWN FOR ITS ARTISANAL LEATHER ACCESSORIES FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GLOBE: THE CULT JAPANESE LABEL HENDER SCHEME. THE LATTER’S FOUNDER RYO KASHIWAZAKI GIVES GORDON NG THE EXCLUSIVE ON THIS EAST-MEETS-WEST UNION OF CRAFT, NOW OUT AT THE TOD’S PARAGON BOUTIQUE AND DOVER STREET MARKET SINGAPORE.

How Hermes Is Elevating This Often Underrated Makeup Staple

After lipsticks and blushes, Hermes is adding elegant hand and nail products – inspired by the art of enamelling and the artisan’s hand – to its beauty collection. Gordon Ng reports on how it’s elevating this often underrated makeup staple.

The New Look Of Couture

Among couturiers, Cristobal Balenciaga was the master whose tailoring wizardry and radically modern silhouettes redefined elegance up till the late ’60s when he closed his namesake atelier. Now the man at the helm of his rebooted maison, Demna Gvasalia, continues his legacy of haute dressmaking with a collection that marks his debut foray into couture and the brand’s first in 53 years – albeit with modified gowns, jeans and parkas. Gordon Ng reports.

Five Photographers Who Represent A Diverse Generation Of Cultural Tastemakers

In the century since Cartier first launched the Tank in 1917, the watch has been continually adopted as the horological uniform of choice by GOATs across fashion, design and art. Andy Warhol, Yves Saint Laurent, Tom Ford – you get the idea. And why not? Its elegantly geometric case was a deliberate rejection of the organic shapes favoured at the time of its debut and remains instantly recognisable. Its combination of clean lines and old-school Roman numerals also made for an equally prescient, gender-neutral aesthetic, picking up fans among creative and stylish women spanning the late Princess Di to Patti Smith. Here in an exclusive showcase, five photographers who represent a diverse generation of cultural tastemakers capture their own love affair with the timepiece through intimate self-portraits.

5 Women Creatives Give Us A Sneak Peak Into Their New Realities

The pandemic has no doubt affected everybody, altering lifestyles and reminding us that often, what was once considered ordinary cannot be taken for granted. From a hyper-stylish content creator to a botanical designer who just uprooted to Europe, five women creatives give Keng Yang Shuen a peek into their routines to show us how they live now.

Oyster Perpetual Explorer By Rolex Enters A New Generation

One of the most iconic designs in horology, the Oyster Perpetual Explorer by Rolex enters a new generation with a whole lot of cool and elegance. Gordon Ng reports.

Alek Wek On Finding Style And Beauty In One's Self And Everyday Life

If there’s anyone who can tell us about being comfortable in one’s own skin, it’s Alek Wek: South Sudanese refugee-turned-supermodel who broke boundaries as one of the few women-of-colour in fashion in the ’90s. Besides remaining a runway icon, the 45-year-old is a best-selling author, artist, activist and now designer with A.W.orld by Alek Wek, her capsule collaboration with Weekend Max Mara. Gordon Ng gets the exclusive from Wek on finding style and beauty in one’s self and everyday life.

The Latest Fragrance Collection From Cartier Is A Scent Composed For The Times

The latest fragrance collection from luxury jeweller Cartier, Rivieres de Cartier, is supposed to bottle the powerful essence of water and all its symbolic connotations to life – all while being its most sustainable yet. Keng Yang Shuen speaks to Mathilde Laurent – the maison’s resident nose since 2005 – on why it’s a scent composed for the times.

THE MISSING LINK

Bringing new order to Fendi this season is not just debuting womenswear artistic director Kim Jones and his collection of sizzlingly sensual wardrobe staples, but also Delfina Delettrez Fendi – daughter of long-time brand matriarch Silvia Venturini Fendi as its creative director of jewellery. Gordon Ng speaks to the fashion scion on joining – and getting a new generation hooked onto – the family business.

SPEAK EASY

A club might connote glitz and glamour, but for Virginie Viard – artistic director of Chanel where effortlessness has always been a cornerstone – it’s also a space that allows one to be informal and truly free. Presented at the French nightlife institution Chez Castel, the brand’s Fall/Winter 2021 collection is an ode to “cool Parisian chic” spanning the ’70s to now. Here, an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at its make and low-key magic.

HIDDEN FIGURE

The 1947-born Miss Dior fragrance is turning a page this year – first with an updated look and formulation; and second with the publication of a biography that tells for the first time the overlooked tale of the perfume’s namesake Catherine Dior. Author Justine Picardie gives Gordon Ng the exclusive on her place in beauty, fashion and a turbulent world.

Why Gabriela Hearst's Good For The Planet And The Fashion Industry!

In a world where things are spinning out of control (seen the wild weather grabbing global headlines?), Gabriela Hearst is making a different kind of mark with her appointment as Chloe’s latest custodian. Keng Yang Shuen reports on why it’s good for the planet and the industry.

Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2021

For Louis Vuitton fall/winter 2021, Nicolas Ghesquiere mines an eclectic range of historical references spanning greco-roman antiquity to the archives of 20th-century italian ceramic atelier fornasetti to forge a new fashion odyssey. Female pairs up with the french luxury maison for this journey towards brighter days ahead.

Where The Wild Things Are

With a love for nature, things from a time past and the surreal, Korean artist-slash-photographer Giseok Cho creates imagery in the pursuit of fundamental beauty. We asked him to conjure up a story for this edition of female centred around navigating the ambiguous state of the world today. His response: send us back into the realm of childhood dreams and nightmares where, with the power of imagination (and some of the season’s most fantastic clothes and fine jewellery), anything is possible.

Family First

A new era for the 96-year-old roman luxury house of Fendi is here: the debut ready-to-wear collection from its new head of womenswear Kim Jones. Gordon Ng reports on how the designer known for his forward-thinking ways is remaking history

The Girl Who Fell To Earth

Morphing effortlessly between her roles of honey-voiced chanteuse (she releases her first vinyl this month), actress (her next show: a zombie-themed miniseries also out in september), fashion plate and all-round cool chick, aisyah aziz has the art of daring reinvention down pat. So who better to embody miu miu’s fall/winter 2021 collection that puts a wryly romantic spin on mountaineer dressing to salute bravery in these tough times? Together with the italian label, female casts the powerhouse entertainer as today’s ultimate heroine.

Keeping The Faith

When you’re tasked to carry on the legacy of one of modern fashion’s most revered and revolutionary womenswear designers in the face of an industry in flux, sometimes the bravest move forward is to go back to its fundamentals. Gordon ng reports on the debut of pieter mulier at the house of alaia.

Higher State Of Consciousness

Bodycon returns to the runways though – in these times ripe for social change – it seems to be more about endowing a sense of strength and protection than outright seduction. Gordon Ng reports on the surprising ways designers have embraced the female form this season

A Mini Encyclopaedia Of Future-Proof Curios

AKA the fall/winter 2021 trends that foretell what’s going to matter most in fashion (and the world)

...BABY, ONE MORE TIME

IT’S SEXY (CROPPED TOPS, LOW-SLUNG WAISTS, MICRO-SHORT HEMLINES). IT’S “AESTHETIC” – THINK A MISH-MASH OF INFLUENCES, POPS OF COLOUR, AND IRREVERENT ACCESSORIES AND LAYERING.

Just Perfect

Eight of our favourite home-grown models show off the pre-fall collections in their natural beauty – no hairstyling, no makeup needed.

A Safe Space

In recent years, some of the local fashion labels that have found the most popularity and commercial success might seem to share some things in common: designs that are minimalist and practical, and an emphasis on versatility and comfort. In fact, so consistently do these terms pop up across interviews with their founders that we can’t help but think: is this the emergence of a definitive singapore style? Rebecca Rachel Wong finds out from four names putting their own spin on the genre.

The Joys Of Being Pure At Heart

The definition of “diversity” according to the Cambridge dictionary: “the fact of many different types of things or people being included in something; a range of different things or people”. In collaboration with chanel fine jewellery, female shows how the brand’s signature coco crush collection – now expanded to include pretty, diamond-studded toi et moi rings made up of two overlapping “c”-shaped bands with the line’s distinctive quilted pattern – stacks up.