CATEGORIES

So You Say You Want A Revolution?

For anyone who’s said that the local fashion design scene is staid and conservative, meet the emerging labels that are upending streetwear, how it’s retailed and the face of singapore style with their punk attitude – as sported here by their very own muses and fresh faces on our modelling scene.

Somatic Therapist Chole Chotrani On The Healing Power Of Dance

The Manila-born, Singapore-based Chloe Chotrani is a practitioner of somatic therapy – an increasingly popular alternative form of healing that’s premised on how past traumas can inflict stress and pain on the body. She was also formerly trained in ballet and involved in the street hip-hop scene back home in the filipino capital for over a decade. Here, she tells us how dance can be good for one’s physical, mental and emotional well-being especially during manic times like these.

Fredrik Tjaerandsen, Catching The Eye Of World's Most Directional Luxury Fashion Houses

Fluidity, constant movement, no boundaries. Meet the Singapore creative who’s been catching the eye of some of the world’s most directional luxury fashion houses with her moves.

The Club Is Not Dead

The pandemic’s put a pause on nightlife here, making many hang up their dancing shoes for now. It’s hard to deny though how its institutions are also creative spaces where fashion, music, art and design intersect; and many influential ideas, collaborations and cultural movements have been born. Keng yang shuen gets industry veterans and scenesters from across generations to pay ode. Now, who’s ready to dance again?

Play '90s Guitar With Beabadoobee

She’s the Filipino-born British musician (real name: Beatrice Kristi) who – with only one self-written album and a whole lot of self-possessed cool – has helped to reintroduce the decade’s alternative sound and style into the mainstream. To think she was born only after it had ended, what with her turning 21 this month. You ready to rock?

Self Made

Self Made

DIY Style

Crafting (be it professionally or as a hobby) has become one of the biggest trends since the onset of the pandemic: we’ve been spending more time in; its elements of tactility and slowness soothe in a manic world; and have you seen the amount of crochet on the runways recently? Here, four Singapore artists – each with her own fashion-related discipline – share a project that lets one create something to add to the wardrobe at home.

Finding Fido (Sorta)

The great outdoors remain a respite in these times and Fendi’s latest capsule line Vertigo – a collaboration with the New York artist Sarah Coleman – seems tailor-made to quench that thirst.

Pick A Character

There’s a pragmatic quality to the trans-seasonal pre-fall 2021 collections, but inspiring some of them are figures – real or imagined – whose lives are the stuff of fantasy. Who do you want to play?

Cook From Home

In a year of work-from-home, private dining has become arguably F&B’s biggest and boldest movement. Keng Yang Shuen meets three of the chicest players here and gets them to each dish out a recipe for an instant taste of theirs.

Do The Catwalk...

...With Chanel’s super model of luxury timepieces, the J12. In collaboration with the french maison, female and our new (and similarly black-and-white) feline friend Jobi strike a pose.

Beauty Products That'll Guarantee You That Hot Girl Summer

From skincare essentials that help one’s complexion beat the heat to flirty makeup colours that get one into the mood, here’s a curation of new-in-town beauty products that’ll guarantee you that hot girl summer (even if you can’t hold that raging pool party).

The Quest For Bright Eyes

In the quest for younger- and better-looking eyes, dior has found a breakthrough: the new capture totale super potent eye serum. It’s got the brand’s highest percentage of natural-origin ingredients in an eye product ever, and boldly promises to make you look four years younger in just four weeks.

Search For ‘Cinderella's Slippers'

Did you know that Chanel’s two-tone slingbacks date back to 1957?

Kindred Spirits

From a platform connecting charities and social causes with creatives to a design studio which has mushrooms (yes, fungi) as its primary medium, the eight emerging creative names spotlighted here share the same pursuit as us: challenge the way people see and think.

By Your Side

Drawing on its knack for innovative shapes and effortlessly modern design when it comes to watches and jewellery, Cartier debuts the Double C de Cartier – a leather shoulder bag that proves that the maison might just also be a master of fashion. Ladies, take note.

Wonder Vision

The crystal specialist Swarovski celebrated its 125th anniversary last year with the bold announcement of the fashion plate Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert as its first-ever creative director. This month, the full range of Collection 1 – her debut comprising a dazzling 14 sub-collections – gets released here, along with a new unified brand (you don’t have to try discerning between its different divisions any longer) and boutique concept as bombastic as the jewellery itself. Gordon Ng gets her to share the marvel that she has in store.

Ties That Bind

One year after an assured debut in the world of makeup, Hermes is now revealing its second offering: the Rose Hermes range of blushers. Gordon Ng reports on the art, science and community behind it.

Call Of The Wild

If the original Pocket bag that Burberry introduced last year embodies heritage-made timeless – cue its leather-trimmed canvas make and structured, squarish shape inspired by a shopper from the archives – the Soft Pocket is its independent-minded grown-up sister. With an idiosyncratic trapezoid shape, it’s crafted entirely in calf leather, lending both pliability and a tough edge. In collaboration with the British luxury house, Female introduces four content creators – professional or accidental – with an equally nonconformist streak to watch out for.

A Love Story

Even before he started his holy grail of a namesake website and Instagram account expounding on the world of luxury fashion, Bagaholicboy – designer bag connoisseur and long-time collaborator of Female – made it his quest to demystify the allure of the Chanel 11.12 handbag. Together with the French maison, Female gets him to share about his fascination for this iconic design and how he got a legion of others to love it too.

What Really Goes Into The Making Of A Dress Or Bag?

What really goes into the making of a dress or bag? With the pandemic spurring fashion houses to put the focus back on community and craft, Gordon Ng zeroes in on some Spring/Summer 2021 releases that prove that sometimes, it really does take a village (or going back to one).

A Tribe Called Quest

Behind many of Rolex’s iconic designs are some of the world’s bravest adventurers. Gordon Ng reports on the legacy of the Swiss luxury watchmaker’s enduring support of the explorer community.

Willabelle Ong - The Girl Who Does Everything

Many would classify Willabelle Ong as the archetypal ’90s-born content creator made good. With her work spanning polished, artfully composed Instagram photos of herself showing off the latest fashion must-haves; Tiktok videos that reveal her to be quite the cheeky comedienne; and large-scale abstract expressionist canvas paintings, one can also call her a Renaissance woman for the post-social media age. That and the perfect personality to show off Chloe’s pragmatic-meets-poetic runway pieces for Spring/Summer 2021 meant to evoke feminine strength and hope. Female and the French label put her in the portrait seat.

Magic In The Air

With its iconic accord of rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang and lily of the valley, Dior’s J’Adore is a veritable icon of modern perfumery. This month, the house launches J’Adore Infinissime, a sensuous update bolstered by a voluptuous heart of tuberose. Francois Demachy – perfumer-creator for Dior since 2006 – is the man behind it. He’s also the star of Nose, a recently released documentary that zeroes in on the secretive workings of the fragrance industry. Gordon Ng speaks with the master perfumer to find out about his process and how the most important ingredient in scent-making is the human touch.

SARTORIALISTS

All images were taken in accordance with Covid-19 regulations with subjects’ masks removed only for photography. For the full Q&A and more street style by FEMALE, visit www.femalemag.com.sg

A Gritty Pop-Rock Track About How It's Okay To Not Be Okay

A gritty pop-rock track about how it’s okay to not be okay. A throbbing electro-laced tune about finding peace with letting go. A three-part anthology film that’s meant to embody every one of the songs that she’s released since 2019. From mid-January, Narelle Kheng unveils the climax to what she’s been referring to as “the project”, her personal musical endeavour that she started two years ago – and one of the most ambitious and artistic to emerge from the local pop music scene. Noelle Loh gets the famously candid singer- songwriter to share about her creative and emotional journey, and newfound community.

The French Floral Artist Aude Giraud Introduces Her Second Act As A Creative

In 2015, the parisian modern-day Bohemian Aude Giraud uprooted to Singapore then launched the flower-focused lifestyle business ask a French, which helped start the trend for bucolic-chic arrangements and has since become an industry favourite. Last month, she introduced her second act as a creative:

Masters Of Flash

Every year since 2016, the house of Dior has invited a coterie of artists to use its lady dior bag as a blank canvas for painting, sculptural assemblage and all-round imaginative freedom. Despite the circumstances of 2020, this distillation of the maison’s haute couture savoir faire did not stop and this year’s dior lady art has in fact yielded some of the most thoughtful (and fun) interpretations of the tote from the initiative. As these limited-edition pieces hit the brand’s ngee ann city boutique this month, gordon ng zeroes in on the brains behind 13 of them.

The New School

From an altruistic champion of independent photographers to a fine dining restaurant curating art and music like no other, Keng Yang Shuen curates the people and spaces encouraging new ways of thinking and doing in Singapore’s art scene.

How Indie Pop Has Changed And How Celine Autumn Intends To Heat It Up

Celine Autumn, the frontwoman of the beloved Singapore indie band Sobs, has a new solo project and – with that – a new stage name, a new sound and a mesmerising Harajuku girl-gone-sci-fi new image. Putting her own cyber-punk spin on the runway’s ladylike pieces, the charismatic 23-year-old tells noelle loh how indie pop has changed and how she intends to heat it up.