Women's Fashion Week First Press Conference

Mr. Gustavo Lins & his designs

Gustavo Lins

The dashing Mr Stephane Rolland

Gustavo Lins' look on Paris runways

Stephane Rolland looks on Paris runway! There's my darling Liu Wen wearing the 2nd look!

I attended Women's Fashion Week's first Press Conference quite a long while ago on 8 September and only got around to blogging it now. Yes, that's how slow I am. However, I'm pleased to announce that at least WFW hasn't began yet, though it will - very soon from 26th to 30th October. In fact, there will be a large fashion runway show held throughout various shops in Marina Bay Sands to celebrate the upcoming WFW. Unfortunately, I won't be able to go because of various school committments again. Sigh - the sad life of a full-time student in Singapore.

Two renowned Haute Couture designers were flown down specially for the press conference - Gustavo Lins and Stephane Rolland. Gustavo Lins shared with us how he originally begun his higher education pursuing engineering for one year before studying architecture for 3 years, which he hated. He said that he became a fashion designer simply by chance, as he was unsatisfied with the tailor's technique that made the clothes he worn and so he wanted to tailor his own clothes. He then left his home country, Brazil, for Paris, where he learnt the specific techniques of making clothes but he had never went to fashion school.


Apprenticing alongside with Jogn Galliano, Lecoanet Hemant and Jean Paul Gaultier Couture, and working alongside with a woman who used to be Balenciaga's chef d'atelier, Lins learnt how to make toile and developed a passion for fine fabrics and precise tailoring and fit.
He fines an intimate connection of working with his hands - it was as though fabrics spoke to him when he touched them and that was the key for him to create, design and sculpt the fabric into certain shapes and silhouettes. It was this intimate connection that allowed Lins to create a precise silm, straight-shouldered silhouette that he is known for, but yet he does not simply create harsh tailoring but drapes his dresses so beautifully that it hangs perfectly on women's bodies. Many of his garments are reversible - beautiful on the inside as well as on the outside - and are fashioned from the most exclusive and luxurious fabrics of silk jersey, cool wool and wool crepe.

He said that upon touching down, he was very impressed by Singapore's landscape and saw it as a couture project. He observed that the trees are cut and placed in a very precise manner and he appreciates the landscape of Marina Bay.

Stephane Rolland, though much younger than Lins (who is 50 this year btw), is a man of fewer words but creates such strong silhouettes and couture pieces that he is making a firm statement on how a woman should project herself and how she should dress. Having just launched his own namesake Haute Couture House on 2007, he has already been admitted to the Feration Fracaise de la Couture that was exclusive to a very small circle of only 11 haute couture houses.

During the press conference, a member of the press invited from India asked him whether he would design for women with "imperfect" bodies like her. She obviously saw the fashion industry as a superficial one with designers designing beautiful garments only for beautiful people like the models that act like clothes horses during a fashion show. Of Stephane Rolland's reply, he calmly narrated a story whereby once he had a client that was rather plump, dressed in jeans to come to his couture house for a fitting without making a prior appointment after being turned down at other houses. He did it and made a couture gown for that client, who actually happened to be the princess of a Middle East country and all of her friends almost couldn't recognize her when they saw how beautiful she was in her gown.

"I don't think of anyone when I design but I know I must adapt my design to different bodies. I want to project strong women and not hide their personalities."

If you must know, Stephane Rolland only designs for 10 regular clients who comes for fittings, and the rest of his work goes to people who buys indirectly instead of made to measure. A gown from his house costs around 100,000 Euros.

With my friend Stanley!

And above, my outfit for the press event. Wearing a vintage zipper blazer from Paris, thrifted leopard print bustier dress and my leopard print fur clutch (:

And here are some important dates to take note!
6 - 31 Oct - Haute Couture Exhibition (photos in upcoming posts!) Open to public and free for all
21 - 23 Oct - Pret-a-Porter from a selection of fashion brands in MBS
26 Oct - Asian Couture Showcase for Asian and Singaporean couture designers

PFW Day 1 - Bouchra Jarrar & Dior Haute Couture Shows

Diary of a novice streetstyle photographer/papparazzi

Day 1
Weather: Extremely hot and sunny
Mood: Excited

I arrived at the Odeon Theatre de L'Europe for the third show of the day, Bouchra Jarrar and was surprised to see the scene so quiet. But I managed to capture Jessica Michault of International Herald Tribune exiting the show, and was starstuck when I saw Tommy Ton and Nam of Streetfsn chatting in a corner. Side note: You should definitely check out Nam's blog for his natural photos that captures the spontaneity of the people wearing their clothes and not the other way round. Nam carries a really big lens and he usually -pardon the expression- hide in one corner to capture his subjects when they don't notice, unlike those other photographers that have their subjects pose for them.

I made a new friend, Noemie, a French history student who arrived in Paris since last year. She doesn't understand english very well so I could only talk to her with my embarrasing broken French.

Jessica Michault

Megan, American fashion blogger living in Paris


I arrived at Musee Rodin for Dior haute couture and it was complete madness over there with photographers jostling on the narrow sidewalks for a good photos and police yelling at people that don't listen. I felt that it was a rather horrible location for the guests as well, because the museum was next to a small road, and the cars couldn't come in properly, which caused a massive jam. It didn't help that the guests were mobbed once they stepped out of their cars either.

Observations:
1. The Japanese fashion people usually work in pairs - a female fashion journalist and a male photographer. They have learnt that Paris photographers are not ones to follow social order, so they will literally run after the famous people they wish to capture. The only difference is that they don't push and shout.
2. The french papparazzi get pissed easily when they don't get a good photo. You hear curses of "Putain!" everywhere. Putain is the curseword in France, literally meaning whore/bitch, but used as the F word. One guy was shouting at the police "But this is the Republic of France! You can't direct people like that!" when a policeman prevented a model from stopping for a photo.
3. Half of the time the female guests exiting the show were looking on the ground not because of the sun, but because they were balancing precariously on heels. A large number of them needed help to hobble down to their ride, and there were even a woman that had a guy carry a stool next to her, almost as though she had to sit down any moment.

The madness outside Dior

Natuka, fashion designer, Georgia

Fashion photographer

Man in Neon alert!



Suzy Menkes

Mystery woman in head to toe Rodarte

Emmanuelle Alt

Constance Jablonski with glitter in her hair post show

Frida Gustavsson

These 2 guys tried to take photos with almost every model, claiming that it's 4th of July.
I doubt they were even American.

Altogether a very exhilirating first day. To even be able to stand so close to these people that I wish to emulate is really a very amazing feeling. It's so comfortable, as well, to be in the midst of fashion week amongst all those people who dress up so well and look so achingly chic. There's always a sense of energy, a quiet buzz in the air outside the shows as the photographers wait and crane their necks for the next famous person to shoot. And then there's all those others like me, who make an effort to dress up for fashion week, even if it's just to stand outside the doors.

The scene just makes me feel like fashion is ever so relevant to our lives - it affects our mood and it reflects our mood. It is an entire venerable industry that is alive with change, and that's what I love and will continue to love about it.