Blueprint Local - Mae Pang & Ling Wu

Local accessories designer (and yummy mummy to-be) Ling Ling has been making quiet waves with her edgy but yet luxurious wallets, bags and clutches. All her accessories are made using authentic farmed snakeskin from Indonesia, and then lined with soft leather on the inside. She revealed that it is not difficult to source for fabrics in Indonesia, and she has all her products manufactured there as well.

I love that her wallets are minimalistic and fuss-free in terms of design to simply let the texture and amazing colour of the snakeskin take center stage. Her ruffled clutches and bags is made of goat skin dyed with a metallic sheen on the outside and then adorned with snakeskin ruffle trims to once again, bring out the texture of the material. Her slingbags incorporates more details with the cascading leather strips, knotted bag handles and weaved bag straps, but everything seems to be rather organic in the sense that there are no additional embellishments or metal hardware. In essence, her designs are simple but yet stand out through its popart colours and her precise presentation and placement of the snakeskin and goat skin fabrics to bring out the texture of both. Its luxury lies in its exquisite stitching, buttery soft skins and understated design accents.

(PS. Both Ling Ling & I agree that you shouldn't be hypocritical. If you eat meat, then you shouldn't be against farmed animal skins used in designs, provided that they are killed in a humane way.)

I see Ling Wu to be the perfect accessory for my friend Mae Pang's futuristic designs with similar precision cutting. For her newest Cruise collection, Mae Pang delivered tailored vests with pleated chiffon fabric and sturdy leather lapels, multiple slitted maxi skirts made from a mix of polyester and lycra, and long structured vests of polyester with an outer suede finish - with most of the outerwear and bottoms in shades of black, navy and dirty green. Adding to the mix are those what I like to call highlighter fluoroneon colours of yellow, blue and pink made into mesh tops and dresses overlaid with vinyl panels. This makes an edgy and irreverent collection that is exciting with its colour choices and custom pleated chiffon fabric. (And how great are those zip shin tights?)

Mae Pang continues to be one of those few Singaporean designers who are unafraid to push the envelope just a little more to produce edgy collections that are one of a kind, instead of the same old neutral colours and excessive draping as seen in other local designers' collection.

AFF - Parco next NEXT show

Sitting front row at the Parco Next NEXT show (the only show I sat front row out of the 5 I attended), I was encouraged by some of the designers' work, but yet felt a little put off by some others. With 8 designers (Coupe Cousu, Mae Pang, Polka, Chalk, Pauline Ning, AKA Wayward, Kenji and max.tan) showing a mix of their latest Cruise collections as well as past designs, the difference between each of their design aesthetics couldn't be more obvious.

My friends' labels - Mae Pang and Pauline Ning didn't disappoint with their futuristic designs and deconstructed outerwear. At Mae pang, the vests had sharply tailored peak and shawl leather lapels but with a pleated chiffon fabric incorporated, while skirts and shorts had slits running up the sides. Pauline Ning showed several dresses incorporating various fabrics as well - I particularly liked her black dress with cascading tulle and leather shoulder pads - and deconstructed trench coat with zippers that allows the bottom half to be conveniently detached into be converted into a jacket. Sometimes the 2 labels had such great overlap that you can mix up both of their racks and still form a singular, clear aesthetic.

Kenji, while showing a flair for drama and glamour having previously worked in the bridal industry, lacked originality. To 'untrained' eyes, his designs probably appear to be the most avant garde with its floor length gowns, lace trains and billowing capes. But as the looks came out, I found myself experiencing several déjà vus as I linked his designs to that of the ones seen on the runway a few seasons ago.

Kenji vs Alexander McQueen's FW 03 billowing cape as modeled by Daphne Guinnes

Next to Givenchy haute couture S/S 11

Next to Doo.Ri beaded lace tights F/W 09

Sure, it is always good to take a leaf out from the great coutouriers/designs showing at top fashion weeks, but it is never good to take it too literally. Some reinterpretation would've helped greatly. Kenji's ability to recreate those looks prove that he is not lacking anything in the technical department, so if only he had a bit more creativity, I would think that he would be able to go far. (By the way, you can DIY those beaded tights here).

AKA Wayward is the new kid on the block and their designs are very whimsical. Designed by my friend Foong, who didn't go to any fashion school nor had any formal training in design, AKA Wayward is a menswear label designed by a girl. That is rarely found in the industry; usually it's always male designers designing their there idea of this cool & confident woman, and the clothes that top designer labels create each season gets trickled down to high street stores, which inexplicably affects the average woman's self-perception and identity as she wears those clothes on her back. Foong wants her man to just "not take himself too seriously" and that can be seen through her pops of colour exposed on the pocket hems of chinos pants and prints of green apples. I particularly like the teapot printed on a mini cape on the back of a dress shirt – it's a tongue-in-cheek take on formal dressing.
 
I think the designers that showed did themselves proud by showing mostly original designs that stood out from the sea of other Singaporean designers doing draping in black and white colours. I feel that we have too many local designers that are more comfortable working with monochrome and too many people doing draping details as well as pleats in their designs, so much so that it almost feeds off one another in a spiral of cannibalism (of labels). Although Singapore is a rather small market, and clothes would only sell if they are commercial and wearable instead of avant garde – but I feel that we still need some designers to bring something new to the table in terms of design, or to take a more lifestyle approach to their marketing (such as local label Depression that seeks to question traditional ideas and raise new questions). Some of the designers at the Parco show has achieved a good balance of both, but definitely we still have much catching up to do.

PS: My favourite in this show is actually Max Tan - a feature on him coming up next week! (:

Next Up - New Designers from Parco next NEXT

The past week at work has been so hectic that I completely didn't have time to blog about the wonderful re-launch of Parco next NEXT. With 13 new designers, each offering their own design identity, this new makeover has made Parco next NEXT  a much more interesting and diverse shopping destination. Out of the 13 new designers, there are now 2 menswear labels - Wanderwonder and A.K.A Wayward, designed by my friend Foong. There is also my personal favourite, Shito, an amazingly quirky shoe label, and also Veira that offers statement travel bags and wallets. Out of the veteran designers in the incubator programme, my 3 favourites such remain - OwnMuse, Pauline.Ning and Mae Pang, which I previously covered here.

Almost bought the one on the left!

Super love the upturned chunky front of the shoe that can be seen in so many of their designs.

Yummy cupcakes!

Shito's visual merchandising certainly stood out with its gorgeous shoes peeking out from behind a curtain of loose threads. I like how Alicia, designer of Shito, is unafraid to incorporate bright colours into her shoe designs that are usually unconventional. I also especially love the slight upturned angle at the front of each shoes covering the toe area - somehow that little detail just seems to elevate the coolness of all their shoes. Alicia also makes use of plenty of cutouts to show only a few bits of skin each time, making their shoes edgy and sexy.

Their latest collection was inspired by Alice in Wonderland, which explained the quirky black and white monogram striped heel paired with contrasting red straps, bunnies with bowties and candy colours. Shito shoes are all statement shoes meant to be worn out for a good fashion night out and get loads of complements - their shoes are carefully designed down to the very last detail in terms of how chunky the heel would be, the degree of elevation of the foot, and of course that signature upturn at the toes. In other words, it completes your outfit (or even outshines them).

Their first and one-off piece

Naked Room (no affiliation to Naked Glory, unfortunately) is another one to look out for with designers Jada and Lin ODing on black lace, chiffon and silk-screened suede. They carefully source all their fabrics out in Guangzhou, China, where it was being produced in high quality at the local factory. Lin shared with me that that the pair of them originally graduated from TP's design course and went onto their respective careers which were unrelated to fashion. But after a few years, they got together and did just that one piece (in photo above), which slowly morphed into one complete collection. Their first piece uses lace imported from Paris, as well as gold embriodery sewn onto translucent chiffon that drapes the body in layers. The gold embriodery and black lace sleeves makes the piece to be almost Renaissance like, but the suggestive placement of gold on black makes this a daring and modern take on the period.

I also particularly like their black lace tights - when worn under a draped black mini dress, the erotic lace details on nude skin seems very sexy but not over the top. Naked Room is not all about black and lace - they have some pieces that are conservative for work - such as nude shift dresses. I like how they selected a soft, thin "silk-screened suede" fabric for that dress as the silk gives a sheen to the fabric.

Really dig these felt necklaces from UNCVRD

At Pauline Ning - 100% handmade lattice cutouts

Extremely modern & streamlined
Note the use of white faux leather panels and pleated sleeves 

Me with the lovely Pauline Lim

I finally got to meet the lovely and talented Pauline Ning! Super happy because the last time when I was at Parco, she wasn't at her shop. Pauline is genius in the way she incorporates unexpected details into her statement pieces - for example, thin leather thank tops that has lattice cutouts at the back, double layered pleated skirts with black piping at the hems, and even that all black dress she has on - look at how she drapes the pleated fabric across the front of the cotton jersey dress - it almost looks as though she is delicately wrapped in black crepe paper. She showed me her new Cruise collection as well - a pity that I didn't take photos of them - one of the pieces reminded me of Alexander McQueen's Plato Atlantis dresses in the way with its frothy pale blue semi-translucent fabric and bold shoulder details in the form of white pleats. (Please excuse my lack of fashion vocabulary).

Pauline would be showing at the upcoming Blueprint trade show, where I hope her designs will catch the eye of international buyers, especially those from London, Europe and Japan, because she shared with me that she is looking to export her designs. Unfortunately, locally there are not enough people who are willing to make daring sartorial choices and take the plunge to wear Pauline's statement pieces as of yet - most people still stick to jersey/cotton basics - you hardly catch anyone wearing pieces that play on different fabrics.

"I love what I do and I still wanna keep on doing it, just designing what I like, but I need my designs to sell as well." In fact, Pauline handmakes many of her designs (vs the other designers at Parco who outsource the production part to factories locally or in Indonesia and China) because she shares that the local manufacturers refuse to work on her designs due to its complicated details and multiple fabrics that go into a single dress. Her persistence and belief in her work is just admirable and I hope she can continue to do what she likes and that her work can be appreciated and worn by people worldwide (:

Now presenting to you 4 stylish people that I caught on 'film':

Esther from To The Nines, local multi-label boutique
Wearing Mae Pang mesh top, Own Muse cutout bottoms

This amazingly dressed guy - extremely Japanese influenced outfit

Juaang & Johanna of OwnMuse

Janice Pidduck, editor of Catalog magazine
You can't see it but she's carrying her Chanel 2.55 - a good showing
of how you can mix luxury up with an extremely street look
She got her friend to make that cool leather harness.

I am lusting over her 'limited edition pony hair leopard Dr. Martens'!!!

parco next NEXT - A look at Singapore's design talents

Last week I visited Parco next NEXT, an open retail space for up and coming designers in Singapore. This space houses a total of 24 young designers who are able to operate a one-year retail space and be mentored by industry experts under this 18-month incubation programme. And I must say, there are a few good ones here!

The first retail spce I visited was that of OwnMuse, a power girl design duo made up of Johanna and Juang. Their clothes are made predominantly from a black, nude beige and navy palette, and are all really edgy.

An overview of their retail space!

Guestbook counter, with some of their press clippings

Their fall-winter collection was significantly much more edgier than their previous spring summer collection, which featured heather gray crop tops with geometric cutouts, dreamy nude pink draped chiffon maxi skirts, and textured black shorts, which also had those cool geometric cutouts. You can see them here. For their fall winter collection, the girls introduced clothes that were both feminine and strong. It's like menswear power dressing, but with a feminine touch. 

Newest F/W collection - featuring asymmetric chiffon tops, billowy tulle dresses and lightweight knit tops.

The cutout blazer with strong shoulder detail - one of my favs

Their fall-winter collection was significantly much more edgier than their previous spring summer collection, which featured heather gray crop tops with geometric cutouts, dreamy nude pink draped chiffon maxi skirts, and textured black shorts, which also had those cool geometric cutouts. You can see them here. For their fall winter collection, the girls introduced clothes that were both feminine and strong. It's like menswear power dressing, but with a feminine touch.

From left to right: Juang and Johanna - thanks for being so sweet!

The nude beige dresses and tops conrtrasted with strong black accents help keep an otherwise feminine ensemble more edgy. They also had this asymmetric circle skirt that was made of amazing material, that felt like suede, but was actually a brushed on fabric with an inner lining of what felt like silk. A very chic skirt in extremely breathable & soft material = instant like! According to Johanna, they source their mateials in Hong Kong and Singapore, and their clothes are usually produced in Singapore and Indonesia. Keep on rockin' Juang and Johanna! [PS sorry I couldn't upload your lookbook photos as they were in .tif format ): ]

The second retail space I visited belonged to my friend, Mae Pang or Pang Ai Mei. Looking at her clothes is always refreshing, because she has so many wonderful details in her designs, and she has a penchant for mixing different fabric into a single piece of clothing. Shown above are some of the clothes from her previous collection which had a primary colour palette of nude, brown and light green. There were pleated details in the beige elastic leggings and from the photo you can also see that she used a special fabric for her skirt and jacket, that gave off an iridescent gleam. Her latest collection, Supernatural Science, was just as amazing. Below are some of the photos which she had kindly allowed me to use: -

Supernatural Science featured a palette of smoky grays and midnight blue, and had angular cuts, as well as irregular fabrics incorporated into different pieces of clothing. The first photo shows a long sleeved net top, which is actually made of a knit fabric with faux snakeskin imprint, paired with a lame maxi skirt adorned with black gems. Second photo features a long sleeve snakeskin imprint cardi, while the last top has a vinyl applique on a sheer netted blouse, that made it look really futuristic. I felt that this collection was a good continuation from the previous collection of Mae's attempt to explore the interaction between man, nature and technology.

Hehe this is actually me in the fitting room trying on a top from Mae Pang. You can't really see the ingenuity of the top here, but it's a mash of 3 fabrics, topped off with a heavy duty gold zipper that allows the top to be worn as a vest as well.

The last designer I checked out was max.tan. Max works with only a black and white palette and he is genius at doing reinterpretations of the button down white shirt, and also loose trousers.

His white shorts have been deconstructed and reworked into many variations, with some of them having draped, some others pleated, and some with high mandarin collar-ish details. I tried out one of his amazing shirts and trousers and had fun in the fitting room posing. The shirt that I'm wearing has a sleeve that looks like they are linked and impossible to fit into, but upon trying it out, I discovered that there were 2 small slits at the sides that allowed for arm movement. The buttons are hidden by an additional layer of trimming, topped off with a small collar. The trousers almost appeared to look like a maxi skirt from afar, and they were really comfortable and smart with the white angular lapels.

I also liked Pauline Ning's designs, but because my camera was dying, I couldn't take any more photos ): Pauline juxtaposes soft draping with sharp angular cutting at the back, together with some really good pleating details, that looked really fresh as well.

Altogether, I must say that its was an interesting experience to know touch the creations of young Singapore designers! It made me feel excited that there are some brilliant designers out there, that are creating things that are still refreshing to look at in today's sensory overloaded world.