Foreword

PROFESSOR STEVE DIXON

President, LASALLE College of the Arts

The second edition of #SGFASHIONNOW continues the collaboration between LASALLE College of the Arts and Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM), following the great success of last year’s exhibition. It was a first in many ways for all involved: not only was it the first time our BA(Hons) Fashion Media and Industries students had the rare opportunity to curate an exhibition at a museum, it also marked the first time ACM handed over the curatorial reins to an external team.

We launched #SGFASHIONNOW in the firm belief that it would be more than the sum of its parts—that this partnership between LASALLE and ACM would generate new ways of thinking, creating and curating, bringing together ideas from education, museum and industry. I am delighted that this has proven to be the case, and that we are building on the excellent work of 2021’s exhibition to continue the conversation.

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This year’s #SGFASHIONNOW shines the spotlight on a fantastic mix of emerging and established Singapore designers, featuring Ashley Isham, Bryan Yeo, Harry Halim, Jon Max Goh, Kage Chong and Keng How of Biro, Latika Balachander of LABAL, Lina Osman of LINAOTH, Max Tan, Shawna Wu, and Thomas Wee. The garments on display show their unique approaches to draping and celebrate the diversity of fashion from Singapore. Accessories from Fahmy Ishak of FIN Crafted Goods, Firdaos Pidau of CHARLES & KEITH, GINLEE, Rachael Cheong of Closet Children, Putri Adif and Joshua Suarez further represent talents in the local fashion industry.

In this accompanying e-publication, Circe Henestrosa, Head of LASALLE’s School of Fashion, writes about the capacity for fashion curation to tell important stories. Lecturer Daniela Monasterios-Tan reflects upon the collective nature of working in Singapore fashion, and fellow lecturer Nadya Wang writes about building a diverse Singapore fashion identity. From ACM, Lum Jia Yi, Prunella Ong, and Deborah Lim from the wonderful Audience Team put forward their aim to engage with the wider public through the programmes at the museum, including the ones developed with our students for #SGFASHIONNOW.

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To the student curators Ethan Lai, Vrinda Maheshwari and Leonard Wong, and the School of Fashion project group at LASALLE, my heartiest congratulations on this brilliant second edition of #SGFASHIONNOW! I would also like to thank Kennie Ting, Director of the Asian Civilisations Museum, for keeping the doors of the museum open for our students to implement their curatorial ideas with the guidance of your team. Thank you to Dominic Low, the ACM Audience Team, as well as Arielle Lau for making the exhibition a reality with Singaporean architecture studio FARM.

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I look forward to more collaborative efforts between our two institutions. Enjoy the show!

#SGFASHIONNOW 2021

Foreword

PROFESSOR STEVE DIXON

President, LASALLE College of the Arts

Introduction

Kennie Ting