THE STATE OF LOCAL SINGAPORE FASHION

I've been doing a lot of musing about the state of the local fashion scene, after chatting with an acquaintance, reading this article in I-S Mag and this post by James Bent on his street style blog La Mode Outre.

It was interesting to read James' opinions about fashion in Singapore. And really after spending half the day looking at all his photos of street style here, I too was convinced that people here do have style. In fact, I'd say it's a APC/indie minimalist/casual kind of style with some vintage mixed in. Think plain tanks with high waisted & pleated jeans, chambray shirts and tailored shorts, drapey tank tops with skinny jeans, slim fit blazers etc. I would say that that's quite casual & different compared to the street style featured in blogs like allthepretty birds, garance dore and the satorialist. We tend to be rather critical of ourselves and others' perception of us that we sometimes lose sight of who we really are. And it was interesting, I thought, that a non-local like James had to point this out to us.

Of course, fashion in Singapore can progress even further than that, with the help of local fashion designers who need to keep raising the bar. It's important that emerging local designers be exposed to the international scene, both in terms of distribution but also access to international design, lifestyle and trends. If these two barriers are lowered, Singapore could possibly leverage its connection between the East & the West to create a unique position for itself in the fashion world. (Now first, let's bring back domestic manufacturing!)

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