WOTTONCOOL

Sarah here! 2 April 2008, Jo and I attended Blueprint 2008. Now, you may be wondering What EXACTLY is Blueprint about? Well, fret not. I was asking myself that too.

Blueprint is an experimental project by the DesignSingapore Council. They bring together fashion and product designers to collaborate and produce new designs, of both the fashion and product sorts, and SFF is their platform to showcase their creations. The collaborations are threaded together with its common elements: products and fashion. To make the show more seamless (and, I am assuming, to allow some of the models time to change) there was a video linking the different collaborations. Overall, the video was well executed, although the ending was somewhat disappointing.

This was the runway setting, with Ori.03s by P.C.Ee: Exit (a geometric, side table that doubles as a stool in stainless steel) stacked together in front of the main screens. Along the runway, there were Dunes by OUTOFSTOCK, angled frames with red threads that create different levels of transparency depending on line of sight. The image of the Dunes are not clear in this picture, but in the later photos, it should be somewhat clearer. Another feature was the chandelier at the end of the runway.

Chandelier by Jason Ong of JIENSHU

The chandelier provided an interesting end to the show. But more about that later! The show opened with the ‘Metamorphosis’ collection from Desmond Yang of Abyzz, in collaboration with Brian Law and Tan Sixiu.

Photo from <http://www.mica.gov.sg/pressroom/080327%20SFF.pdf>

I found this collection interesting and avant garde. The hoods with collar details were quirky but I thought the multitude of ties drowned some of the pieces. You wouldn’t want these stray ends to be dragging on the floor.

Next up, was the ONLY all-Male collection that made Jo drool (at least a little bit). The collection, Serotine (AW 2008/2009) by Chia Wie Choong of Antebellum (in collaboration with P.C. Ee of Exit)

Photo from <http://www.mica.gov.sg/pressroom/080327%20SFF.pdf>

Honestly, menswear is not my forte (yet!) Overall, the clothes moved well. The cutting was rather unorthodox: some of the pants had ‘gladiator sandal’ details at the bottom, which was very unique.

Next up was the collaboration of Nic Wong of Nicholas and Jarrod Lim of Jarrod Lim Design. The central theme revolved around the idea of the classic shirt, with an injection of quiet confidence and subtle detailing that makes ALL the difference.

This collection, was probably, my favourite collection from the Blueprint show for its wearability . (And aptly, Nicholas’ collection is titled ‘ My Favourite Shirt’ SS0 The prices for this collection starts at $129, if I am not mistaken. AND if you just so happen to have a hold of the Rapunsale flyer, you enjoy a 10% discount off regular priced items at Nicholas.

Anyway, besides the shirts, the dresses from this collection were well-cut and well-made. The way they moved down the runway… Brilliant!! I especially liked a simple black dress, paired with a thin black patent leather belt, with fabric that billowed from sleeves to bottom hem as the model floated down the runway.

(Sorry, this is the ONLY picture I have of the piece)

In contrast with Nicholas’ controlled palette, Space Oddities (SS0 by Jay Quek & Madeleine Wong of POSSE Studios, in collaboration with the group from OUTOFSTOCK, was vibrant and sporty. Their opening piece had a green scarf with pockets. (LOVE IT!!)

Another weakness of mine was their jackets.

This coat, in particular, was sheer black with somewhat of a lace detail and a delicious red lining that showed through. However, they also had cropped jackets in lime green as well. One piece did not seem to gel very well with the rest of the collection.

But all in all, the collection was fun and funky. Interesting details such as candy-coloured zip details won me over.

Last but not least was the dynamic collection of Jason Ong of Jienshu and BenWu of BenWu. Spacey, Edgy and Insane! (In an affectionate way, I mean)

The collection had models don edgy hats/helmets.

LOVE IT!!!

But did not love the bubble butt as much. :/

This Spring 2009 collection oozed ‘futuristic‘ with unconventional materials and unique cutouts. Some of the shapes were more daring…

Whereas others had an unexpected twist.

This halter vest with train was the top portion of the chandelier that was situated above the end of the runway. As the finale, the chandelier was lowered and two helpers assisted the model in putting on the garment. The execution of the finale was as smooth as it could have possibly been, assuming they only practiced once :/

Moreover, I found myself distracted by the model’s hair that was dripping wet. (Water was literally dripping down her back and onto the clothes!) I am guessing that it was a last minute decision, although I can’t understand why. Is the ‘wet’ look IN?

With that, I end my uber-long post. Thank you.

Sarah and I were ALMOST going to give Qiu Hao a miss, because who IS Qiu Hao?He’s a pretty talented Shanghainese that graduated from St Martin’s (Just like Jo Soh of Hansel). I only got to know about this after a brief google search that led me to two videos -

I liked to organic, earthy feel that reverberated through the easy-on-the-eyes drapery crossed with minimalist shapes in video, so I grabbed Sarah and I some tickets! It was worth it

In this collection for the SFF08, I don’t know what it is supposed to be really, but there was this recurrence of a loosely draped and layered lobes(?) on shawls, jackets, and other pieces. The reason for their presence intrigues and evades me all at the same time. There is also this delightful haphazardness in the exaggerated lengths of stray cloth falling precariously from wraparound tops and dresses. These two aspect keeps your eyes hooked to the runway. There’s so much movement in the pieces, especially since the models were walking at lightning speed(!). (Never mind that the music was a tadddddd bit loud and there was this cute little boy on the opposite shielding his ears from the might speakers)

Different treatment of the lobes - soft, lush and layered vs stiff, staggered and few
Photos from Yahoo! News

Hypnotic strands of fabric trailing the models’ a tad too-fast-too-furious walks

(An aside: yes, I do realise how bad my pictures look in comparison to the professionally taken ones. I shall borrow the bf’s camera and hopefully leech some of his leet skills for Wednesday’s show :D)

Most of the pieces had these cute peekaboo (because it’s not exactly bare) back from an over shoulder and looped back drape.

I think the picture explains it better, haha!

The designer, Qiu Hao flanked by two lanky models
Photo from Yahoo! News

He said in the video that fashion is about chance and I’m glad he managed to chance upon that. We could use something like chance and luck in the future too! Talent too, of course. I think if he weren’t a fashion designer he might become a monk (look at his head!), haha. I get the feeling that he’s pretty down to earth, un-hoity-toity and friendly. He only has a very loud pair of gold shoes, lol.

Shiny, happy gold shoes!
I think the show was quite a visual feast, if you look out for the littlest details (: Pity the turn-out wasn’t good enough to fill the entire tent.

Yay for emerging international designers!

Sarah and I have been attending a few shows at the Singapore Fashion Festival and we were lucky enough to be randomly allocated front-row seats, yo! (Okay, so it was only two shows so far :P)

Outside the tent

The proximity of our seats to the runway!

The very first show we went was Ashley Isham, where he showcased his Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter ‘08 collections (according to Harper’s Bazaar).

It started off with edgy-prettiness with a variety of long and mini ensembles of white and speckled black, cinched in with a clean black and white waist.

Then came in pops of red! orange! and purple! and red and purple together, broken up by dark emeralds and plums!

Now that we’ve eased in to colours, shiny glimmering plates of blue surfaced on the skirts and dazzling sheets of silver plastic were gathered into pretty, and hypnotic folds. I swear, I HEARD the plastic material as the models sashayed past. Ooo, it was so close, the details were pretty overwhelming. I was tempted to stretch a finger out to feel the material haha.

The kind of dress you could hear ruffle!

Glimmering plates and boggling prints. These are genius!

There was this absolutely gorgeous printed dress that Pinks (Sarah) and I went gaga over. It makes you want to swoon over it, paint rainbows and nibble on strawberries and cream

Pictures that don’t do justice to an aweeeeesome dress

I was kinda hoping there would be more of his outrageous stuff, the kind of thing you have to see in the flesh. What with the sumptuous metallics and diaphonous fabrics!

More shows pleaseee!

Blows faux snow from the runway to make my wish!