In the Vitrine

Dani speaks about a recent symposium she attended organised by Dr Monica Titton entitled ‘Tailoring Suits, Shaping Bodies’, and missing Grace Wales Bonner given the time difference. On the occasion of the opening of ‘Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear’ at V&A Museum, Dani and Nadya wonder about their interactions with menswear in academia and for their own wardrobes. Recalling their fas...

Episode 73 | The Non Season and Reminiscing Orchard Road This episode is focused on The Non Season, taking place from 17 February to 10 April. Organised by Hyphen BB, it features fashion, art and lifestyle activations on Orchard Road, to explore how Singapore may operate outside conventional seasons. Dani is holding a visible mending clinic, while Nadya is moderating a talk about alternative struc...

Nadya reflects on her presentation ‘Framing the Body: Yip Cheong Fun and Singapore Photography in the 1960s and 1970s’ as part of the ‘Addressing Images’ series at the Research Forum at Courtauld Institute of Art, where she looked at the body’s role within the images, which have not yet been analysed in detail, and the embodied experience of looking at them. Daniela talks about the photographs tha...

We reflect upon interdisciplinary projects where fashion intersects with art through our Singapore Art Week experience as both visitors and participants. From among the 130 projects, Dani zooms in on Brian Gothong Tan's 'The Swimming Pool Library' project with T:>Works and Fyerool Darma's ' L♤ND$¢♤PΞ$' at Yeo Workshop. She also talks about her work with Mash-Up collaborating with Butterknife Folk...

Dani speaks about setting up a mending station at Super Freak Boutique, and the conversations she had with the owners of clothes that were brought to her. Nadya muses about the connections that the act of mending can engender, and Dani talks about the existence of mending cafés elsewhere, where one can teach or learn the skills to prolong the life of a garment. Bonus! Dani shows a beautiful exampl...

chatter, and wonder about how the democratisation of fashion has affected the business of heritage luxury brands. They also discuss art student Zou Yaqi’s ability to gain access to freebies in Beijing using a counterfeit Hermès bag, and Telfar’s working model to redefine the consumption of a luxury bag.

Dani speaks about presenting 'Home Economics with A Stubborn Bloom' in the sixth edition of Objectifs’ 'Women in Film and Photography' programme, which looks at the theme of inheritance. This brings us to talk about garment care, including mending as an act of affection to give garments a new lease on life, and how it contributes to the story and enjoyment of them.

Dani and Nadya catch up on what they have been doing in the past couple of weeks: a talk that Dani gave with A Stubborn Bloom about home economics at the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, looking at artist Ian Tee’s reworking of textiles to make his works as a part of the initiative ‘Walk Walk Don’t Run’ by Grey Projects and an exhibition titled ‘The Tailors and the Mannequins: Chen Cheng Mei and...

The Digital Multilogue on Fashion Education took place from 1 to 2 October, and we speak about Daniela’s presentation, ‘Situating Fashion Studies in Southeast Asia: Practical Methods’ in the ‘Towards Inclusion’ panel. We then contemplate the new Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTL) that Singapore has opened up with 11 other countries (and more to come!) and what post-pandemic packing and travel will look...

We speak about our recent nostalgic TV watching with Daniela going through ‘The Office’ (2005-2013) and Nadya ‘Body of Proof’ (2011-2013). Could we see them as the new period dramas, given the decline of office wear as we know it given shifting circumstances with the ongoing pandemic? We segue into ‘Spin’ (1999-2000), a Singapore television show centring on the group of teenagers that we both watc...

In this episode, Dani and Nadya speak about how Singapore magazines Female, Her World and Men’s Folio celebrate the nation’s birthday by highlighting efforts in the local fashion industry. Dani highlights the front cover fashion choices and stories in Female that look back at the early 2000s. They also discuss the publications’ heartening inclusion of the work and viewpoints of fashion educators a...

Episode 63: Athletic Fashion at the Tokyo Olympics In this episode, we talk about the Tokyo Olympics 2020 where uniforms not only convey national identities but also build brand identities, such as Team Liberia’s wardrobe beautifully designed by Telfar. We consider the equal importance of aesthetics and function in designing uniforms for athletes at this international event, and ruminate on the un...

Episode 62: Dress and the Body in Three Recent Exhibitions We talk about two works relating to dress and the body by Hamkah Latib and Chok Si Xuan in the group exhibition 'only losers left alive (songs for lovers for the end of the world)' at Yeo Workshop. Nadya considers gaps in writing on Singapore photography in the 1960s that could be filled by looking at the body, in her presentation for the...

In this episode, we explore @WearWhatOnSet, dedicated to documenting the outfits of production crews in Singapore. While selected for functionality, these "uniforms" also incorporate pops of individuality, which are echoed in the tongue-in-cheek captions for each post. We also talk about two of our favourite workwear brands: Chota House Collective and Labour and Wait.

Episode 60: In this two-part episode, we welcome guest speaker Kae Hana, fashion educator at MDIS Singapore. She shares with us the organic materials she and her students have been experimenting with to make "fabric", including nettle and banana peel. Tune in to view delicious, mesmerising examples of kombucha scoby leather and (almost) edible bioplastics.

Episode 60: In this two-part episode, we welcome guest speaker Kae Hana, fashion educator at MDIS Singapore. She shares with us the organic materials she and her students have been experimenting with to make "fabric", including nettle and banana peel. Tune in to view delicious, mesmerising examples of kombucha scoby leather and (almost) edible bioplastics.

Episode 59 | The School of Fashion 2021 In this episode, we introduce the digital presentation of the LASALLE College of the Arts School of Fashion Class of 2021. This year, the graduation show continues to explore a blend of physical and digital modes of presentation. The projects explore themes around sustainability, gender and cultural heritage. The full show is available on lasallesof.com, des...

Episode 58 | Introducing Fashion & Market (FAM) In this episode, we introduce Nadya's new portal Fashion & Market (FAM), the sibling site to @artandmarket. We speak about pieces we are excited about unveiling and what to look forward to on the platform. Hop over to @fashionandmarket_ for material and visual stories, dialogues, analysis, news and reviews about fashion from South-East Asia. For the...

Episode 57: Worn Stories and The Migrant Workers Community Museum In celebration of Fashion Revolution Week @fash_rev_sg, and inspired by 'Worn Stories' on Netflix, we talk about our intimate relationship with well worn clothes in our wardrobe. We segue into a discussion about the exhibition, 'The Migrant Workers Community Museum' held last month at @the_substation and meander into the informal pa...

Episode 56: Traditional "Costumes" in Contemporary Southeast Asian Fashion Expanding from a talk that Nadya gave for the UNSW ASEAN Society Cultural Immersion programme recently, we think about how contemporary fashion labels such as Kaarem (Vietnam), Sejauh Mata Memandang (Indonesia), Ghostboy Club (Malaysia) and Randolf Clothing (Philippines) reimagine traditional silhouettes such as the ao dai,...

We discuss the visual appeal of Simone Rocha's work and our conflicting desires to own something from the H&M collection while acknowledging the potentially detrimental effects of fast fashion. And we think back to our participation at the Singapore Art Book Fair through @artandmarket and @a_stubborn_bloom.

Episode 54: We're back! We speak about pandemic dressing taking "a dark turn", and how we are "hate-wearing" some items in spite of ourselves. Nadya talks about an accidental burn that is challenging the way she dresses, and Dani introduces the thought-provoking post-divorce closet of Sara Berman.

Episode 53: The annual exhibition showcasing work from Year 2 students in the BA (Hons) Fashion Design and Textiles and BA (Hons) Fashion Media and Industries programmes in the School of Fashion at LASALLE College of the Arts goes digital with 'Phantasm'. Guest Rohaizatul Azhar, who oversaw the project together with fellow lecturer Furqan Saini, guides us through the immersive experience, and high...

Episode 52: Take a trip down memory lane with us through the work of photographer James Van Der Zee working in Harlem in the 1920s, the rich @myanmarphotoarchive, and 'Rediscovering Forgotten Masters of Thai Photography', a project by Manit Sriwanichpoom. We also discuss the important matchmaking work of Sanjeev Photo Studio in Singapore and the provocative images of contemporary artist Hassan Haj...

Episode 51: In our second vodcast-podcast offering, talk about the history of Halloween, and how it gives us an outlet to dress unlike ourselves. We also discuss the possible boo-boos that could occur when we reduce the characters we play to stereotypes that may be offensive, even if unintentionally so. In addition, we look at how horror inspires even as it repulses, and the fashion designers who...