Can
Singapore be a new catwalk for global fashion?
SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - London. Paris. Milan. New York. And
maybe Singapore? The Asian nation is pitching itself as the newest
destination for international and regional fashion designers to
showcase their collections.
Models present creations from
the Christian
Lacroix Spring/Summer 2009 Haute
Couturecollection at the Audi Fashion Festival in Singapore May
6, 2009. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash
And the dire state of the global economy may be a factor helping
Singapore's aspirations, fashion experts say.
"There are lots of very, very, very rich people in this part of the
world, and what the recession has done is just knock off one
'very'," said Colin McDowell, a renowned British fashion writer and
stylist who is also creative director of the Audi Fashion Festival
Singapore, the year's premier event.
"Fashion needs the very, very rich," he told reporters. "And with
its rich artistic tradition and huge creative potential, the future
of fashion can be in Asia and if there's going to be a core leader,
it could be Singapore."
McDowell, who is senior fashion writer for London's Sunday Times,
said when he came to Singapore several years ago, he had thought it
"a tad complacent."
"But Singapore is the only Asian city that looks Western, where
English is widely spoken and that is a big advantage," he said. "If
Singapore wants, it can be part of the fashion scene."
Asian economies have been hit by the global crisis, but that has
not prevented Singapore, an island nation of nearly 5 million, from
courting the region's wealthy with a global gourmet gathering,
luxury boat show and now the fashion festival.
Christian
Lacroix, Vivienne
Westwood, Marc
Jacobs, Gareth
Pugh and Singapore-born Ashley
Isham are the main international designers showing at the
event. Several Singaporean designers will also take
part.
The Lacroix couture
collection was launched on Wednesday night at an event full of
women dressed in designer gowns and dripping with
diamonds.
"Singapore's not high on the totem pole of a lot of top designers
but we're building stepping stones," said Tjin Lee, managing
director of organizer Mercury
Marketing&Communications.
"We want Singapore to be the place where designers such
as Lacroix,
such as Pugh, can reach out to the whole region. We want it to be
the place that Asian designers, too, can flock to, and be showcased
by the international media," she told Reuters.
Lee expected some 6,000 people to attend the festival, adding that
the 600 tickets offered to the public had been sold out, despite
the tough economic climate. The festival, however, has been
shortened to five days from 10 in previous years.
"Previous festivals have been commercially driven, but we're hoping
to inspire and entertain this time," she said. "People need to go
out and see art, experience beauty."
Pugh, a rising talent with sometimes experimental designs, also
said the recession was the best time to get creative.
"People with money want to spend it on something special, they want
to wear something unique, which is great for designer fashion," he
said.
(Editing by Sugita Katyal)
