The “Walk with Fashion” Exhibition is held at Millenia Walk from 8-18 April 2004 from 11am to 9pm, in conjunction with the Singapore Fashion Festival 2004.

The 11-day event not only saw an array of catwalks fronted by models wearing Country Road, Dockers, et cetera, Island Shop, Lemon Dot, Celia Loe, RAOUL, Tangs Studio, and Urban & Co.

Local Flavour 1: Annoyingly Enormous
Local Flavour 2: mizu
Inspired?
Main Events in Singapore Fashion Festival 2004
What you need to know about the Singapore Fashion Festival

Next to the dazzling designer fare, there was still no missing a photo exhibition, entitled PUBLIC/private by Singapore’s celebrated photographer, Geoff Ang.

Explained Geoff, “This [photographic event] was initiated for the Fashion Festival. We picked 9 local designers, just sat down and thought of this idea… a fashion juxtapose… of colour, representing ‘now’ and black and white representing ‘timeless’ and ‘classic’… [and] also as ‘nude’… hence the juxtapose of a colour photo and a black and white one, with a hard line separating them.”

PUBLIC/private showcased the works of the 29-year-old photographer with more than 12 years of experience. Self-taught since he was 16, Geoff launched GEOFFSTUDIO in 1998 and has garnered outstanding achievements in both advertising and photography, including Fashion Photographer of the Year in Singapore Fashion Week 2001.

Australian tourists Sharona Woodstock, 48, and husband Kirk Woodstock, 52, were pleasantly surprised at the photo exhibition. “I find it a little hard to believe that Singaporeans are so into art photography, and being so good at it,” Sharona said, “I came here expecting just shopping and sightseeing. Being exposed to this [artistic] side of Singapore makes me just want [to] come here again.”

When told that this exhibition was the result of Geoff’s handiwork, Kirk quipped that he’d "love to meet this Mr Geoff Ang and congratulate him on this successful exhibition. It is really stellar work.”

As one of the most sought-after photographers in the local scene, Geoff comes across as a regular chap – friendly and unassuming, his free-spiritedness evident through PUBLIC/private.

In a 1-minute video, Geoff explores the self-created metaphor: “Skin is always in fashion” with 9 models specifically picked by his top-notch team, comprising of fashion stylist Eddie Halim, makeup artist Venetia Stravens and hair stylist Collin Yeo.

“These are all designs from the Blueprint (a Singapore Designer Showcase for fashion) designers, the new, young and upcoming… thought some are quite established already,” laughed Geoff, “ Well for this video, it’s actually an extension of the exhibition. I wanted it to be in black and white so it’s timeless… it’s something I personally chose.”

After this exhibition, Geoff plans to move to New York to embark on greater possibilities and to contribute to the photography scene there. UrbanWire wishes him all the best.

Local Flavour 1: Annoyingly Enormous

Jimi Heng, 29, creator of the Annoyingly Enormous label, graduated in the pioneer batch with a degree in Fashion from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University 3 years ago.

He lamented that “the cons as a Singaporean label stems from having to sell genuinely authentic merchandise at high prices” as Singaporeans’ “perceptions of local brands need to change”.
However, once prodded about his inspiration for his artistic creations, Jimi lit up.

“My collections are inspired by emotions. This one is called ‘Can’t Tie Her Down’ and was from my personal experience with an ex-girlfriend and us being apart from each other… so you can see unhappy faces,” he said.

“My stuff is quite different. They are rather loud and avant garde… you get noticed when you wear my clothes. But Singaporeans are quite sedate in the sense that they follow trends… if hip-hop is in, they wear hip-hop… [my collection] is quite daring, it’s more to being not worried about being ostracised.”

Local Flavour 2: Mizu

Formed in October 2000, mizu designer Adrian Huang and pals Keith Png and Petrina Tiong make up Threesome STUDIO. For the 3 Apparel Design and Merchandising graduates from Temasek Polytechnic, their first foray into the world of fashion design was The Fashion Connection Singapore 2000 “Dare To” Show, which boasted names such as David Wang, Paperdoll and GG>5.

With their “Dream, Drape, Slash and Sew” mantra, it’s appropriate to say that mizu creates functional clothes with a unique personality, intricate finishing and details.

Freelance photographer Ernest Luah, 32, said that he “is looking forward to the fashion catwalk [on 17 April] by our home-grown designers” as he feels that “they have very good potential and may even give the international designers a run for their money”.

Fashion buyer Janice Leow, 30, thought that, “The standard of the designs are so well-thought and well-developed that if these weren’t published as local designs, they might fetch prices well above market rates.”

Ready to wear clothes from mizu can be found at:
edge>@parco – 200 Victoria Street Parco Bugis Junction #03-30m
Hipnosis Orchard – 14 Scotts Road Far East Plaza, #04-111, #01-58
Spore - 260 Orchard Road #04-41/10H, The Heeren
Clothes Matter - 260 Orchard Road #04-34, The Heeren, Annex

Inspired?
Schools in Singapore which offer courses along the lines of fashion design.

Temasek Polytechnic
Temasek Design School
Diploma in Apparel Design & Merchandising

Raffles LaSalle Institute Singapore
Advanced Diploma in Fashion Design
Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Fashion

Main Events in Singapore Fashion Festival 2004

MY FAVOURITE DRESS
2-18 April 2004
@ Wisma Atria Shopping Centre

JULIEN MACDONALD AUTUMN-WINTER 2004-2005 TRUNK COLLECTION
16 April 2004, 7pm
@ Tent@Orchard, Ngee Ann City

SINGAPORE DESIGNERS & LABELS SHOW STREET FINALE
17 April 2004, 7pm
@ Tent@Orchard, Ngee Ann City

X-NATION
17 April 2004, 10pm
@ Zouk Parking Lot, Jiak Kim Street

What you need to know about the Singapore Fashion Festival

WHAT the hoo-ha is all about:
The Singapore Fashion Festival (SFF)

WHERE the event will be held:
Orchard Road. The main events of this year’s SFF will be held at the Tent@Orchard, erected at Ngee Ann City’s Civic Plaza.

WHEN the event is held:
2 to 18 April 2004

HOW they are making it uniquely Singaporean:
- Blueprint 04, which showcases 9 young Singapore designers
- The Singapore Designers/Labels Shows as a finale
- Sari to Sarong exhibition at the Asian Civilisations Museum during the Festival
- PUBLIC/private Fashion Photo Exhibition by Geoff Ang

WHY they are doing the SFF:
The main aim is to boost Singapore’s standing as the fashion and retail hub of South-East Asia. Singapore, well-known for its vibrant shopping scene, hopes that the Festival’s unique offerings of style and inspirational collections will help budding designers, fashion fans and shoppers remake their own style and come up with their own unique collections

WHO the main sponsors for the SFF are:
The SFF 2004 was put together with support from SPRING Singapore (the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board), International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, the Asian Civilizations Museum (ACM), The Textile and Fashion Federation (TaFf), the Singapore Tourism Board and Mercedes-Benz.