From this Friday, design, culture, and fashion enthusiasts can visit ACM’s first display of contemporary Singapore fashion, exploring creative practice in Singapore in the context of Asia’s cultural heritage. Branded #SGFASHIONNOW, the showcase is presented in collaboration with LASALLE College of the Arts’ School of Fashion and the Textile and Fashion Federation (TaFF) – a result of ACM’s first tripartite partnership within Singapore’s fashion ecosystem.
At #SGFASHIONNOW, visitors can encounter cross-cultural works and fashion-forward ideas by Singapore designers organised in two sections: the first is the curtain-raiser display ACM x TaFF, where four ensembles by Singapore-based finalists of fashion design competition Singapore Stories 2020 are on show at the ACM Lobby; the second, ACM x LASALLE, showcases works by eight practising local designers, including established professionals Andrew Gn, Goh Lai Chan, and Priscilla Shunmugam, whose works are mounted alongside Singapore Stories 2020 winner Carol Chen’s debut creation.
Visitors can engage with a visual dialogue on Singapore’s fashion identities at the anchor display #SGFASHIONNOW: ACM x LASALLE, located at the Contemporary Gallery nestled in the heart of the museum. As visitors make their way to the show by traversing through the Level 1 Trade galleries, they will discover how Singapore grew and thrived as an open port city by sharing cross-cultural flows and artistic exchanges with the region and the world. This context of a shared heritage informs this ACM x LASALLE display, where the diverse approaches and craftsmanship of eight Singapore designers takes the spotlight.
Focusing on the craft of making clothes, the works displayed engage with ideas of materiality and slow fashion (local artisans rather than industrial production, attention to eco-friendly materials, etc.), some representing notable moments in history, and all made in recent years. The chosen designers drew from the rich heritage of fashion, craft, and cultural ideas of Singapore and Asia.
Rather than presenting one singular “Singapore” look or style, the display shows some of the wide range of approaches in craft and ideas taken by diverse designers in imagining Singapore fashion today. They are united by a shared commitment to making well-crafted fashion, and in their cross-cultural, cosmopolitan, experimental spirit, which has characterised fashion here in this multicultural, predominantly migrant nation for the past two centuries.
When: 25 Jun - 19 Dec 2021,
By: Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM)
