Lasalle’s Fashion Graduates And Lecturers On Future-Proofing Fashion
A year’s worth of research, experimentation and production culminated in a virtual fashion runway titled ‘A New Light’ that took place earlier this month.
The pandemic has been a catalyst for newness within the fashion industry. Think Jonathan Anderson‘s Show in a Box concept for LOEWE during lockdown, and Jeremy Scott’s socially-distant puppet show for Moschino. These designers’ brilliance has enabled them to quickly and seamlessly adapt their practices to thrive in a digital world. And local fashion institutions—such as Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, LASALLE College of the Arts and Raffles College of Higher Education—have had the tough task of producing future fashion practitioners with the same sense of innovation and wit.
Circe Henestrosa, Head, School of Fashion, LASALLE College of the Arts. Photo: Courtesy
It’s a challenge that Circe Henestrosa (Head, School of Fashion, LASALLE College of the Arts) posed to her graduating students from the BA (Hons) Fashion Design & Textiles course as well. They were tasked with investigating the concept of change within the fashion industry for their graduating collection. A year’s worth of research, experimentation and production culminated in a virtual fashion runway titled ‘A New Light’ that took place earlier this month.
Many of the students’ works questioned the concept of sustainability and answered with experimental techniques and textiles. A prime example of this would be Joshua Ng’s collection aptly named ‘Spaghetti Cutting’. The Taiwanese-Singaporean fashion designer invented a new way of production where design is led by patterns, instead of the traditional modus operandi. Elsewhere, Ruby Tan manipulates tattered textiles to suit her needs in her series named ‘Fallible’.
Dinu Bodiciu, Lecturer, School of Fashion, LASALLE College of the Arts. Photo: Courtesy
Ahead, Circe and Dinu Bodiciu (Lecturer, School of Fashion, LASALLE College of the Arts) tell us more about how the pandemic has shaped their current curriculum with the graduates weighing in as well as on their collections and creative processes.
How has the BA (Hons) Fashion Design & Textiles programme prepared this year’s graduates to succeed in the fashion industry’s changing landscape?
Circe: We are aware of and align ourselves to current pedagogical trends. Looking at the digital realm has been a main area of exploration for us and many fashion schools. For example, one of our main challenges has been to teach “fashion-making” techniques online and to work around this, we have created digital tutorials and other fun online content that complement the students’ learning and many enjoyed them.
With that said, the physical remains very important to us. From fashion-making to fashion communication, we will continue addressing fashion as a merger of both the physical and the digital in our pedagogical approach. We have increased the number of digital classes offered and software used in design production so as to better equip students for the future. We have also created spaces and tailored projects where students can speculate and question new design practices and think about design alternatives for the future.
Sustainability seems to be a big theme among this year’s graduating collections. Can you share with us what are some of the sustainable techniques or processes employed in the collections?
Circe: From their first year up until graduation, students learn and explore design through various possibilities that are always underpinned by sustainability. Over time, this becomes the true way of thinking and triggers new practices and approaches. From studio projects to lectures, students learn about zero waste design, natural dyeing processes, slow design thinking, circularity, and innovating new textiles from new materials. All these methods are evident in the collections that our BA (Hons) Fashion Design and Textiles graduands have created this year.
What roles do you think sustainability will continue to play in fashion’s future?
Circe: Everything! We strongly believe that sustainability is a way of thinking and every designer of the future has to fully incorporate this into their minds and practice. Our students’ graduation projects place sustainability at the core of their creative process, integrating it into their design language. We believe that in this way, our graduands will become future leaders for sustainable practices that are articulated in Asia and the world.
Dinu: Today, sustainability should be fully integrated in fashion practice and design education, at every level and in each specialism, from design to business and more. We have fully integrated this way of thinking into our education. We strongly believe that future designers will not consider sustainability as something that needs to be added to the design equation, but rather they will view sustainability as the underpinning of the equation itself and without it, design doesn’t make sense; it cannot exist.
Lasalle’s Fashion Graduates And Lecturers On Future-proofing Fashion
Agnes Angela
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Collection title:Hyperspace
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‘Hyperspace’ by Agnes Angela
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What is your collection about?
Hyperspace focuses on the functionality of the garments.
What was the inspiration behind it?
The collection is inspired by the spacesuit, which has multiple functional features that benefit astronauts when they are in outer space.
What special techniques or processes did you employ in creating your collection?
I used a modular technique for this collection that enables wearers to create different looks by adjusting, detaching and interchanging parts of the garments. Hydrogel was also incorporated into some of the garments and this keeps the body cool in hot climates by absorbing and evaporating perspiration quickly.
DeFacto is a textiles collection comprising 104 pieces, ranging from opulent prints and embroidered puffer textures to lacy fringed forms and bold screen prints. The collection radiates a strong feminine presence that anti-heroines possess.
What was the inspiration behind it?
Anti-heroines are a central theme in my collection. They are women who may not fit the prim and proper societal mould due to their less than perfect moral compass, but ultimately have good intentions. This archetype only emerged in pop culture less than a decade ago and it’s something that I can relate to on a daily basis.
I have therefore chosen the Empress Dowager and Dominika the Red Sparrow to serve as inspiration for the collection. Specifically, I looked at how the intensely superstitious Empress used auspicious symbols to manifest her regime’s reign, and how the Red Sparrow employed sexpionage.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
My textiles were made using a variety of techniques—from digital prints and screen prints, to embroidery and quilting.
The Dark; Light and the Grey is a monochromatic series of prints exploring human attitudes towards increasing consumption, wastefulness and alienation.
What was the inspiration behind it?
The inspiration behind this project is deeply personal. I began by exploring and closely analysing one’s life amidst the chaos, and then capturing a pattern using photography.
What special techniques/processes did you employ in creating your collection?
The techniques used for this collection include documentary-style photography, digital photo montaging and digital printing on various plant-based fabrics.
‘An Other Life’ by Bhawika Bajaj and Rupali Shekhawat
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What is your collection about?
An Other Life is a collection that brings to light the luxury fashion industry’s cruel exploitation of animals, which is often hidden from consumers. Referencing the skeletal and skin structures of various animals, voluminous silhouettes and various textiles were created to illustrate the unfair experience of the animals.
Through this collection, we want to put an end to animal exploitation by creating awareness about the pain animals go through to satisfy the fashion market.
What was the inspiration behind it?
We were reading articles about animal exploitation from various news platforms and decided to create awareness about the issue. This collection is inspired by the pain animals have to go through in order to satisfy the market’s desires. We wanted to show how every drop of blood shed by them is very precious.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
We used different textile techniques—such as quilting and embroidery—to portray the skin texture and skeletal structure of frequently exploited animals: Rabbits, ostriches, foxes, elephants, alligators, snakes, seals and sheep.
Velvet Motel is a fall/winter collection featuring themes of civil war with an undertone of sadness that’s challenging and pushing the boundaries of everyday wear through voluminous silhouettes and shapes.
What was the inspiration behind it?
The collection was born out of a fascination with the circus and the military. It also draws on influences from Paolo Ventura’s works.
What special techniques/processes did you employ in creating your collection?
My design focuses on the art of storytelling. And through this technique, the clothes offer consumers a form of escapism, allowing them to experience alternate realities.
Through made-to-order pieces that employ quality materials and production, this collection tackles the problem of overconsumption in the global fashion system.
‘Thumbelina in the Magical Land’ by Felicia Angelina
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What is your collection about?
Thumbelina in the Magical Land is a collection that explores interactive textiles for children to play in, and have fun with their clothes. These interactive elements provide sensory experiences to children, benefiting their cognitive, fine and gross motor skills, as well as encouraging them to have social interactions with other children.
What was the inspiration behind it?
Pop-up book mechanisms were my inspiration for textile construction, while the aesthetics of the collection was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s literary fairy tale of Thumbelina.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
In this collection, I employed laser-cutting techniques to create interconnected pieces that could be easily detached and assembled, enabling a child to exercise their creativity. I also explored pop-up book mechanisms to inject interactivity to garments.
Research shows that children learn about the world by exploring things with their senses. In an age where there is too much exposure to tactile-less devices, this collection aims to remedy children’s lack of sensory experiences through play-able garments.
Begin Again is a collection about changing society’s perception of beauty standards by encouraging women to embrace their imperfections instead. It’s an athleisure collection of dailywear, intended to aid its wearer on their journey to building confidence and self-discovery.
What was the inspiration behind it?
This collection is inspired by human imperfections, focusing specifically on stretch marks as they are a source of insecurity for many women. With the impact social media has on our daily lives, it is more important than ever that people practice self-appreciation and self-love.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
I used a combination of woven and knit materials—such as nylon, organza, and ribbing—to create a fabric texture that emulates stretch marks. The ribbing enables people of all sizes to wear the clothes; and the adjustable cords easily transform the silhouette of the garments, allowing consumers to wear them in multiple ways, and thus increasing the clothes’ longevity.
Modern Heirlooms is the study of material culture and surviving dress, reinvigorated through a melding of identities and craft storytelling.
What was the inspiration behind it?
I have always loved heirlooms for the way they live, age and collect memories as well as sentimental values from each owner. In the global marketplace where fashion thrives on modernity and novelty, I was inspired to create “cherishables”—garments that were made to last and to be treasured for generations to come.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
Each garment was made with one or a combination of these techniques: Laser-cut self-fabric appliqué, digital reverse pattern engineering, zero-waste pattern making, deconstruction of garments, bias-cutting, hexagonal patchwork, and cyanotype dyeing with lace.
“Buy less, choose well, make it last”—this motto reflects my dedication to creating garments. My collection intends to preserve craftsmanship as wearable heirloom keepsakes; in other words, timeless designs, made of quality workmanship and materials.
Spaghetti Cutting is a collection featuring a new technique of fabric cutting that I invented to combat fabric wastage in the fashion industry.
What was the inspiration behind it?
I was inspired by the problem of unnecessary fabric wastage in the fashion industry. I experimented with spiral cutting in an earlier collection and this collection builds off of it.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
I employed a series of complex mathematical formulas to cut fabric into long uniform seven inch-wide strips, and then spiralled them into tubes to create the garment pieces. This collection reduces the amount of material waste created during the production phase from 25 per cent—which is typical of conventional methods—to as low as 10 per cent.
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Justin Chua
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Collection title:POLYMORPHISM
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‘POLYMORPHISM’ by Justin Chua
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What is your collection about?
POLYMORPHISM is a collection that takes conceptual and aesthetic cues from brutalism by embracing ergonomic functionalism to create garments that consider how they interact with the human body.
What was the inspiration behind it?
The aim of this collection is to advocate conscious consumerism due to overconsumption in the fashion industry. Inspired to reduce the wardrobe size of consumers, I employed the concept of polymorphic design and implemented it from a functionality and inclusivity standpoint.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
The garments in the collection contain different transformative features—from having more than one function to having modularity aspects and not being limited by gender boundaries. Individual garment pieces thus have a prolonged life and use in one’s wardrobe.
Satu: Jati Semesta is a collection of wearable forms that build a connection between the wearers and makers of fashion.
What was the inspiration behind it?
This collection was inspired by a meditation retreat I participated in around various remote locations on Java Island. From the organic and tranquil mood of the clothes, to the very minimal cutting of the garments, the collection is a representation of how I felt during that immersive experience.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
All the garments feature minimal cutting of the pattern, resulting in an ‘open’ design that enables the wearer to explore multiple silhouettes within one garment. The textiles are also naturally dyed using indigo, turmeric, black tea and onion skins.
The Handmade’s Tale is a community revitalisation project that explores the identities of crochet homemakers in Singapore, through craft participatory design. The harmonious layering of textile prints, crochet and embroidery culminate in a celebration of eccentricity.
What was the inspiration behind it?
While I was learning crochet from the internet through observation and experimentation, I realised that online examples were insufficient and not well-captured. So I started learning the craft from local homemakers on the weekends. These incredible women inspired me to tell their stories and create with them.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
Focusing on handmade techniques, the collection incorporates abstract interpretations of the crochet language with hand printed textiles and hand embroidery.
This collection reclaims the identity of the local craft community through participatory design. In this handmade sharing economy, such consumer-and-producer relationships privilege small-scale productions and environmentally sustainable making practices, ultimately building an ethical fashion system.
Kaliyuga is a textile print collection revolving around the fourth era of time within Hinduism. Kali Yuga is believed to be the present age, which is full of conflict and sin.
What was the inspiration behind it?
I captured and documented my reactions and feelings towards practices, superstitions and events in this dark time of Kali Yuga. These then served as inspiration for the prints and motifs of the collection.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
The main motifs for the collection stem from hand-drawn illustrations and paintings, which were scanned and digitally manipulated to create digital prints.
Compared to traditional textile printing methods, digital printing is a more sustainable and eco-friendly method as it reduces water waste—lesser wash/rinse cycles of fabrics, no screens or colourant baths that would require cleaning—and there is little dye/chemical disposal.
Niegour is a collection that encourages young Tibetans to embrace their heritage through modern, wearable designs.
What was the inspiration behind it?
There is a wild, pure and sacred charm to Tibetan culture—as seen in their art, religion and traditional practices. I am inspired by these and by showcasing these aspects in my collection—felt products made from wool and yak fur; embroidery motifs of local plants; digital abstract prints of animals; colours of Tibet’s landscape—I hope that more people can come to appreciate my culture.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
Handmade felting and needle embroidery was used in this collection.
Collection title:‘Nebula: The End to the Beginning’
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‘Nebula: The End to the Beginning’ by Rabiatula’dawiyah Binte Ismail
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What is your collection about?
Muslim women often have to improvise their dressing while practicing their beliefs. Nebula: The End to the Beginning is a collection about challenging conventions by empowering Muslim women and encouraging them to embrace their femininity.
What was the inspiration behind it?
The collection was inspired by nebula, a phenomenon where giant clouds of gas and dust are flung up from the explosion of dying stars. When the cloud is too dense, the materials will heat up and collapse in gravity, thus forming a hot core. This is also known as the beginning of a new star. These cycles of new beginnings inspired me.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
For this collection I applied my favourite voluminous gathering method, as well as weaving and pull-thread methods. This collection intends to tackle the lack of fashionable, modest wear available in the industry for Muslim women.
Fallible is a sustainable fashion collection that upcycles dead stock and upholstery fabrics through a new way of mending. It aims to open up conversations about discarded clothes and educate consumers on wastage and overconsumption in the fashion industry.
What was the inspiration behind it?
The collection was inspired by the Japanese philosophical concept of ‘wabi-sabi’, which is an appreciation for imperfections. I combined the idea of perfection—something that we are so obsessed with in the current era—with the imperfections from dead stock to create holes as a textile design. I am also trying to solve the problem of textile waste in the fashion industry.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
I embroidered the edges of each hole and hand-pulled individual strands of threads in order to create holes and rips that would stand out as a central feature of these designs.
Disposable Fashion is a collection that explores a novel approach to sustainable fashion consumption by introducing new biodegradable materials. The collection tackles the issues of pre-consumer waste and textile waste, which is what often ends up in landfills.
What was the inspiration behind it?
Consumer culture and fast fashion brands, which have produced an endless amount of waste, harming the environment. The increasing amount of clothes being thrown away offers an opportunity to rethink the materials used in fast fashion.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
I employed 3D printing, laser cutting, laser engraving and embroidery to shape the bioplastics into textile pieces.
RÜI蕊 is a collection that explores the cultural reconciliation between past and contemporary China through the figure of a modern warrior seeking to find their own voice. An ungendered perfume with notes of musk, rose oil, gerberas, lavender, patchouli and woody undertones accompanies the collection and was created in collaboration with leading fragrance company Takasago.
What was the inspiration behind it?
Inspired by the protective quality of uniforms and warrior figures in Chinese literature, garments in this collection take the form of wearable talismans, symbolising a visual dialogue between lost China and contemporary society.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
Textile techniques such as free-hand embroidery, foiling, digital printing, mono-printing and knotting were used in the collection. The garments are all also fully bound in red grosgrain, creating a clean finished look with a clear outline of the silhouette.
Night Bloomers is a collection that uses fashion to address traumatic experiences such as sexual harassment. Through my collection, I hope to offer a healing message to those who have suffered from traumatic experiences and help them make peace.
What was the inspiration behind it?
I was inspired by still-life floral paintings, where flowers bloomed in dark places, as well as the historical evidence that pointed to embroidery exercises being used therapy to treat WWI veterans who suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
I used silkscreen mono-printing, beading and embroidery in this collection.
Kalpa-Pat is a collection that expands on the possibilities of modern Indian fashion.
What was the inspiration behind it?
Kalpavriksha, the sacred tree of Hinduism, is the inspiration for my collection. The silhouettes revolve around the general idea of the tree while the textiles used relate to the mythological belief of the tree.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
For this collection I used one of the most ancient textile crafts of India – embroidery. A method of layering and slashing textiles was also used to depict the mythological beliefs of the tree.
Chrysilience is a collection that conveys hope, transformation, beauty and strength through the four stages of a caterpillar’s metamorphosis into a butterfly.
What was the inspiration behind it?
The inspiration behind this collection is the journey of an Indian woman who breaks out from orthodox, patriarchal society to become a powerful figure; carving a path for herself. Just as a butterfly goes through various stages of transformations, breaking through it all to emerge as the best version of itself, many Indian women have persevered through adversities to emerge victorious.
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
The collection combines minimalist silhouettes with pleated textile prints in a maximalist style. Additionally, corsets were also featured in the collection as I love its timeless and potent symbolism of feminine power.
Song For A Lost Dynasty (末代之歌) is a collection that symbolises one’s interaction with and embodiment of culture.
What was the inspiration behind it?
I took inspiration from the fact that often, what is lost can never be found again and over time, numerous relics, historical artefacts, and cultural values have been lost. This is concerning as there is a need to preserve cultural knowledge and pass it onto the next generation. My collection aims to connect the wearer and his/her heritage.
What special techniques/processes did you employ in creating your collection?
This collection combines modern and innovative textile techniques with traditional crafts. Examples include the use of thermo-reactive textiles, screen prints and embroidery. These textiles interact with the wearer’s body heat to transform and disappear, symbolising our intimate encounter with culture.
TULIP FEVER is a collection that represents the spirit and ephemerality of tulips by offering a contemporary take on femininity. As a designer, I aim to create garments with longevity in mind so that people can experience a sense of whimsy, joy and ease. I do this by using high-quality fabrics that are constructed into voluminous pieces, reflecting the beauty of everyday life.
What was the inspiration behind it?
This collection takes inspiration from its namesake film, Tulip Fever (2017).
What special techniques did you employ in creating your collection?
I used natural dyeing techniques, skilled craftsmanship and the recycling of smithereens in this collection.
