The 5th Singapore Fashion Festival, presented by the Singapore Tourism Board and Mercedes Benz, took place in in Nge Ann City earlier this month. The 10-day event, billed as the biggest and most glamourous fashion and shopping extravaganza in Asia, is aimed at attracting buyers from India, China, Japan, Australia and Indonesia and making Singapore Asia's leading fashion and shopping destination.
Mercedes Benz, who sponsors fashion events in New York and Europe, focused on the potential of Asian designers and discovering new talents. Besides Singapore, the automaker also sponsors young designers in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Taiwan, helping them enter the international fashion scene. The winner of the festival gets $10,000, an opportunity to showcase their works in the Australian Fashion Week in May, a month-long training in Milan, Italy, and an internship with Daimler Chrysler Design Studio in Como, Italy.
Among the collections showcased during the festival were those from Givenchy, JPG, Kenzo, Versace, Guy Laroche, Alberta Ferretti, Roberto Cavalli, Jean Paul Gaultier and Chloe, as well as from Singapore designers, including Desmond Yang and Adrian Huang.
"One of the reasons why the Singapore fashion industry is fast getting noticed is because we are now helping each other, unlike before where we only rely on ourselves," said Huang, as reported Philstar.com.
Now these designers are getting international recognition and one of them Ashley Isham, who presented his clothes at the finale of the British Council fashion evening, is already based in London and dresses celebrities like Kylie Minogue.
The collections ranged from tuxedo-inspired ensembles, to hip jeans to transparent lacy underwear.
The festival has ended with the Triumph Lingerie show, which happened to be quite sensational, considering the fact that just a few years ago Singapore was far from open to such display of flash.
The event also exhibited fashion photographs by Leslie Kee, customised sneakers by Mark Ong, and shoes by Salvatore Ferragamo.