WOOHOO!!! Just back from my 3rd official fashion event so far!!! THIS IS SO EXCITING! I can't believe all this is actually happening to me!
Anyways, tonights event was at Raffles City, entitled...
Your Style Unleashed
Experience Fashion Up Close And Personal This Season!
And quite literally... the fashion was UP CLOSE and personal this time round! Remember how in the previous post I
mentioned that Daniel Boey feels that fashion shows are passe... That
they're becoming useless as designers and producers find new and
innovative ways to showcase their collections?
Well this time round, Daniel Boey did something about that! He was commissioned by Raffles City to re-conceptualise fashion shows and
figure out a new way to showcase the clothes of almost every label in
Raffles City! (which is mostly just fast fashion blahblingblongboom)
And so... instead of doing normal fashion shows, Daniel Boey decided to experiment with a new method of showcasing the clothes! Fashion Busker! Or however you spell that word!
Which meant that there was NO RUNWAY! Rather... the models would strut their stuff around the
ENTIRE shopping mall, posing here and there, making it look informal and
unrehearsed, working (selling) the clothes, while carrying signs with
the labels they were walking for written on them... and essentially just
making fashion more relatable to the public. (a.k.a bring the clothes
right up into their faces to look pretty so that they'll be enticed to
buy them!) VERY VERY COMMERCIAL! I guess because this event largely
consisted of fast-fashion-labels.
*They not only went to all the other floors!*
*but even outside!*
And all this was of course punctuated with a few entertainment acts like dancers, singers and magicians. HMM.
*GOD I LOVE THE REMIX!*
If it sounds like it was a circus... that's because it was. For me at least.
Firstly, let me clear things up. I think that this event was innovative and definitely
achieved its goal. It was a fashion event not for the top couture
houses to impress industry professionals and high society... but rather a
commercial fashion event by fast-fashion-labels to bring the clothes to
the consumers (and to hopefully sell their stuff). And I think Daniel
Boey perfectly understood that. The average consumers of
fast-fashion-labels don't necessarily have to sit down, look at every
minute little detail of the clothes and soak up every drop of the
collection. They don't really care about the mood of the collection, or
the inspiration, or anything in detail really. Average consumers of
fast-fashion-labels just want things that are haute, that are trendy and
that are essentially all nice and pretty. All they need is a glimpse of
the clothes to see if they like it or not... They don't need a bloody
catwalk show to persuade them! Rather, an event like this was perfect
for them! Really bringing the fashion out to the people... directly to
the consumers.
HOWEVER! Personally, I hated the event (though I have to thank Daniel for
inviting me and being so nice to me!). Having a "fashion busker" in the
middle of a crowded shopping mall during peak hour in tight spaces with
people pushing around, models strutting so fast and going everywhere
gets pretty disorientating! It was intense, insane and merciless! I mean
quite literally there was very very little time to take in everything
because...
Also, I think I didn't like it because personally I'm not that kind of average fast-fashion-label consumer who just wants to look pretty and trendy and nice.
I'm definitely more the kind of guy who loves fashion as a whole, who doesn't just want to look
good and pretty, but rather wants to have a conducive environment to
review a collection, to scrutinize every minute detail, to understand
the concept or themes or messages in the collections, to completely
immerse myself in that 15 minutes when a collection is shown to me!
*Pretends to be some fashion-reviewer person. Okay fine that didn't
work.* TO CELEBRATE FASHION!
And that's why I still think that fashion shows aren't passe! Because
they're still the only effectively way to truly appreciate fashion in
its finest forms for the people who truly love fashion and treat it with
utmost respect. Fashion shows are the platforms to channel the
concepts/messages/inspirations of collections to industry professionals
and buyers! Buyers who are also passionate about fashion and can see
beyond clothes just being clothes. Fashion shows are essentially, a
celebration of fashion! And I doubt anything can replace that. Not even
the internet! (Though many houses/designers are now starting to
broadcast their shows live, most of it is still buggy and laggy!)
Again, don't get me wrong. I think Daniel did a great job with this event,
understanding the objective and concept perfectly, and executing it
exceptionally (except of course for those signboards with the brand
names on them which were in such bloody squiggly fonts that I couldn't
read shit).
HOWEVER! It is the very nature of these kind of fashion events which I hate; Because they
are intrinsically commercial, and you guys know I hate commercialism, I
HATE THEM! They aren't about treating fashion as an art form and
celebrating it... I doubt they are even about great clothes! It's just
all about creating that image to entice the consumers to buy their
stuff; All in a gimmicky fashion of course, which most of the time is
executed through styling. And I think that's why the fast-fashion label
clothes always look so great at these kind of events (heck sometimes
they even look as great as designer pieces!) BUT when you go into a
fast-fashion store like Topshop or Zara... you just get bored out of
your bloody wits because the clothes are so darn boring. It's not the
pieces which are great... but it's the styling which is insidious! It's
like listening to Ke$ha you know? Her songs are really shitty when it
comes to depth or any real meaning at ALL! But it's the annoyingly
hypnotic beats which bamboozle you... in a very VERY gimmicky fashion.
Like your body starts flailing and grinding on the dance floor when her
beat comes on... but you feel like crap because you know that her songs
are really superficial and dumb. (And that's why I didn't review the
clothes. Not that I had any chance to do so since everything was so
confuzzling anyways!)
OVERALL though! While I completely detest these kind of events now, I do enjoy
the fact that people like Daniel Boey and probably other runway
producers are exploring other ways to make fashion more accessible and
to bring fashion closer to the public. And I think that events like
these, "fashion buskers", are great for commercial purposes... to sell
fast-fashion clothes to the average Joe and Jane.
But whether fashion shows are passe... I'm still a traditional biatch and
do believe that fashion shows remain the optimum platforms to showcase
serious, designer collections for serious, professional audiences who
truly love fashion and see beyond commercialism... or that clothes are
simply clothes. Because I don't see any other platform which gives
fashion that much respect as an art form... and which allows us to
celebrate it in its finest forms!
THE CATWALK IS PERENNIAL BIATCHES!
Oh but the night didn't end there! Daniel was so nice as to even take me BACKSTAGE! Ohmahgod! Which was really unglam and gross... and I got to see the RAW-R side of fashion...
Haha! DOG POO!!!
Okay fine maybe not. But they're hairballs thingamajigs that the models literally STUCK onto their hair. Yupp very very unglam.
(Cheap and crude remember? That's what happens to these type of commercialised events)
I must say that going backstage was far better than the event itself! It opened my eyes and let me see the other side of fashion.
SO THANK-A-YOU Daniel for being so nice to me and even taking me backstage...giving me tips and information.
Anyways people! Great experience tonight! And I'm going for another fashion show tomorrow hosted by Elle Singapore at Parco Marina Bay around 3pm!
SO PSYCHED! This is totally insane! Still can't believe it's happening to me!
P.S
This post was actually meant for Friday, 17th April, but because the pictures took so long to upload I could only finish it today.
And also Bobo has just created a youtube account for fashion videos! Do check it out! BoboBaroque
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