Inside a Vogue Singapore gala, with Robert Wun, Prabal Gurung and loving unknowns

SINGAPORE – Vogue Singapore – the local edition of fashion publication Vogue – marked five years in print in a blur of fast-flying air kisses, pomaded updos and brocade capes at a gala on Oct 18.

It was that rare social event where few shirked the dress code, right here in “are boat shoes smart casual?” Singapore. A mood board sent to guests had ordered South-east Asian opulence for the fete, which doubled as the finale to the magazine’s annual fashion conference. It was headlined in its third rodeo by major designers like Nepalese-American Prabal Gurung and Hong Kong-born, London-based Robert Wun.

They and some 300 invitees swished into Sentosa’s newest hotel The Laurus, ready to be photographed as a matter of first priority. Champagne, which floated about the lobby mostly unabused, came second.

Fittingly for a title that has made a mission of foregrounding the tropics, there was a pasar (Malay for marketplace) feel to the ball. 

Famous clothiers, like Chinese designer and star of Netflix reality survival show Next In Fashion (2020) Angel Chen, mingled with small label-owners still better known by their Instagram handles, not all local or in fashion. Expatriates in public relations, venture capital and luxury fashion closed ranks; and from the wings, one could spot local rapper Abangsapau in his trademark sarong, content creator Preetipls in a twinkling sari, the miniature Chinese fans in actress Tan Kheng Hua’s earrings and influencers with personal photographers in tow.

The salad mix of work and place was by design. Vogue Singapore editor-in-chief Desmond Lim is a former graphic designer who knows very well that fashion exists on the seams of, and is reinforced by, other arts.

He told The Straits Times: “Tonight is a coming together of incredible folks. We have students, entrepreneurs who fund creative spaces, musicians, film directors. Asia is such a strong hub.”

It also made for wildly veering gossip, trafficked in a babble of accents. Overheard: A woman pressing a willowy teen on her subject combination at school and men in tuxedos making small talk on the importance of the Venetian empire. A Burberry representative noted in an undertone the abundance of standout looks.

There were such fabulous undertakings as Filipino TV personality Raymond “Mond” Gutierrez’s floor-grazing shawl, hand-beaded with minute caviar pearls by his compatriot designer Rajo Laurel; the hole, front and centre, in theatre veteran Harris Zaidi’s custom jacket, a reference to the Javanese sundel bolong spirit, a kind of “pontianak” with a gaping hollow in her back; the bulbous skirt on former fashion blogger Willabelle Ong’s couture gown by Indonesian designer Adeline Esther; and all manner of panniered skirts and shoulders as wide as anvils.

Dinner was an incidental four-course, for up to $1,500 a pop.

But one could feast royally with the eyes. High-volume sets by home-grown musicians Tabitha Nauser and Yung Raja were curtain raisers for the night’s climax, a runway show of four regional designers that made good on Vogue Singapore’s pledge to represent the equatorial frontier.

Singaporean Putri Adif showed a collection of vividly draped silks asserted by gold hoops and brooches; while Malaysian Dikson Mah mixed futuristic breastplates with spangled skirts. Indonesia’s Toton drew gasps with his liberated macrame knots, terrific in a lettuce green hat (or wig?) of swampy, floor-length vines; and Vietnam’s Le Thanh Hoa doubled down on ceremonial gold.

Chen told ST post-show that South-east Asian fashion was full of energy. “Compared with China, there’s lots of glamour and handicraft, and some of it is very avant-garde,” she said.

“I loved Toton’s hat. It reminds me of Gardens by the Bay.”

Local film-maker He Shuming, who co-wrote and directed the Singapore-South Korean movie Ajoomma (2022), said of the magazine he guest-edited in July/August: “It champions young designers in South-east Asia and is a reminder of Singapore’s creative scene.”

Five years since Vogue Singapore was launched from home at the peak of the pandemic, the local glossy is inching towards mainstream recognition. But it has yet to shed its start-up feel.

That groundedness might be for the better.

After the confetti popped, a 22-year-old local dancer strutted up to the life-size Vogue lettering at the room’s edge, his sari flying and gaze fierce. He had been shy and ombre blue, on account of a committed make-up look inspired by a Vogue editorial, at my table all night.

His friends cooed and filmed the moment, themselves a crew of known but not quite famous creatives – multidisciplinary artist Erwinshah Hassan, Russian art school graduate Polina Korobova, vintage store owner Camira Asrori. In short, the kind of young and peppy talent Lim calls “the kids”.

Their huge joy at being there, of Vogue being here, was in frame.