Artistry at the highest level

Leading designers from Asia and France brought glamour and glitz to the catwalks of the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands last week, as Fide Fashion Weeks repeated ||last year’s success with its second event in Singapore.
  Divided into four focal themes, the Fashion Week kicked off with the Asian Couture Evening featuring creations by rising Asian designers Guo Pei from China, Barney Cheng from Hong Kong, Asava by Polpat Asavaprapha from Thailand and Torgo by Bold Ochirjantsan from Mongolia.
Japanese designers Somarta by Tamae Hirokawa, Junko Shimada and Yumi Katsura were the stars of the second day’s Japan Couture Evening while day three was devoted to a special couture presentation featuring Thomas Wee from Singapore and Marc-Antoine Borris from France.
For the last three nights, Singaporean fashionistas were whisked over, mentally if not physically, to Paris with refined and elegant showings by French couturiers Yiqing Yin, Maurizio Galante, Julien Fournie, Christophe Josse, Atelier Gustavolins, Alexis Mabille, Livia Stoianova and Yassen Samouilov’s On aura tout vu and Bouchra Jarrar in French Couture Week.
Gua Pei opened the event with a masterful showing of Chinese haute couture that went way beyond style. Her creations, akin to ancient Chinese fables, included a dramatic petal grown in gold thread and dresses with exquisite dragon motifs.
Torgo’s Ochirjantsan presented luxury interpretations of the traditional costumes of various ethnic groups of Mongolia with a contemporary European edge.
Thailand’s Asava by Polpat stuck to his signature elegant and minimalist style, offering an edgy New Yorker look while Cheng from Hong Kong made a firm fashion statement with evening dresses with a sculpted edge.
Japanese couturiers Somarta, Junko Shimada and Yumi Katsura left guests in the full-capacity Pavilion full of awe and admiration. Somarta presented her Bloom collection, using various textures and designs to evoke the beautiful world of flowers through cobalt, ivory and rich black dressed accented with intricate detailing and touches of sparkle.
Shimada’s Spring and Summer 2013 collection saw models taking the runway in bright-hued outfits tinged with a Middle Eastern influence, complete with matching turbans and handmade harem-inspired shoes with elevated-soles.
Katsura wowed with an exquisite array of gowns, kimonos and statement dresses that fused traditional Japanese aesthetics with modern elegance.
Singapore’s very own fashion maestro, Thomas Wee, delighted guests with a well-crafted and sophisticated collection of structural gowns, jackets and dresses using a contrasting palette of black and white, accented with touches of crimson, fresh lime and turquoise. Couturier Marc-Antoine Barrois took the audience on a retrospective journey with menswear in soft lambskin, leather, lightweight wool and even mink.
Day 4 started at noon with invited guests, the media, fashion students and bloggers arriving for the ”Globalisation of Haute Couture” symposium. Panel members included Suzy Menkes, fashion critic of the International Herald Tribune, Didier Grumbach of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, Dr Satoshi Onuma, Bunka Fashion College, Dr Frank Cintamani, Chairman of Fide Fashion Weeks and couturiers Alexis Mabille, Christophe Josse and others.
French Couture Week kicked off with a show by Paris-based Yiqing Yin, her models walking down the catwalk in dresses with ruffles and folds like origami, long drapery silk dresses, fur jackets and gowns with crystal embellishments.
Maurizio Galante showed an exquisite hand crafted collection of layers after layers of fabric and textures in the richest of colours. Julien Fournie, meanwhile, paid tribute to the disco decade with an all-Asian bevy of model with afro-style hair. The whimsical yet sexy collection saw dresses with bouncing fringes and ruffles in candy pop colours and well-cut body-clinging dresses with plunging necklines that accentuated the feminine silhouette and movement.
Haute couturiers Christophe Josse, Gustavo Lins and Alexis Mabille headlined the second night. Josse’s “Opulently Uncluttered” featured refined minimalistic designs that reflected the work of Japanese architect Tadao Ando and exuded elegance.
Brazilian designer Lins of Aterlier Gustavolinsshowed highly wearable and understated stylish designs for both women and men. For his womenswear, Lins reinvented his architectural cut and allowed the fabric to spiral or slip to the back with pizzazz.
Mabille envisaged women as jewels, their multiple facets revealed by lights. The grandeur of his collection and the array of opulent dresses and gowns in velvet, silk and organza, left guests gasping with delight.
On aura tout vu by Livia Stoianova and Yassen Samouilov closed out the event by taking guests into a world of fantasy and wonderment with their unconventional approach. Models were dressed in white, black and red, with copious amounts of fur, feathers, crystals and rhinestones hyping up the strong, dramatic and loud look. Applause rang out as the final model emerged, flanked by two male models dressed as Centaurs.