Inclusion should be ‘a circle that expands’ says emerging Singaporean designer Claudia Poh

In this four-part series, we meet emerging Asian designers who are championing accessibility, inclusivity and femininity, and looking to make a positive change through fashion. In part one, we get to know Claudia Poh, a Singaporean designer who is reimagining elegant clothing to empower those with limited mobility

On all of Claudia Poh’s designs, fabric cascades elegantly over the wearer’s body, cutting both classic silhouettes and stylishly placed asymmetrical drapes. Look more closely and you’ll find a magnetic belt there, or a ring-shaped zipper here—unusual touches that are less ornamental and more purposeful.

In 2020, Poh founded Werable, a Singaporean adaptive fashion brand that creates clothes designed to accommodate the needs of people with various physical disabilities. The brand’s name is a play on the phrase “we are able”, which encapsulates its mission to marry wearability and agency for its target customer.

At the heart of the enterprise is inclusivity, which, according to Poh, “isn’t binary; it’s a circle that expands”.

Above Matisse in Ivory by Werable (Photo: courtesy of Claudia Poh)

“Every effort we make to create accessible products expands our circle to more people,” she says and expand that circle she has, working with occupational therapists to address dressing challenges for those with disabilities. She counts Stroke Support Station among her collaborators—a community organisation dedicated to supporting stroke survivors’ rehabilitation—and has worked with them to produce shirts designed to be put on with one hand.

Poh started her fashion career at Parsons School of Design in New York. It was there that she was challenged to create a winter coat for a friend with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an effect of which was paralysis in her arms. The request set in motion an exciting career in adaptive fashion with a brand that, in Poh’s words, “innovates a future where we may live with grace and dignity”.

Today, the brand offers ready-to-wear pieces and custom garments which are painstakingly designed with a universal matrix, prioritising, among other things, identity and grace, stability and safety, and comfort.

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One of Poh’s more exciting collections include a collaboration with Paralympic swimmer Yip Pin Xiu earlier this year. Designed for a competition organised by the Singapore Fashion Council called “Singapore Stories”, the collection, It’s Only in Water I Can Move Freely, is named after a quote by Yip in an interview, and inspired by the fluidity of the water in which Yip has built her career.

Conventional zippers are absent, as Yip struggles to unzip them; instead, Poh designed wrap dresses with magnetic fasteners, making them especially easy to put on. The collection includes a pleated, baby blue top with puffy sleeves that mimic the movement of the water, centring accessibility, inclusivity and dignity without sacrificing effortless chic.

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Above Matisse in Pine Green by Werable (Photo: courtesy of Claudia Poh)

Above Matisse in Pine Green by Werable features snapping magnetic fastenings (Photo: courtesy of Claudia Poh)

While Poh has cornered the luxury adaptive fashion market, she is now working towards making her clothes more affordable as part of her drive towards accessibility. It’s why she has been testing out an alterations service, where her design team modifies clients’ existing garments to accommodate their conditions.

The clothes are then sent to local seamstresses to execute the changes, which ends up costing much less than buying specially designed garments— making inroads into sustainability while casting Werable’s net to a wider audience.

“Everyone deserves to own beautiful things,” she says. Indeed, Poh’s clothes are not just for people with disabilities or even those with mobility issues, but for anyone who wants to wear elegant clothes with accessibility built into its design. It is this focus on inclusivity and continuous innovation that makes Poh such an exciting designer to watch, as she seamlessly melds today’s discourse around accessibility with the unique expression and beauty that fashion can bring.

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Topics

Claudia Poh Inclusivity Representation Fashion Singapore

Tatler Asia

Singaporean designer Claudia Poh on her brand Werable, created for those with physical disabilities, and how inclusion should be ‘a circle that expands’