We present Singapore’s leading style designers who have achieved incredible success both at home and abroad.
Whether it’s designing for film stars and Royalty, or showcasing their wears at Fashion Weeks internationally, here’s our list of fashion designers who have emerged from our tiny but prosperous island home of Singapore.
Ashley Isham
Known for his signature draping and sharp tailoring skills, Ashley made headlines when he was made the official designer for the 2004 BAFTAs, with A-list actresses Angelina Jolie and Keira Knightley donning his creations for the event. With Singapore always at the front of his mind, he showed at the Audi Fashion Festival 2009 and at Singapore’s Couture Week 2011. In-between his jet setting lifestyle, Ashley also found time to launch his menswear collection in Spring 2014, featuring a range of luxurious evening wear pieces.
Max Tan
After earning his stripes as 2006’s ‘Best Graduate’ at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Max progressed to showcasing his first runway show at Singapore Fashion Week the very next year. His big break came when leading fashion trend analysis tracker, Stylesight, ranked him as one of the top Spring/Summer collections to look out for in 2010. Fast-forward to the present, and the designer’s minimalist, modern designs are a huge hit in the Scandinavian countries, while closer to home, fans of his avant-garde silhouettes include Actress, Zoe Tay and Singer, Joi Chua.
Elohim by Sabrina Goh
Growing up, Sabrina’s passion for fashion was greatly influenced by her father, an architectural draughtsman. This resulted in her designs featuring sculpted silhouettes and a distinctive architectonic style. After securing a spot in the finals for the Singapore Young Designer Contests held in 2006 and 2007, Sabrina took a leap of faith and officially launched ‘Elohim by Sabrina Goh’ in 2009. It turned out to be a huge success; her designs have since received commercial success in America, New Zealand, Hong Kong and South Korea.
Ong Shunmugam
It’s easy to pick out Priscilla’s collections, which are more often than not inspired by the traditional cheongsam and characterised by exquisite weaving details, all while skilfully incorporating modern updates into her designs. Her dedication to Orientalism eventually led Priscilla to show her Spring/Summer 2013 collection at Paris Fashion Week, winning the Grand Award at Design for Asia Awards that same year. As if that wasn’t enough, 2015 also saw the designer being picked for the inaugural Fashion Futures programme, organised by the Council of Fashion Designers America.
The Reckless Shop
The label’s Co-Founders, Afton Chan and Louis Koh met while studying at Raffles Design Institute. This also opened doors to tutelage from a fellow alumnus, the ‘Godfather of Singaporean fashion’, Daniel Boey himself. Specialising in classic tailoring with edgy silhouettes, Reckless have opened five boutiques in seven years. On the international front, local Director, Ong Keng Seng, handpicked the label to be a part of the Singapour en France - le festival at Palais de Tokyo, in Paris this year.