Female Singapore - December 2019

Chanel J12 The Model Gen Z Timepiece

Consider the Chanel J12 the model Gen Z timepiece. Born in the year 2000 with a gender-neutral design so ahead of its time, it's stuck coolly by its original look and identity, no matter how wild its makeovers get in the name of creative expression. This month, Chanel will hold an interactive exhibition on it right here in Singapore (stay glued to our digital platforms for details). As a teaser, Female and the maison offer a primer on this Y2K icon.

3 mins read

How You Should Dress And Consume Fashion Now

She was the breakout name from the graduating class of 2020 at Central Saint Martins - the London-based South Korean designer's eponymous label has since been coveted by celebrities ranging from Ariana Grande to Cardi B, with its handmade, more-or-more take on ultra-glamorous old-world couture. Now, Sohee Park is moving onto the next stage of her burgeoning fashion empire: a ready-to-wear line under Net-A-Porter's The Vanguard initiative that supports and mentors emerging talents, marking the first time that her ornate confections are commercially sold. Ahead of its launch on the e-tailer next month, the 26-year-old tells Keng Yang Shuen about her vision of how we should dress and consume fashion now.

3 mins read

World Of Its Own

There's a new fashion player in town: a zippy women-focused label from Sweden named & Other Stories that prides itself on being trendy and accessible - but don't call it a high street brand. Having opened a 6,000 sq ft boutique at lon Orchard - its first physical store in Southeast Asia - last month, it boasts not one, but three design ateliers; has artistic leanings (an in-store artist residency programme), and aims to be circular. Is that enough to excite a new gen of customers here though? Khong Yawen gets the lowdown from its Paris-based concept designer Olivia Bavencoffe.

3 mins read

Where The Wild Roses Grow

The most heart-warming stories are often the ones told by family. Here, a conversation between two key members of the Chanel N°5 household - Chanel nose Olivier Polge and the perfume's celebrity face, Marion Cotillard - that took place during a tour of the flower farm in Grasse where the iconic scent is birthed, and which tells the story of this fabled land.

6 mins read

The Eye Has To Travel

For his first-ever fashion editorial, the Singapore-based architectural photographer and artist Finbarr Fallon takes the Fall/Winter 2022 collections on an off-the-beaten track tour of our island-city to explore the notions of home. "The locations I chose represent different moments in the home-building process: the materiality of homes-in-progress; the infrastructure keeping our homes running; the need for constant urban renewal as the prevailing narrative of what makes a good city and possibly a liveable home," he says. "I'm very interested in the in-between spaces to be found within cities, especially one that is as well-curated and planned as Singapore. Even if these spaces don't come to mind first when we think about home, they're integral to the continual and often unruly - process of making and maintaining the city as a 'home'." -

2 mins read

Living In A Material World

For its upcoming home collection revealed at Milan Design Week in June, Hermes puts the universe of textiles centre stage for the first time, making it the anchor and inspiration for the entire line that ranges from blankets and stools to wall-mounted organisers. Imran Jalal finds out from Florence Lafarge – the maison’s creative director for home textiles, furnishing fabrics, wallpapers and all things kids – about how cloth is an important part of design and the social fabric in one’s abode.

4 mins read

my space

Reports have shown that an increasing number of young people in Singapore are seeking their own place to live in. For those who can't or don't, having a space at home to call and make their own can have a deep cultural and emotional significance. Pang Jiawei and Annalisa Espino Lim get four Gen Z creatives to share how their rooms have become a zone for self-expression and how that has in turn shaped them.

9 mins read

centres for the arts

Whether it's an open-to-all studio redefining how fashion should be exhibited or a bunch of arty boys democratising a stuffy, old recreational sport, the spaces and people featured here share one thing in common: They offer inspiration, support and refuge in short, a spiritual home to the local creative community. Keng Yang Shuen reports.

7 mins read

being

There are two sides to the Singapore-based architectural lensman and artist Finbarr Fallon. To clients, he's the go-to for slick yet poetic imagery of their latest star properties. To anyone who's discovered his personal Instagram account @fin.barr, he's the curious and romantic documenter of our island-city's urban landscape, capturing its hotchpotch of rawness, kitsch and polish with cinematic poignancy. Last month, he launched UNIT. a glimpse into Singapore's 1970s-'80s private apartments, his first book in which he photographs and interviews the residents of 10 of such dwellings – the latter are often-forgotten emblems of the nation's post-independence evolution with the pandemic as a backdrop. With it, he reveals a third facet: that of a chronicler of the inner lives of those navigating the shifting function, value and meaning of home. Keng Yang Shuen gets his POV.

8 mins read