ESTHER TAY: Womenswear-turned-uniform designer finds successor in her daughter

She has been a uniform maker longer than a womenswear designer, but now and then, Esther Tay still longs for her glory days of fashion.

- 

The 1990s were a blur of attending and exhibiting in shows in the world's fashion capitals. It was priceless exposure and networking, and getting to learn other countries' way of dress.

"Uniforms are more stable, but there's no more glamour," says Tay ruefully.

Still, she counts her blessings. From her duplex unit in an industrial building in Commonwealth, the 72-year-old founder and creative director of Esta (esta.com.sg) has a whole system going. It is like Santa's workshop, except instead of shelves of toys, there are racks of Singapore Girl kebaya.

Her company is a long-time partner that produces the Singapore Airlines stewardess uniform. Not design, Tay clarifies, because they would "never change something as iconic as the Balmain kebaya".

Tay was, however, behind other iconic ensembles, including for Scoot's cabin crew, Citibank and UOB staff, restaurant chain Din Tai Fung's front-of-house, as well as Team Singapore's get-up at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Before she was known as a doyenne of uniforms, the warm and cheerful Tay was outfitting everyday women.

The dressmaking alum of the now-defunct Baharuddin Vocational Institute - known as today's Institute of Technical Education - started her fashion career in 1973 at a haberdashery store at Tanglin Shopping Centre.

She struck out on her own in 1976, starting her label Esta under the company Estabelle Fashions. The gutsy designer then approached CK Tang department store with a proposal to produce its in-house label.

Its late chairman Tang Wee Sung, then a junior buyer, gave her her first big break, reminisces Tay, who was granted her own concept corner for Esta in Tangs.