Fresh Faces: Caro Chia
Sculpting the abstract to the body
F&M’s Fresh Faces is a series featuring young Southeast Asian fashion practitioners and speaks with them about how they embarked on their careers and what propels them as creatives.
Caro Chia.
Caro Chia is an emerging fashion designer from Malaysia, who founded her eponymous label in 2020. With its structural cuts and patterns, the designer’s abstract approach is an ode to contemporary art movements and sculptors such as Jean Arp, thus naming her collection ‘Arp 2020’ after the artist. The brand’s mixed use of textiles and biomorphic pattern cutting aims to boundlessly reconfigure the body through sculptural design. In her most recent collection ‘Barp 2021’, she superimposed International Klein Blue by artist Yves Klein onto the body to give an electric pop of colour over neutral garments.
Barp 2021. Image courtesy of Caro Chia.
Could you talk about your background? And at what point did you decide to pursue a career in fashion?
After graduating from the University of Brighton with a degree in Fashion Design and Business Studies in 2019, I returned to Malaysia during the pandemic in 2020 and launched my label ‘Caro Chia’ in the same year. I am obsessed with creating so when I started my first fashion course, I was excited to discover the intersection between fashion and art. The two crafts align with my passion in design and sparked my curiosity in expressing my truest self.
Arp 2020. Image courtesy of Caro Chia.
Arp 2020. Image courtesy of Caro Chia.
How have you maintained your practice? What are the important factors that have kept you going?
I enjoy studying art, especially learning from artists associated with the Dada movement. I find that sculptures tend to be appreciated by people without regard to how things should be shaped realistically. Meanwhile, there are a lot of preconceived expectations of what clothes should look like based on the human form, but I want to explore fashion with the same abstract freedom as a sculptor. I think it is more fun!
Your label is known for its “uncertain shapes”. How do you incorporate elements of sculptural design into your clothing?
I am inspired by arc shapes, unintentional lines and uncertain forms when creating patterns and experimenting in my collections. I want this non-conforming aesthetic to evoke a sense of calm, to be freewheeling in its creation of visual poetry. I want to create a contemporary label that is not grounded in any culture, but simply with an original idea to present to the modern world.
Barp 2021. Images courtesy of Caro Chia.
Your most recent collection ‘barp2021’ reimagines International Klein Blue onto the human body. Could you talk more about this?
International Klein Blue always evokes a sense of calm in me. I love his “ living brushes” and imagined this raw texture applied to the body. While playing with the idea, I created the collection ‘Barp 2021’ where I painted Klein’s “blue stroke” onto bodysuits.
Arp 2020. Image courtesy of Caro Chia.
Arp 2020. Image courtesy of Caro Chia.
As a fashion designer, how do you build your customer base?
We get most of our customers through Instagram, where we were able to build a small following from around the world. I have a vision to introduce a new aesthetic in this modern world through ‘Caro Chia’, and I am excited to continue growing.
How do you think budding fashion designers can kickstart their design journey?
Take one idea and execute it artistically. Go wild with your imagination and keep experimenting with your initial idea. From there, develop the concept into a product that aligns with your aesthetic as well as the current market. It may be difficult to balance both!
Barp 2021. Image courtesy of Caro Chia.
Arp 2020. Image courtesy of Caro Chia.
Who has been an important influence in the fashion industry for you? And why?
Helmut Lang in the 1990s is an important influence in my practice because he was a revolutionary for his time. He introduced clean cuts, layered tank tops, sheer tees and utility parkas while playing with technical fabric. The way he interacted with fashion through an artist’s perspective has inspired many ideas behind my label.
Barp 2021. Image courtesy of Caro Chia.
What are your hopes for your local fashion scene, and in Southeast Asia as well?
Fashion in Southeast Asia is already diverse. However, due to cultural barriers, much of it has yet to reach a global audience. I hope that more people can learn to see fashion as an art form and to open up more interactions with the art industry, so that we may nurture the value of originality within the local fashion scene.
“I hope that more people can learn to see fashion as an art form and to open up more interactions with the art industry, so that we may nurture the value of originality within the local fashion scene.”
‘Every Arc is a Delusion’, 2022. Image courtesy of Caro Chia.
Visit carochia.com or @caro__chia on Instagram to check out the label’s newest collection ‘Every Arc is a Delusion’, 2022.