Josiah Chua Archive of Singapore Fashion

Recollecting Singapore fashion designers Pauline Ning, Mae Pang, Woods & Woods

Detail of a Pauline Ning dress (2010). Photo by Russell Morton.

While many profess to be collectors, an archive of objects still requires the professional upkeep of dedicated conservators and curators. Collecting contemporary objects sits on a blurred line in Singapore. The idea of fashion archives is still foreign, with most examples of fashionable dress collected by the National Heritage Board belonging to social histories of individuals, or garments collected for specific exhibitions at state museums such as ‘Stylo Mylo: A Selection of Men’s Fashion in Singapore’ (2006) and ‘In the Mood for Cheongsam’ (2012) at the National Museum of Singapore.

Within the state archive, the few independent fashion designers whose work are collected are established names such as Benny Ong and Thomas Wee, who worked in the 1980s and 1990s. Perhaps with the opening of the new Fashion & Textile Gallery at the Asian Civilisations Museum in 2020, we will see an increase in the inclusion of Singapore fashion designers, although acquisitions for state museums can be hampered by their elaborate process. For now, independent designers' histories are kept alive by a small number of zealous individuals like Josiah Chua.

Josiah Chua is a fashion practitioner who trained at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore and Bunka College in Tokyo. In the past few years, his ardent quest for collecting Singaporean labels has produced a unique archive of pieces from Singaporean fashion designers, most of whom are no longer practicing. Chua’s archive includes peripheral materials that point to a time when independent fashion in Singapore thrived before the emergence of e-commerce giants such as Rocket Internet’s Zalora in 2012. Prior to this, one would discover new designers in multi-label stores such as Blackmarket (2008-2014) and Front Row (2005-2015).

Details of a Mae Pang skirt (2009). Photo by Russell Morton.

In this conversation, Chua and the objects in his archive unveil the labour of love that independent fashion designers leave behind in material culture.

How did the collecting of Singaporean designer labels begin? 

I have been a fashion stylist for a few years, and the topic of Singaporean brands would come up in conversation. And it would be a passionate discussion about what each label had to offer. In contrast, today the fashion scene is dominated by a variety of options such as online shops, global and local fast fashion. I also began collecting these garments because I have a personal connection with these designers. Many of the labels I collect are from friends and ex-classmates. In 2010, several of them started their own labels through the fashion incubator Parco next Next (2010-2013). It is so sad that many of these labels were not able to sustain themselves, and I thought it was such a waste that no one remembered them. Some were acquaintances that I met through my job at Catalog Magazine, and designers whose work I admired at the time.

Detail of a Pauline Ning dress (2010). Photo by Russell Morton.

In your archive, a majority of the labels are not practicing any longer but were prolific in the late 2000s. Was this an intentional time period that you chose to collect?

It was not an intentional perimeter that I set out. As a fashion student in 2007, this was a period that left a deep impression and it is almost like I am collecting my heroes or the designers that were in the fashion scene at that time. I remember that I would come across these garments at Black Market or Asylum or Front Row. I could not afford to buy them at the time as a student, so it is almost like I’m collecting my past. It is also about availability. So far, I have not come across the older designers like Celia Loe.

Detail of a Woods & Woods sweater (2000). Photo by Russell Morton.

How difficult is it to find these pieces and how do you usually acquire them?

I am often searching on Carousell and at sample sales. When I buy it off others, sometimes I would have conversations over where they had purchased these items. For example, the Woods and Woods shirt is over a decade old and I found it on Carousell. The seller told me that he would often go to Front Row and that they had the coolest brands, and he would buy designers like APC. He saw this shirt and thought it was really nice and the sales person told him it was a local brand and there were only 3 pieces made, so he bought it. Over the years, as people hear about my collection, they would donate pieces that they have kept for a long time. There are even pieces that I have purchased from the designers themselves.

Detail of Mae Pang mesh vest (2009). Photo by Russell Morton.

Do you have a wishlist of pieces that you have not acquired yet?

I do. I really liked the Plus Nine collective, which was made up of numerous young designers. This endeavour was an uplifting breath of fresh air. It consisted of graduates from across all fashion schools in Singapore. They did not last, and I understood as a designer that it would not going to be easy-going for my own practice. It is not possible to mass manufacture something that is so personal, and that has so much research. Everything they made was so precious and was a result of so much detail and work. I do have a IamWhoIam suit jacket and pants given to me by Chin, who worked at Front Row. But I still want to acquire pieces that I remember the brand for.

Another piece that I really want, and have since acquired is a green pleated necklace that I remember seeing in Asylum by Grace Tan from Kwodrent. She taught me in school in my final year. She showed me her archive and I bought that piece from her. She told me she hardly works with this type of colour, but she saw this organdie when she was in India and she was attracted to it.

That is amazing. It is like a time capsule of an idea, a place both metaphorically and physically. Looking at the pieces in your collection and touching the details of the garments brings me back to this time period. Thank you, Josiah!