Raffles Design Insitute Graduation Show DEC. '08 (Update: Better video quality and more pictures)

!UPDATES!: Added a little more pictures and more comments (in italics) to the photographs shown.

Raffles Design Institute showcased the works from more than 20 graduates from B(A) Honours in Fashion Design on Wednesday at the Ritz Carlton, Singapore.

In my opinion, going to school is the only time were one get to experiment and make a huge impression to the industry. From my observations, most of the collections were mostly dark in terms of colour scheme (some were way too dark!) and the themes were mostly psychological, a little ethnic or historical. Perhaps it's because it's the 'Winter' period, I'm not sure...

Many of the collection impressed me nevertheless. Here are some pictures some taken on my own (unfortunately, my pictures are a little 'old school' as I had no choice but to use a disposable camera) and some pictures which I found from other sources (which I believe might be better than mine) for the exhibition and fashion show.

I've compiled a video which was taken from my camera to get the feel of the show. Cramming 24 collections in a video was hard, so I just selected a few. The video quality isn't as good as I wanted it to be since it was taken from my phone (hence the reason why I made the video look like an old film!).

Meanwhile, enjoy the visuals...

Exhibition:Ideal shop display from the Fashion Merchandising students...
Streetwear?

One of the lamp shades shown in the exhibition.
Hmmm, so this is what I should do with my old sunglasses... A way to go green I suppose!


Display board...a little preview on what the graduating class were presenting for the fashion show.
Very promising...

Going psychedelic!!!


Drawing done by Shannon Lee.
Love, LOVE (!!!) the drawing...it's actually two layers....it's drawn by a piece of tracing paper and underneath is a printed copy of the drawing with a background.


Fashion Show:


Video Compilation
Been trying to upload a better quality on Youtube...hope this works!

Designer: Leslie Yong
Title of collection: 'Message From Unknown'
Comment: Impressed by the collection. There was one outfit (that will be shown on the scanned in version next time) which was embellished by safety pins and I must say...'This is NOT new!'. At least it was done nicely and not clustered! Impressive array of outfits shown and the only thing that will stick in my mind is the masked male figure as shown above.

Designer: Shannon Lee
Title of collection: 'The Anomalies: Mr. and Ms. Anonymous'
Comment: At first, I was really worried about the colour scheme when this collection came out. However, I was won over by the orange jacket which suddenly popped out in the line up. If it was not for that orange jacket, it could have been lost. I did mention that there were too many hoods in this collection but who am I to be picky over such things since I like hoods as well?! This collection has been well thought out. I would have liked to have seen the accessories up-close though...


Designer: Joyce Wong
Title of collection: 'When Fashion Meets Architecture'
Comment: The person who saw the title of this collection on the brochure got excited when seeing the title. However, upon seeing the pictures of the garments, well let's just say that person was pretty disappointed...and that person's an architect! Personally, I think there is not much relevance to these two connection but person could say the lines on the first dress? Can I say that?


Designer: Stephanie Emmanuel Puteri Subagyo
Title of collection: 'African Art Conceals and Reveals'
Comment: Love the draped dress and the way the prints fell in place in the outfit (even though I am NOT a big fan of animal prints!). However, I've seen this concept done many times though I won't say it's a huge crime since there are many ways to go around dealing with any African theme.


Designer: Yang Jing
Title of collection: 'Walking on the Moon'
Comment: Interesting backpack! (Well at least that's what I think it is!)


Designer: Anny Theresia
Title of collection: 'The Exotic of Sardanapalus'
Comment: Honestly, I only remember this outfit out of the whole collection. Even though this silhouette has been done so many times, I still like it! The brochure pictures is much better though!

Designer: Xia Mai Xena
Title of collection: 'The Scream for Alfred Hitchcock'
Comment: Hard for me to comment...I guess these two outfits are the most memorable out of the collection. I would like to have a vest like that though. Amazing how a vest can make an outfit look a bit smarter looking.


Designer: Risma Novianti
Title of collection: 'Black Iris'
Comment: Apologies to the designer, I only remember this outfit perhaps it was because everyone had to sit through many minutes seeing over 20 collections (in around two hours!). I wish we could wear hats like this in Singapore without being stared at like an idiot. I bet I can get away with that in Europe...I think...


Designer: Aven Kee Ai Wei
Title of collection: 'Self Re-Invention, Obsession of Beauty + Lack of Self Confidence = Plastic Surgery'
Comment: What a long title for the concept!!! I wish I had a closer shot of the dress (worn by the blond model) that was partially made out of plastic. I remember doing a concept similar to this many years ago and it was not successful at all! This is quite a successful collection with the concept although a bit more colour would have been great. A splash of red (I don't mean to literately represent surgery!) would be great. Great construction on the garments.

To the graduates of 2008, congratulations!

PS. Once I get a new scanner (mine broke down mysteriously...), I will post more pictures from the brochure for the show.