Your opportunity to feel like a fashion editor is here, at Singapore's first virtual fashion festival, The Front Row.
Conceptualised by fashion veteran Daniel Boey, 55, the festival recreates a fashion week experience online. The event kicked off yesterday and will run till Aug 29.
The online portal houses a 3D festival village which visitors can navigate to virtually attend runway shows, panels, workshops and podcasts.
On show are 31 local and 10 regional labels - "designers we felt have the pulse on the future, who know how to adapt no matter what the economy throws at them", Boey tells The Straits Times.
From his office in Ubi, the creative director cuts a striking figure in a purple suit and his signature square-framed glasses - fitting for someone often called the godfather of Singapore fashion.
He had the idea in April, around the time the circuit breaker was extended. Since March, his team, Daniel Boey Creatives, had been working on adapting the annual Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts fashion show to a partly virtual event.
When the circuit breaker was extended by a month, he saw the potential to expand it to a festival for all to attend.
"Every other industry was coming together - music, theatre, food. Rather than wait for things to happen, we thought, let's try and make things happen on our own."
With no tech knowledge, he reached out to friends and contacts who could help with digitising his grand ideas. An acquaintance from digital agency AP Media answered his plea.
The company had prior experience turning the Singapore Heritage Festival into an online event in June and knew exactly what he had in mind, says Boey.
"It couldn't be a 2D website - it had to be immersive, to recreate as much of the excitement of a real festival as possible," he says, adding that they took inspiration from the interactivity of role-playing video games.
To simulate moving through rooms and "realistic landscapes", the 360-degree festival village has zones modelled after Singapore's cityscape.
For instance, in the Runway Room, a modern re-creation of the former National Theatre which was demolished in 1986, visitors can watch runway shows, while a kopitiam modelled on the now-closed heritage confectionery Chin Mee Chin is a space for accessing podcasts, panel discussions and styling workshops.
All the events run on a schedule and after each day, they will be archived for easy reviewing, with the portal remaining up for 12 months.
You can shop too. It will be like a "virtual shopping festival meets fashion festival", with links to the brands' e-stores if you like what you see on the runway, says Boey.
"We wanted to try and help the designers with their sales as well," he adds.
The collections are presented as pre-filmed runway shows, fashion videos and short films, which last from three to 10 minutes.
During the festival, designers will appear in a live stream after their shows to take questions and talk about their collections.
Some shows - like those of home-grown designers Max Tan and Gin Lee - were staged and filmed here. The two shows were shot in local art galleries.
Others were remotely produced by the designers abroad, such as Melbourne-based Singaporean designer Jude Ng, who filmed his docu-show in his showroom before the current lockdown.
Having had the "luxury of studying the success and failures" of brands which went online early in the pandemic, Boey believes The Front Row will be more than just a "glossy TV commercial".
"Conceptual but entertaining" experiences will hopefully keep people hooked throughout the 10-day event, like in a computer game that keeps one engaged and eager to get to new levels, Boey says.
"We want people to stay on and watch other shows as well, to see what other stories the designers have to tell."
Fashion weeks of late, he adds, had become "a circus", with "people doing outrageous things for shock value and for influencers to take pictures".
"I wanted to bring it back to the designers and make them the focus - and not just any designer, but those who would be relevant for the future of fashion."
And while the concept of offering viewers a front-row seat to the action may be a departure from fashion industry norms, where runway shows are traditionally closed-door events, choosing not to evolve mindsets would have been a "death knell", says the veteran.
"You really have to keep up with the times. This whole thing about fashion being exclusive - I think it's something fashion people created to make themselves feel important; and I say that as a 'fashion person'."
With 2020 marking his 30th year in the industry, he sees this as the best way to give back to the community.
Many supporting industries around fashion - modelling, hair and make-up, lighting and set design - have been suffering, he notes.
Funded by government agency Enterprise Singapore, the festival has helped drive some income back to these players and Boey hopes it will "pave the way towards the new normal" of fashion events.
Model Kaigin Yong, from Now Model Management, was involved in six shows for The Front Row and paid for each show.
While she had managed to book a few virtual photo shoots with magazines during the circuit breaker, she is thankful that "the industry's support for local models has been stronger than ever".
"I feel like I'm starting out modelling all over again as there is so much to learn and adapt as fashion goes digital.
"With virtual shoots and virtual runway shows becoming more common, models need to be actively involved in the creative process, such as doing our own make-up and hair styling," says the 25-year-old, who has been modelling for about three years.
Fashion designer Gin Lee sees the festival as an evolution of the fashion week model, and in the right direction.
"In these unusual times, exploring new mediums is great, especially to challenge the status quo of the fashion industry. Typical fashion shows tend to be highly unaffordable for smaller designer labels," she says.
And if it all goes south, it will still have been a valiant effort, "but touch wood", Boey adds, furiously palming the wooden table in front of him.
"At the end of the day, you can either choose to wallow in self-pity or tackle the problem," he says.
"At least we can say we tried."
Fashion show: Tria The Label x Marilyn Tan Jewellery
When: Today, 8pm
In this high-fashion showcase pairing two local labels, catch the appearance of former Singaporean top model Anita Akhbar, 49, whom Daniel Boey "managed to entice out of retirement". She won "Best Legs" at the 1989 Supermodel of the World competition.
Boey wanted someone suitable to model the high-fashion pairing, not "a 17-year-old girl prancing around who could never afford their pieces".
Shot at the National Museum of Singapore, the show is a video study of Akhbar posing in various looks.
Podcast/panel: Green Is The New Black: Sustainability In Fashion
When: Tomorrow, 4pm
Sustainability has been a pertinent issue in the fashion industry in recent years, even more so with the pandemic.
How do virtual fashion shows like this, which reduces the carbon footprint of flying people around the world, play a part?
All things eco-friendly are brought to the fore in this panel discussion fronted by sustainability platform Green Is The New Black founder Stephanie Dickson, designer Jude Ng and the accessory artist of label The Kang.
Podcast/panel: Discovering The Next Big Asian Label: How Can Asian Designers Stand Out During The Current Pandemic?
When: Aug 28, 9pm
Not to be missed is this panel discussion between South Korean designer Minju Kim, winner of the Netflix's reality competition Next In Fashion, and Ms Pek Lay Peng, owner of local multi-label store SocietyA, where Kim's collection is stocked.
They will address topics such as how to market Asian designers and whether it is Asia's time to shine in the industry.
Expect a "no-holds-barred" discussion, says Boey, a self-confessed fan of Kim.
"If we need to tell an uncomfortable truth, we will, because that's the reality right now.
(We want) to encourage people to think and start their own discussions," he says.
To join Singapore's first virtual fashion festival, The Front Row, go to their website.
