Guide to S'pore's other fashion weeks

FIDE FASHION WEEKS

It held its first Men's Fashion Week in March 2011, followed by the Women's Fashion Week and Haute Couture Week in October that year. These have taken place at Marina Bay Sands every year.

The chairman of the annual Fide Fashion Weeks is publisher Frank Cintamani, 40, who aims to create a fashion week schedule for Singapore that is on a par with the fashion weeks in Paris, London and Milan.

The shows feature a mix of international and home-grown designers. However, the international names - French couturier Stephane Rolland, Chinese couturier Guo Pei and French designer Alexis Mabille - are not as recognisable as those at Audi Fashion Festival.

Local labels Thomas Wee, Ashley Isham, Raoul and Reckless Ericka have taken part.

More recognisable are its celebrity attendees. They have included South Korean actor and singer Rain and K-pop star G-Dragon.

Frederick Lee, who took part in Haute Couture Week in 2011 and last year, says the event was a "good stepping stone" for him. "Local

brands need the recognition and people need to see what the local talents can create," says the 45-year-old designer.

This year, Fide Fashion Weeks will also be held in the Middle East, Australia and other parts of Asia. The dates have not been confirmed.

DIGITAL FASHION WEEK

This annual event, which debuted in 2012, is a partnership between home-grown marketing agency DFW Creative, the British Council and Google Asia. It is the first fashion week in the world to be streamed live entirely online, and where the items can be bought at the same time.

DFW Creative is co-owned by Ms Charina Widjaja, 29, a former marketing manager.

The event's goal: to support fledgling Singapore designers and to showcase their work to an international audience through the Internet. It uses the Google+ and YouTube platforms to stream the fashion shows, interviews and backstage scenes live.

Local designers who have taken part in DFW include Thomas Wee, Max Tan, In Good Company and Pauline Ning. In Good Company's co-founder, Sven Tan, was impressed with the "immediacy" of DFW, saying "it provided a great platform that everyone had access to, and everyone who tuned in got a front-row seat.

Having our first runway show streamed live on YouTube was also effective for an independent label like ours to reach out to a wider audience across many geographical regions".

The public could also buy the pieces immediately from its e-store and the Asos marketplace (there was a joint initiative between DFW and Asos at the time).

This year's DFW will be based on a European Exchange theme, with a focus on European designers alongside local ones, and will take place from Oct 31 to Nov 3.

This article was first published on May 9, 2014.
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