His 2008 Spring Summer ready-to-wear collection of goddess jersey dresses show why he is feted by international fashion buyers. In bright cheery colours of tangerine and violet, azure and cobalt, the dresses draped easily over the models.

Details were minimal but were effective in emphasizing the female form - an obi-inspired belt, knots that nipped in the waist all served to let the female figure do the talking. While the form was modernist, the effect was a timeless collection that made his clothes look as if models could just walk off the runway and into a party.

But the Autumn Winter collection was the exact opposite. Debuting in Asia to a shower of foam beads that were supposed to simulate snow, it was the haute-couture that got audiences sitting up.

Inspiration came from post-it notes to paper-shredders, and culminated in trenchcoats that looked like sparkling origami creations, techni-colour hued dresses with zipped-up fronts and what looked like a cheerleader's pom-pom ball.

And it only became even more daring as models were sent down the runway sheathed in metallic stripes - looking like art pieces than clotheshorses.

A welcome relief came in the bright colours that flew in the face of the typical season colours. In a nod to our tropical climate, Ashley says that he deliberately chose light materials such as polyester and light wool so that the collection was more relevant to local buyers in Singapore.

At the end of the day, watching the show just served to make me look forward to the local-born designer's first store in Singapore soon.