Monday 16 July 2012

L'ILE AUX ASHBY Pop Up Store: Showcasing Singapore Talent at its Best

When young Singaporean designer Rayson Tan decides to have his first and highly anticipated pop up store you know one thing is for certain – there’s going to be a lot of colour.

And the L’ILE AUX ASHBY pop-up store at the Glamour Inc. showroom in Tiong Bahru didn’t disappoint – bringing together an eclectic mix of clothes, accessories, artists, bloggers and stylists who seemed to love it loud.

I was very proud to be asked to be a part of this event – especially when I saw the talent that was on display.

This pop up wasn’t really about selling, it was more about fun. A showcase of talent and colour.
It brought together so many creative disciplines, from art to illustration, from photography to nail art and of course fashion. The result was a fabulous mix, all inspired by the colourful and vibrant prints of L’ILE AUX ASHBY.

Who knew I could jump that high? I think those L'ILE AUX ASHBY
pieces I'm wearing gave me superpowers :-)

Everything in the pop up shop was exploding with colour! Love it!

Other talented people showcasing over the weekend were Rebecca Chuang from Secret Chamber Nails, who slaved away for countless hours to make everyone’s cuticles look spectacular.

Artists Izziyana Suhaimi (who makes amazing intricate mixed media pieces with delicate embroidery as a focal point) and Herman (also known as Heage) a lecturer and digital artist, who created a series of pop culture portraits showing off L’ILE AUX ASHBY’s prints.

Heage's illustrations as so gorgeous. He promised the next character will
have a curly mob like mine ;-)

Izziyana's mixed media pieces were understated but everyone who saw them
up-close was awed by the intricate and beautiful embroidery work.

Getting my nails painted by Rebecca from Secret Chamber...

How amazing is this nail art which I had for the shoot? Also by Rebecca.

And of course fashion website Couture Troopers were on hand to bring everyone back to their childhood (by bringing Iced Gems!!) and entertain with Zureena Wahan’s CT robots.

Apart from meeting some really cool people and realizing there is definitely support for local talents here (well amongst the people anyway – the media were conspicuously absent, quaffing free champagne and wetting themselves on twitter at a Louis Vuitton event), I was very excited to see the result of the collaboration I did with StreetPeek photographer John Tan and fellow gorgeous blogger Lenne Cai from Aetienne.

The super cute robots made by Zureena of Couture Troopers

The collaborating team including Rayson, John Tan, Herman,
Rebecca and Couture Troopers editor Jessica and Zureena!

Proud of the photoshoot result: John (far right), Rayson, Lenne,
Nathanael and me :-

John's awesome work (of course the models were good as well!)

Honestly, I was amazed. I know I get asked to do this from time to time, but I really am no model. Not even close. But I guess when you have striking clothes and accessories,  and two quirky models it makes the job easier. John certainly did an excellent job in portraying different moods to showcase our styles.

What I loved about the shots is the variety we were able to capture in L’ILE AUX ASHBY pieces with Lenne going for the full-on, super funky looks and mix-matching all the patterns and colours which worked so well for her (especially with that awesome blue hair!!); while I tried to keep my looks a little toned-down in comparison and true to my colourful but slightly more erm…grown up style.  But of course I had to do one look at the end channeling the punk in me, all complete with a fierce jump that I never thought I could do (well after about 20 takes!).

Lenne's skater girl look! doesn't she look like a kick ass super hero?

And something I'm more comfortable in... colours and high heels :-)

All in all, the event was great success and it managed to show the great spirit of Singaporean artists and designers who can only grow stronger with such collaborations and create a small community of like-minded people who appreciate the value of such initiatives and wouldn’t miss it, even for a Louis Vuitton event on the same day!

If you missed the event, here are some snippets and some photos which were part of the collaboration. Enjoy!

Photo credits: John Tan of StreetPeek. Also thanks to Jessica Ye of Couture Troopers for letting me use some of the event's photos.

Supporting Singaporean designers all the way, my outfit consisted
of this colourful Hansel dress, Depression necklace, and Tezzo clutch!

Nat showing some ideas on what to do with my hair... didn't see it happening!

Arm and neck candy from L'ILE AUX ASHBY!

Love this picture, looks so spontaneous! In fact we were just laughing
and wondering how to pose...

With her doll-like features and penchant for colour, Lenne was born
to be in front of the camera! So photogenic!!!

And again, I'm attempting to fly... the beautiful colours of the L'ILE
AUX ASHBY accessories go so well with my dress!

Playing peek-a-boo...

Lenne and Nat's shot is full of attitude! Love it!

And my attempt on giving some attitude... complete with a headgear!


This was a test shot from the day before the actual shoot, I just like
if for some reason.

And I can jump even higher! this photo didn't make the final cut
(I vetoed it) but had to include it here for fun :-)