From The Straits Times    |

SINGAPORE – When we spoke to Singapore fashion designer Priscilla Shunmugam prior to her Autumn Winter 2014 runway show, she said that the most important thing for young designers to have is an inner confidence in the work that they do; to stick to their vision of the brand, regardless of what naysayers may say.

These wise words indeed rang true for Shunmugam, whose assured and strong presentation at Audi Fashion Festival 2014 showed how far she has come, since she was a one-woman team during the early days of her womenswear label Ong Shunmugam that was launched in December 2010.

Ong Shunmugam Autumn Winter 2014

Ong Shunmugam Autumn Winter 2014 at Audi Fashion Festival 2014. Image: Wesley Kow/ herworldPLUS 

Held on May 16, 2014 at Tent@Orchard, the collection featured 30 looks that used the classical cheongsam as its main point of reference, but developed it for the modern woman in a series of beautifully elegant and contemporary ways.

The inspiration behind this season’s collection is “Madness and Civilisation”, the English-translated book title of Michel Foucault’s philosophical discussion on the topic of insanity, where he questioned the many assumptions that we make when we deem a person to be deranged.

Thanks to Shunmugam’s fertile imagination, this rather weighty reading material surprisingly provided much creative fodder for a fashion designer.

To make Foucault’s influence more “digestible” to anyone who hasn’t thumbed through this lengthy read, the designer cherry picked the French philosopher’s themes of power, control and conformity, visualised most obviously in the use of four inch-thick cuffs and waistbands on her dresses and pants.

Yet it is in Shunmugam’s willing conformity to her design aesthetic that really makes this collection tick, in true Ong Shunmugam style.

Ong Shunmugam Autumn Winter 2014

Clean, minimalist styles represented the “civilised” aspect of the Foucault-inspired theme for Ong Shunmugam Autumn Winter 2014 at Audi Fashion Festival 2014. Image: Wesley Kow/ herworldPLUS 

For this season, she imposes the following creative rules: Cheongsam only, with a colour palette of predominantly blues and yellows. This meant that every single piece in this collection featured a mandarin collar, the most definitive feature of the traditional Chinese dress. Plus, Shunmugam continued to use traditional Asian textiles like batik where possible, even while fully conscious of the limited selection that she can buy from the artisans of the region.

Of course, some leeway was still possible — these are self-imposed rules after all — and so, detachable collars were featured on selected pieces, in a bid to make the clothing more versatile. The cheongsam did not strictly have to be a dress either, as Shunmugam created playsuits and jumpsuits as well as matching crop tops with mandarin collars and culottes for this collection.

Even the colour scheme was far less restrictive than it initially sounds, as Shunmugam featured virtually every tone of blue and yellow imaginable on both single-tone looks and mixed print dresses alike.

The concept may sound showy but despite that, the execution of these ideas created a tailored elegance that demonstrated Shunmugam’s stylish sense of proportion to best flatter a woman’s natural curves; this is one designer who does not design for just stick-thin models.

Ong Shunmugam Autumn Winter 2014

Print-obsessed “madness” at Ong Shunmugam Autumn Winter 2014 at Audi Fashion Festival 2014. Image: Wesley Kow/ herworldPLUS 

Another play on the Madness and Civilisation title was played out in the order of looks presented, which transited from “civilised” minimalist pieces to print-mad dresses. With her proven knack for mixing prints and fabrics as seen in past seasons, Shunmugam successfully made the patchwork of materials a cohesive and elegant whole.

The refined “wearability” of this collection makes this Singapore fashion label poised to grow, as it plans to sell its womenswear abroad; the business-savvy Shunmugam will be pitching her cheongsam-centric collections to upcoming international fashion weeks and tradeshows.

Yes, the cheongsam may likely provide that initial exotic attraction for foreign buyers beyond Asia. But as the designer knows, it is quality and consistency that allows a brand to endure in the fickle world of fashion, past that early enticing foreign essence. And this Autumn Winter 2014 line may just be a sign of many more good things to come.

The Ong Shunmugam Autumn Winter 2014 catwalk show took place on May 16, 2014 at 6.30pm, at Tent@Orchard, as part of the Audi Fashion Festival 2014.

Priscilla Shunmugam will also be speaking at the How to Make It in Fashion seminar on May 17, 2014, to be held at the Suntec Convention Centre. Follow Ong Shunmugam on Facebook for more information on the brand.