From The Straits Times    |

Singapore’s contemporary fashion brand Depression has only just had its first full runway show despite launching almost eight years ago. This oversight was remedied on the Digital Fashion Week 2014 runway for the brand’s Spring Summer 2015 collection; ironically entitled “Inner Demons”.

While the demons were obvious in the styling of the show ‒ dirty faces, pointy hoods, devil tails (both literal and figurative), a capelet that I’m pretty sure had “bat wings” – the core pieces were very on-trend for a brand usually best described as “interesting”.

digital fashion week singapore DEPRESSION SS15 DECOR 1Singapore’s top male model & actor Alex Lim opened the Depression SS15 show at Digital Fashion Week.

The sports-luxe / street-goth trend isn’t going away anytime soon – a good thing for those of us who like the idea of wearing sweatpants to work – but also something that fortuitously has enabled Depression as a brand to broaden its audience via its latest collection.

Designers Kenny Lim and Andrew Loh also have a second, more casual streetwear brand Not Cool Enough (NCE) which has been selling like hotcakes at their two Sects Shop stores. The more casual, easy-to-wear, graphic print-based NCE has introduced the designers to a whole new audience and to be honest, its aesthetic seems to have bled over into the pieces for the main line Depression.

While it might be a bit confusing for those who care about these sorts of divisions ‒ basically just obsessive fashion editors like me really 🙂 ‒ in reality it helped create a much more wearable, much more approachable range of separates for guys and girls to shop.

The use of quality heavy jersey for many of the pieces added a luxe touch to what could have been just sweatpants, sports shorts and long tees. The pieces with a lighter, cotton poplin fabric suffered in comparison unfortunately.

digital fashion week singapore DEPRESSION SS15 MESHDepression SS15 show at Digital Fashion Week

Touches of white, a grey print and oversize graphic prints of Japanese characters were also used sparingly throughout the collection to break up the almost entirely black range; there was also an amazing amount of mesh, a trend that’s been around a little too long now and although still on runways from New York to Seoul it would be nice to see something new. Mind you, the mesh jackets will actually allow fashionistas to layer in Singapore’s summer.

Another highlight of the show was the addition of real womenswear. Traditionally Depression has always done menswear with enough of a unisex twist that it can be worn by women (of a certain body shape though, ie. models and girls who look like boys). For SS15 Kenny and Andrew worked on creating pieces that were actually designed to work on women’s bodies. There was a great pair of jersey shorts, a cute dress or two and one piece that actually looked sexy ‒ a major departure for Depression!

digital fashion week singapore DEPRESSION SS15 DECOR SEXYDepression goes sexy for its SS15 show at Digital Fashion Week

Overall the SS15 collection showed that both the brand and its designers are moving forward. Yes, their hardcore fans might be disappointed that there weren’t lots of weirdly-cut asymmetrical, multi-wear tunics with bits hanging off them, but for a brand to grow it needs to expand its customer base while keeping its own DNA. This collection puts Depression on the right path towards doing both.

Check out all the sporty street goth goodness ‒ including a sexy guy with no shirt, another guy with a backless shirt and Singapore top male model and actor Alex Lim opening the show. Depression might be generally more wearable, but it’s still got its own (weird) DNA going on.

digital fashion week singapore DEPRESSION SS15 DECOR 37

SHOP SELECTED PIECES OF DEPRESSION SS15 ONLINE
Thanks to the team at Inverted Edge, however, you can actually pre-order selected pieces of Depression SS15 collection online! Just go to invertededge.com/shop/designer/depression-dfw

Digital Fashion Week 2013 runs until November 3, 2014, at the Singapore Design Centre, 111 Middle Road, Singapore 188969. All Digital Fashion Week shows will be televised live online at www.DigitalFashionWeek.com, www.facebook.com/DigitalFashionWeek and www.youtube.com/DigitalFashionWeek. Follow Digital Fashion Week on Twitter at @DigitalFashWeek and Instagram at @DigitalFashionWeek for more updates.