Highlights from Parco next Next

Saloni Rathor and Foreword

Some of you may not know that Singapore has our own fashion design incubator called Parco next Next. For one year, young designers will be given a retail space in Parco Millenia Walk and will undergo equipping courses to make them excel in the business of fashion. 

Recently, they had a media preview of the Spring Summer collections by the brands and here are some of the highlights for me.

Saloni Rathor's collection called 'Elements' is inspired by elements of nature from fields of vibrant flowers to rushing rivers and warm textures of rocks. All of this is translated into a light, breezy collection.

Foreword's collection of accessories inspired by the uncompromised beauty and eclectic life of artist Frida Kahlo. Infusing that inspiration with their aim to create pragmatic accessories for the women of today, this collection has a romantic essence to it.

 20TWOTHREE goes back to reconstructing womenswear and menswear to offer a unique take on intimacy and sensibility. Their latest collection is a take on society's 'norms of beauty', resulting in "Difference in Similar Consciousness". Through this collection, the duo intends to showcase how every individual can embrace a reconstructed form.

Shown at the Future Fashion Now show too, Evenodd's goes digital with prints of braids, a visual contemplation of the problem of planned obsolescence within fashion. It's a great collection and I believe, there may be some batik prints coming out later on.

Lion Earl makes digital prints out of crushed paper and scrapped metallic pieces in geometric shapes. The movie, TRON, brings influence to the collection through the lines that run through the silhouette. 

For spring summer, the trio at Mashup were inspired by the Ndebele people of Africa and the 90s cult film 'Hackers'. Thus, the prints are more afro-centric, with the use of animal prints on denim while the film 'Hackers' bring in cyber imagery of motherboards. These all create a riot of colours and textures with some surprising prints of hand embroidery printed onto tops.

"Urban Oriental" sees Kae Hana's latest collection infusing traditional and modern popular motifs together. That is seen through the overlaying of zebra prints on prints of phoenixes. The collection is pretty swell and if I don't remember wrongly, some of them were done in Neoprene.

Revasseur creates a playful collection with the "Ships Ahoy!" inspired by Fleet Week and sailors' attires. As usual, don't expect a normal old school sailor collection because Gilda at Revasseur likes to turn things upside down by playing with proportions, where arms go and details. 

You may notice that the brands above are from the current batch. Usually, PnN will have a new batch of brands entering the program in April but this year they have decided not to. So the current batch will launch their spring summer collections in April and some of the alumni brands will be having a pop up at PnN! The list includes Coupe Cousu, OwnMuse and Chalk.

I enjoyed seeing how these brands have grown throughout their time at PNN. However, it's sad that the local support is still rather weak. It's growing but it's not enough to sustain the local fashion industry. So if you ever have the chance to, please support local! Here is a list of brands (of the top of my head) that are home grown:

Hansel ; Depression ; Fabrix ; Mae Pang ; Pauline.Ning ; Coupe Cousu ; Ong Shunmugam ; Noel Caleb ; OwnMuse ; 20TWOTHREE ; Chalk ; Evenodd ; Mashup ; Kae Hana ; Lion Earl ; Saturdays ; Episene ; Reckless Ericka ; Sabrina Goh ; Revasseur ; Saloni Rathor and more