Asia Fashion Exchange: Singapore’s fashion hub

SINGAPORE — “I adore Singapore. I’ve never been here. When the car picked me up from the airport, I thought the city was in a garden. It’s so beautiful and peaceful – and everybody is sort of happy here,” said Carolina Herrera last May 14 during her press conference at St. Regis Hotel.

Now in its fifth year, the Audi Fashion Festival is fast becoming the go-to event of established foreign designers to present their collections in Asia. Audi Fashion Festival (AFF) is one of the key fashion events of Asia Fashion Exchange (AFX), which ran from May 13 to 19.

The annual event has drawn well-known names in the industry from Roberto Cavalli to Missoni. This year, the festival featured Carolina Herrera, Hussein Chalayan, Tsumori Chisato, Collette Dinnigan, Raoul and Peter Pilotto, to name a few. All events relocated to the Marina Promenade by the waterfront, which is also part of F1’s night race circuit. “To build a buzz for our new destination, we have created a myriad of exciting lifestyle activities. The key advantage in the move is to co-locate the festival with Blueprint Trade Show and Emporium, Asia Fashion Summit and the Audi Star Creation, where for the first time, all four events will be housed in the same vicinity, bringing together the trade and consumer pillars of AFX,” said Tjin Lee, festival director.

For its first night last May 15, AFF 2013 featured the House of Herrera Fall 2013 with Venezuelan-American designer Carolina Herrera and her daughter Carolina Herrera de Baez. It was a showcase of a selection of looks from Carolina Herrera New York and her luxury lifestyle brand CH Carolina Herrera, which includes womenswear, menswear and accessories collections.

“The collection is quite sophisticated. It is made especially for the active woman of today,” Herrera said when Colin McDowell, leading fashion commentator, asked her about her 2013 fall designs during the press conference the day before her presentation.

Carolina Herrera’s first appearance in Asia literally started a storm. At first it seemed that the sound of the thunder and pouring rain at the tent was part of the show’s music. The downpour added more cinematic drama to her commissioned soundtrack, “Capriccio for Carolina” –– a riff on Beethoven’s Kreutzer Violin Sonata by composer Tom Hodge played by the London Contemporary Orchestra.

Her elegantly structured yet always feminine pieces were a reflection of her personal style. Models with their hair twisted in ’40s-style coifs paraded the runway in graceful gowns with high keyhole necklines, wasp-waisted dresses, and fluid crepe skirts. Think Hollywood cinema stars Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford and Marlene Dietrich. The evening statements are dramatic retro-chic. The key look was emphasizing the waist –– cinched with velvet cummerbunds or tiny belts. Fur accents were seen from a dusty blue silk charmeuse gown paired with a purple fox-fur collar to a nude silk shirt fitted with fur sleeves and pussy bow. The final look was another color surprise –– a jade green duchess satin number with a matching hue of sable wrapping the neckline and revealing a sensual back.

Her lifestyle label, CH Carolina Herrera, also echoed her natural class and effortlessness. The fall 2013 collection featured monochromatic hues with an added splash of color –– red. Sheath dresses, tailored jackets and pencil skirts appeared in light chiffon silks, lace and printed brocades. The menswear also showed classic yet relaxed pieces for the men of today.

“The look of the show is all about the Carolina Herrera woman –– very natural, classic and chic. It’s all about defining the face shape so there is focus on the eyebrows and cheekbones,” said David Scheffen, director of Events and Artist Development, Carolina Herrera.

There is no surprise to the continued success of Carolina Herrera. Carolina Herrera is the brand. Her collections embody her impeccable personal style –– a style that is celebrated by artists like Warhol and Mapplethorpe. It is all about a woman who embraces her femininity and yet is tough enough to face the urban jungle.

“I have a responsibility to the woman of today –– to make her feel confident, modern and above all else beautiful.” So says Carolina Herrera. 

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E-mail Joyce Oreña at jo@joyceorena.com or follow her on Twitter @joyceorena.