Singapore Fashion Festival: Day one & Missoni AW11

I’m out here in Singapore until next Saturday to cover the three events which make up Asia Fashion Exchange: the WGSN Asia Fashion Summit, trade fair Blueprint (which is open to the public for two days in the manner of London Fashion Weekend) and the Audi Fashion Festival.

The Fashion Festival, under the creative direction of my friend the inimitable fashion critic Colin McDowell, serves to showcase extraordinary fashion from around the world. To that end the Missoni family were invited to open the Festival, with their stunning AW11 collection (shown recently in Milan), for what would be their first ever runway show outside of Italy.

I arrived very early on Friday morning after a 13hr flight from London and, after a swim & breakfast, took to my bed for a few hours before the press conference at the St Regis where the Missonis — Angela, Vittorio & Margherita fielded somewhat bizarre questions from the assorted press. I then did more sleeping before doing some advanced grooming to try to try to hide the black undereye circles & humidity flat hair and headed to the Tent @ Orchard for the 7pm Missoni show.

I was labouring under the illusion that Singaporean efficiency would trump fashion world timekeeping, but it was kind of refreshing to discover that fashion shows start late the world over, but eventually we were dragged away from the Belvedere vodka and into the tent.

Here’s me before the show in Erdem (and attempting to hide the eye circles by working a Princess Diana under the eyelashes look) with the lovely Tracy Philips, owner of one of Singapore’s hottest design stores (& attached café) A Curious Teepee, and so connected that she draws photographers in her wake like moths/flame. She took me under her wing, for which I was most grateful. (Thanks hon!)

And here’s Mr McDowell charming the audience with the Missoni family after the show.

Then it was off to dinner at Jing, a Chinese restaurant bang opposite the Marina Bay Sands building of bizarre-ness. The location was splendid, the food so-so.