The Straits Times - Life! section
Thursday, August 13, 1998

Dye, dye must tie
His dog is blue, so are his hands - 'tis true. For in his clothes he must imbue the right hue. Phew!
By CAT ONG

In the kitchen of his family's Tampines HDB flat, designer Daniel Yam says two types of cooking take place.
As his 10-year-old Bichon Frisee, Luck, well knows, during the day when his housewife-mother cooks the family meals, he can look forward to food scraps.
But when Yam takes over the kitchen at night to cook and colour his distinctive tie-dye designs, the white dog can only look forward to getting stained with all the colours of the rainbow.
Last year, Luck turned orange, red and pink.
This year, he has been green, grey and now blue.
For a designer who dresses in black, Yam is obsessed with colour in the figure-hugging, tie-dye dresses he sells through the major department stores in town.
The 35-year-old has been a rag trader for 15 years, first training with a Shanghainese tailor, then designing for local couturier Grace fashion house and working as a buyer at Robinsons before striking out on his own.
This was at the now-defunct Hemispheres, the young designers' retail workshop created by the Society of Designers and Artists.
Ironically, for a designer most outstanding for his own way of creating patterns with colour, he came to fame with a black collection in a 1985 Ngee Ann City fashion show.
Using terry cloth which was only for towels at the time, he wrapped and tied up a storm of twister dresses in the vein of Japanese designer, Atsuro Tayama.
And made Marie Claire shoes, sponsored for the show, into stunning hats.
It made French designer Jean-Charles Castelbajac comment that Yam's work was Paris-class which led to mention of his name in Women's Wear Daily. the international fashion bible.
Thanks to this, he won his first 100 sq ft department store corner in Tangs.
Today, his smallest counters are 1000 sq ft and there are eight of them for three labels - Outsider, Private Label and Daniel Yam.
These are his cheap, mid-priced and expensive labels ranging from $100 to $300 respectively.
They can also be found in the I.S boutiques in Parkway Parade and Marina Square, owned by the company he works for, Advance Apparel.
But next month, the crowning glory of his career, his first signature boutique will open in Ngee Ann City.
And this is where you will find the one-off creations that he has chopped up and cooked in his mother's kitchen for the dozen-odd fashion shows that have turned him into Singapore's master of tie-and-dye.
So far, he has managed to dye four patterns in four colours in his signature stocking dresses.
But the record he is aiming for this year, in November's Asian Designers' Showcase, is six patterns in 12 colours on layered stocking dresses as well as linen and satin-cotton creations.
Since it takes 10 hours to cut, sew, tie and dye, again and again, his designs, you can imagine Yam's been busy cooking. But Luck knows he will not be getting any fatter for it.