The Straits Times
Tuesday, April 7, 1987

Shoe sequence has experts on their feet
By JOHN de SOUZA and CATHERINE ONG

A young Singapore fashion designer's creativity has caught the eye of international fashion experts at the first Singapore Fashion Week.
Daniel Yam, 26, made 41 outfits and 38 hats in only 10 days for a special shoe sequence in the Singapore Fashion Extravaganza, the fashion week's opening event, in Orchard Road on Sunday.
When the models wearing them sashayed onto the 24-metre-long catwalks at Singapore's biggest outdoor fashion show at the Ngee Ann Kongsi grounds, top French designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac sat up and took notice.
Mr Yam's clothes 'can be presented in Paris', said Mr de Castelbajac, 37, who is one of the world-famous fashion designers here for the fashion week.
"He stood out on the runway," said Ms Christine Bookallil, a journalist for Women's Wear Daily, regarded as the No. 1 journal in the international fashion trade, who is one of about 20 foreign journalists covering the week.
"What he did was extremely clever," she added. "His look was strong and sensual, and it has a unique style. I think it would appeal to the world market."
Mr Yam, who spent $6000 to $8000 on his show outfits, has been a designer for 5 years. He has been exporting to Japan for 2 1/2 years.
"I was really surprised and happy to get all the attention," he said. "It was really fun doing the show. It was good to have been a part of it."
Mr Yam's sequence, which featured shoes perched on top of his hats, was one of the more interesting in the one-hour show of about 320 outfits from major department stores.
The show's 10 sequences varied the moods. There was a Brazilian theme with lots of frilly, colourful outfits; a Safari look with tropical greens and khakis; and even 1940s Hollywood starlets in flouncy, flirty dresses.
In the steaming hot evening and under 300 bright stage spotlights, the models paraded, sashayed and danced, and sweat was streaming down many a beautifully made-up face.
But few in the crowd applauded, though people watching from nearby shopping centres and hotels and from the higher ground behind the multi-tiered stage brought the total audience to about 10000.
"It was like watching TV," said Miss K.L . Huang, 28, a secretary. "You felt so separated from the action, so far away, that you didn't feel like clapping."
Perhaps that was because, as many people said, the two 4.5 m by 3 m video screens on either side of the multi-level stage were not big enough for the crowd of 6000 to see shots of the show as it was going on.
But many others enjoyed the show. Said Greek airline stewardess Vasso Kyriakopoulou, 25 :" Wow! You don't get this type of huge outdoor fashion event in any other country in this region."
Lim Say Kheong, 22, an advertising artist who came with binoculars, said:"Anyone can see from this show that Sinagpore is international in its fashion taste."
Singapore Fashion Week continues with two gala fashion shows on Thursday and Friday. It ends on Saturday with a gala show of top Asean designers.