Rain, stars and Louis Vuitton glamour at first physical fashion show in S'pore since Covid-19 pandemic

Rain, stars and Louis Vuitton glamour at first physical fashion show in S’pore since Covid-19 pandemic

SINGAPORE - Despite an unforeseen downpour, fashion strutted cautiously back down the catwalk on Tuesday night (March 23).

At the evening session of the Louis Vuitton Women’s Spring/Summer 2021 Spin-Off show, staged at the ArtScience Museum, 112 guests got a first-hand look at the luxury house’s newest collection - an industry first in the new normal.

Lit up like the emerald city of Oz, the basement of the ArtScience Museum was transformed into a futuristic fashion show venue, with blocks as seats safely distanced apart and the bulk of the action taking place in the outdoor area called the Oculus.

It was a star-studded affair, with fashion insiders and celebrities including Zoe Tay, Rebecca Lim and Joanne Peh in attendance.

Guests' arrival and seating was staggered, although safe distancing measures meant it took a longer time for all to be seated in their designated zones.

A total of 67 looks by Louis Vuitton’s womenswear artistic director Nicolas Ghesquiere, including a summery capsule of brights and pastels inspired by the beach, were featured.

Dubbed a “phygital” show, the event was live-streamed to an online audience.

The show was not without its glitches, delayed by 20 minutes because of sudden rain let in by the Oculus' skywell. Staff mopped up furiously and guests in the front row were even handed black umbrellas.

Singaporean model Kaigin Yong, 26, one of 41 unmasked models who walked the event, also slipped and fell when opening the show.

But she recovered instantly and went on to model three more looks before closing the night.

The good-natured model, who walked for filmed shows at Paris Fashion Week last month, joked that this first stumble in her career was “one thing off her bucket list”.

“It was amazing to walk for LV. This is a momentous event in the fashion industry worldwide - it’s a sign of positivity amid the pandemic,” says Ms Yong. “This show feels like the old days.”

The show marked a cautious but optimistic start to the return of physical, large-scale events, which fashion insiders were hopeful about.

Actress Zoe Tay praised it for being well-managed and safe. “Even with this weather, the show still goes on. It’s pretty refreshing and there’s energy in the air - it brings hope and it helps our economy, to move back to normal in a cautious way.”

Fashion director Johnny Khoo, who has styled many celebrity shoots, called it a “courageous” effort on the fashion house’s part. “It’s very encouraging; we need things like that to keep fashion going. Even in fashion capitals, many shows are being cancelled - so bravo.”

Actresses Zoe Tay (left) and Joanne Peh at Louis Vuitton Women’s Spring/Summer 2021 Spin-Off show. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF LOUIS VUITTON

Zoe Tay, Stef Sun and more attend Louis Vuitton’s fashion show in Singapore

An unexpected downpour on Tuesday (Mar 23) evening did nothing to dampen spirits at the star-studded fashion show – Singapore’s first since the pandemic began.

Although fashion weeks in London, Paris and Milan have gone digital in recent times, on Tuesday evening (Mar 23), fashion returned to the physical catwalk as Louis Vuitton held the first runway show in Singapore since the pandemic began.

The French fashion house staged its Women’s Spring/Summer 2021 Spin-Off show at the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands. The basement of the museum, an area called the Oculus, was transformed into a fashion show venue, with green screens as a backdrop.

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Louis Vuitton’s fashion show was held at the ArtScience Museum in Singapore. (Photo: Aaron De Silva)

The reason for this was that the show was “phygital”. Viewers at home could tune in to the livestream at 7.30pm, where they would see extracts from Wim Wenders’ iconic movie Wings Of Desire projected onto the screens.

Green screens formed the majority of the scenography inside the Oculus, allowing for digital projections during the show’s livestream. (Photo: Aaron De Silva)

At the ArtScience museum, a total of 112 guests arrived at the show in Louis Vuitton masks. Inside the venue, they were seated on green cubes, spaced apart in accordance with safe distancing measures. Prior to entry, temperature checks and SafeEntry scans were also conducted.

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The night was a star-studded affair, with celebrities like Zoe Tay, Rebecca Lim and Desmond Tan in attendance. Also lending glamour to the evening were Joanne Peh, Jesseca Liu, Chantalle Ng, Ayden Sng and model/photographer Chuando Tan.

On Mar 23, the stars came out in full force for Louis Vuitton’s Women’s Spring/Summer 2021 Spin-Off show at the ArtScience Museum. For good reason: It was Singapore’s first physical fashion show since the pandemic began.

Singer/songwriter Stefanie Sun made a rare appearance. The last time she attended a fashion show was ten years ago, she told CNA Lifestyle.

“I did feel a bit conflicted about attending a show during this time,” Stefanie admitted. “But at the same time, I feel like it has been challenging for a lot of us in the creative line, whether it’s fashion or music, but what we saw today was quite representative of having all these challenges, all these measures, and still going ahead with all the hard work you’ve put in. I thought (Louis Vuitton) did a pretty good job today,” she added.

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Stefanie Stefanie Sun made a rare appearance at the show. (Photo: Louis Vuitton)

Right before the show, an unexpected downpour occurred. Rain streamed into the venue through the Oculus’ skywell, delaying the start of the show by 20 minutes. But the rain only added to the experience, some celebrities said.

“This is my first time watching a fashion show in the rain. The experience was extremely interesting, I guess it added to the entire feel of the show because you don’t know what to expect. The entire Spring/Summer collection was a mix of different factors. We didn’t know what to expect, just like the weather itself,” said Rebecca Lim.

Rebecca Lim. (Photo: Louis Vuitton)

“The minute we stepped in (to the venue), rain was falling down from the ceiling. I thought it was part of the installation. It was really wonderful,” said Chuando Tan.

Chuando also felt a sense of pride that Louis Vuitton chose to hold a fashion show in Singapore.

“I feel really blessed to grace a fashion show in person. The pandemic has been going on for a while now, and all fashion shows around the world have gone digital. Yet here we are, a French powerhouse holding its first full-fledged fashion show in this new normal right here in Singapore. How cool is that?” he said.

Chuando Tan. (Photo: Louis Vuitton)

Local models took to the catwalk to present a total of 69 looks, derived from Louis Vuitton’s Spring/Summer 2021 Collection and the Summer 2021 capsule collection. Both collections were designed by womenswear artistic director Nicolas Ghesquiere.

There were T-shirts and tank tops with graphic prints in pop colours, chicly tailored blazers and pants, swimsuits in Louis Vuitton’s signature monogram, as well as an array of bags and accessories.

The collection included chicly tailored shirts and pants. (Photo: Aaron De Silva)

Pops of colour brought vibrancy to the collection. (Photo: Aaron De Silva)

Although the show presented a women’s collection, Desmond Tan spotted some accessories that he could see himself wearing.

“I was very focused on the bags, I thought some of the pieces were very fantastic. I like the play of different textures in terms of the metallic looks, some shimmery stuff. I thought I would be able to carry off some of (those looks). I think it would be interesting to have them in my wardrobe,” he said.

Desmond Tan. (Photo: Louis Vuitton)

Zoe Tay, on the other hand, loved the vibrancy of the summer collection, she told CNA Lifestyle. “The summer collection gives a lot of energy, a lot of colours and vibrancy. It’s like going to the beach, it was very casual,” she said.

Zoe Tay. (Photo: Louis Vuitton)

Reflecting on the show experience, Ah Jie added: “It was raining today and everyone was worried that the show might not go on. But the show still went on. It was nicely done, and everyone was so happy.”

That’s perhaps symbolic of the times. Even in a pandemic, the show must go on.

Louis Vuitton Debuts Tambour Street Diver Watch Series

Despite its status as a household name and an absolute behemoth in the fashion industry, Louis Vuitton’s in-house luxury watchmaking efforts remain relatively under-the-radar. The centerpiece of this unsung collection is the Tambour line, which launched the brand’s in-house watchmaking efforts in 2002 and has remained a focal point for releases ever since. For 2021, Louis Vuitton gives the Tambour design a vibrant and sporty new personality with the Tambour Street Diver series. Combining super-compressor diver elements with Louis Vuitton’s sense of form and attention to detail, the new Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver offers a uniquely rounded and luxe counterpoint to the usual harsh and tool-oriented diver aesthetic.

The new Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver line keeps the Tambour’s signature sloping drum-inspired case and attached lugs but reinvents the 44mm form in three dramatically different colorways. Without a doubt, the most luxurious of the trio is the Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver Black Blaze, which combines a black PVD stainless steel central case with pink gold along the tall outer bezel, 3 o’clock signed crown, and the Tambour’s distinctive attached claw lugs. Skirting the line between masculine and androgynous design, this smooth form carries some interesting left-field unifying touches. Both the screw-down main crown at 3 o’clock and the 2 o’clock screw-down crown for the internal dive bezel echo the tapering semi-conical shape of the central case, while the sides of the outer bezel mark out each of the 12 hours with “LOUIS VUITTON” in slender engraved and enameled letters. The caseback features a smoked display window overlaid with the brand’s iconic LV emblem, and while the design carries clear diver hallmarks, the case manages only a somewhat disappointing 100 meters of water resistance. The Tambour Street Diver Neon Black takes these same elements in a decidedly more sporting direction, with a full black PVD stainless steel central case complemented by polished stainless for the main crown and lugs. Louis Vuitton breaks up the profile of the tall sloping case here by adding a gloss finish to the black PVD bezel while the main case remains matte. Flashes of yellow on the bezel and 2 o’clock crown give this variant a more arresting and aggressive feel in initial images. Lastly, the Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver Skyline Blue offers a softer and more versatile side with a matte-navy PVD mid-case, accented with a touch of flash from polished stainless for the lugs, bezel, and main crown.

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All three of these versions of the Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver offer different interpretations of the same core dial design. With a broad, graphic inner dive bezel, a soft and luxurious take on applied diver indices, and a distinctive skeletonized sword and arrow handset, there’s a touch of the classic IWC Aquatimer in the look but filtered through a chic Parisian lens. The 6 o’clock small seconds subdial offers a few subtly charismatic elements as well, with a polished outer ring and azurage cut through with a diagonal matte stripe to form the flag signal for a scuba diver in the water. From this elemental pattern, the three models diverge. The Tambour Street Diver Black Blaze adds pink-gold hardware and accents on the dive bezel for a unified look with the case and continues the refined undercurrent of the design with a subtle radially brushed black main dial surface. For the Tambour Street Diver Skyline Blue, Louis Vuitton keeps this radially brushed finish but interprets it in a deep midnight blue, accenting it with bright sky blue touches throughout for a more nautical feel in images. In keeping with the more aggressive case finishing, the dial of the Tambour Street Diver Neon Black opts instead for a matte black finish, shot through with pops of screamingly vibrant yellow.

Louis Vuitton powers the Tambour Street Diver series with an unnamed automatic movement. While the brand itself offers few details surrounding this powerplant, it’s likely that, like previous sub-seconds Tambour models, this movement could be a decorated variant of the ETA 2895-2. The positioning of the sub-seconds hand lends credence to this possibility, and if so, performance is around 42 hours of power reserve at a 28,800 bph beat rate.

Each model in the Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver line is finished with a playful and dynamic signed rubber strap with a raised central segment. The Tambour Street Diver Black Blaze offers the most conservative and versatile strap choice in simple black with a black PVD or optional pink gold buckle. The more aggressive and higher-impact Tambour Street Diver Neon Black opts instead for either a black strap with raised yellow lettering or a yellow strap with raised black lettering. As fits the rest of the package, the Tambour Street Diver Skyline Blue falls in the middle of its two stablemates, offering a gentler but still bright colorway in either navy with sky blue lettering or vice versa.

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While lacking the depth-rating credentials for a hardcore dive watch, and likely sporting a more pedestrian movement than some of its market rivals, the Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver’s blend of soft and sporty aesthetics offers a unique and refined take on the super-compressor diver theme for more everyday use. The full Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver line is available now through authorized dealers. MSRP for the Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver Black Blaze stands at $16,400, whereas both the Tambour Street Diver Neon Black and the Tambour Street Diver Skyline Blue are priced at $7,100 each. For more details, visit the brand’s website.