The fashion and jewellery calendar lights up again with the return of events

Calendar fixtures in the fashion and jewellery scene return

A presentation at JeweLuxe 2019. (Photo: JeweLuxe)

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Considering the challenges organisers had to face at the height of the pandemic, it is heartening to see familiar lifestyle events back in the limelight again. Last month, watch and jewellery showcase JeweLuxe returned to the spacious Tent@Ngee Ann City. The event’s founder and CEO Angela Loh says, “The pandemic saw us having to tweak the concept of a jewellery festival to create an even more elevated experience by collaborating with various retail locations in 2020, and via a pop-up gallery at Scotts Square in 2021.”

When it last took place at Tent@Ngee Ann City in 2019, JeweLuxe welcomed 13,000 visitors. It returned on an even grander scale this year. With its latest incarnation, JeweLuxe was part of a larger festival called UltraLuxe, which also introduced two new events — the Advocacy Show and Singapore Watch Fair. According to Loh, the Advocacy Show “focused on cross-industry collaborations and featured brands imbued with meaning and purpose”. The Singapore Watch Fair expanded its horological component with showcases of watches by top independent brands as well as panel discussions with watchmakers, industry experts, and collectors.

After a hiatus of two years, the long-running, biannual shopping event Boutique Fairs returned to its familiar home at the F1 Pit Building in April. The popular event, which focuses on design-driven goods, ranging from fashion to homeware, will take place again this month, from Nov 25 to 27. During the pandemic, says Boutique Fairs’ Singapore-based Danish founder, Charlotte Cain, her team never stopped working to find alternative venues. Faced with logistical challenges and continually changing restrictions, the team took the event online via a platform called eBoutiques. However, that did not pan out and closed after six months.
Considering the challenges organisers faced during the pandemic, it is heartening to see events in the limelight again

Lifestyle events get a warm reception

Discussions and a VR experience at The Front Row. (Photo: The Front Row)

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With the death of large-scale lifestyle events in the past couple of years, it is no surprise that people are flocking to them now. In 2020, creative director and fashion-industry veteran Daniel Boey started The Front Row as a virtual fashion festival. It morphed into a hybrid event the following year, as restrictions began to ease. This September, the event evolved again. Taking place at Raffles City Shopping Centre as part of Singapore Design Week, the 10-day festival featured small fashion shows, talks, workshops, and exhibitions showcasing NFTs as well as digital fashion presentations.

Says Boey, “The response was overwhelming. All in, we hosted a high five-figure number of people over the 10 days. Some were browsers, some interacted with the displays, some were there for the shows and workshops, and some came by because they were curious. There were many repeat visitors as well.”

A similarly positive response was reported for An Autumn Chapter, a two-day pop-up focused on fine living. Organised by five brands specialising in a diversity of products, it took place in September at Henderson Industrial Park. One of the event’s organisers, Nejla Matam-Finn of luxury resale e-platform The Fifth Collection, shares, “People were constantly coming and going. You could tell they were craving social interaction; many visitors showed up, and some did so on both days.”

Indeed, for luxury clients such as Drs Loh and Ng, such events are about a lot more than just shopping. Asked what they enjoy most about them, Loh says, “It’s date night for us! We get to dress up, meet up with friends and indulge in retail therapy. In our working hours, of course, we are strictly professional, but in our off hours, we get to let our hair down and escape into a world of fashion, jewellery and horology.”
People were constantly coming and going, and some showed up on both days. You could tell people were craving social interaction

Nejla Matam-Finn

Injecting a digital touch to events

Discussions and a VR experience at The Front Row. (Photo: The Front Row)

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After having impacted our lives greatly for two years and still looming in the background to a certain extent, it is inevitable that the pandemic has left its mark — in more positive ways than one might expect. Most organisers we spoke with were glad to report that things are largely back to pre-pandemic normalcy on the administrative front, but several also shared that they had learned new approaches as a result of Covid-19.

Boey had to quickly hone his digital expertise to launch The Front Row in 2020 as a virtual fashion festival that included video presentations of new collections and live chats with designers. The creative director says, “The two years of restricted events showed us the infinite possibilities of digital technology, which have advanced so quickly.”

This explains why The Front Row continued to have a strong digital component this year, despite having a dedicated physical space: Besides VR elements and clothing inspired by NFTs, there were QR codes embedded in physical displays that allowed visitors access to digital presentations.

 

Related: JeweLuxe Gallery brings the striking creations of top jewellery designers to town

Jewellery by JeweLuxe 2022 exhibitors. Clockwise from top left: Infiniti Jewels, Caratell, Zydo and Flower Diamond. (Photo: JewelLuxe)

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Over at JeweLuxe, e-commerce is here to stay. Loh notes, “With online shopping at its peak during the pandemic, our customers are now more comfortable making purchases in the digital sphere. We set up online platforms for consumers during our 2020/21 editions and received a positive response.

“During UltraLuxe 2022, we offered an in-person experience where they could view the pieces at the event, consider their options, and then decide whether to make the purchase online. Of course, this could happen the other way as well.”
 

Shopping with a sense of social responsibility

The curated list of local and locally based brands at Boutique Fairs include designers such as YeoMama Batik and Rye. (Photo: Boutique Fairs)

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Aside from accelerating advancements on the digital front, the pandemic has led to changes in consumer expectations. More than ever, shopping is accompanied by a sense of social responsibility. Says Loh, “Post-pandemic, we have seen the rise of a new generation of shoppers who desire more meaning and purpose. There’s also a greater consciousness about their role in their community and the world at large.”

As a result, she took pains to ensure UltraLuxe was not just about pricey bling, but also about “purposeful luxury that focused on talents, passions and meaningful creations, which shared the same awareness and accountability to society”.

On a similar note, Cain shares, “People have become more conscious about what they purchase. It’s no longer about just buy, buy, buy. They ask more questions and would rather buy less but better quality.”

The curated list of local and locally based brands at Boutique Fairs include designers such as YeoMama Batik and Rye. (Photo: Boutique Fairs)

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She believes this mindful approach encompasses more than sustainability and social responsibility, which have been among the criteria for participating in Boutique Fairs. It is also about being considered in terms of what the fair offers.

The event had, at one point, become too big for Cain. She says, “Boutique Fairs has always been about giving designers the space to have dialogues with their customers, as well as a high level of design curation and a degree of social responsibility. In 2019, we had 350 brands and 37,000 people come through the event. To me, there were too many people, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience.”

Because capacity limits were still in place in April, Boutique Fairs featured a much more manageable 150 participating designers and retailers. The organisers also implemented a $5 ticket system to control crowds. Says Cain, “Designers were initially nervous because they knew we would probably have half the visitors we used to have. However, more customers doesn’t mean more sales.

“In the end, the feedback we had from designers was that they were able to have intimate conversations with customers, and that their sales were close to what they were doing pre-Covid. So, the good thing about Covid was that I was able to reset and return to that experience.”

Related: How JeweLuxe organised a pandemic-friendly festival