ACM's Jackie Yoong is determined to give local fashion its rightful place in our cultural consciousness

A small corner of the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) is bathed in light and awash with colour. The garments that dress the mannequins are fantastical yet familiar. A cheongsam by Studio HHFZ features the cheery, body-positive illustrations of local artist Ly Yeow. A pair of 3D-printed shoes by Aliveform may resemble something squeezed from a tube of toothpaste, but a closer look reveals inspiration drawn from the perforated leaves of the monstera plant.

On one mannequin, the iconic samfoo of the samsui women is reimagined by Nude Femme as a sleek jumpsuit, with the signature red hat transformed into a fetching envelope clutch. It’s a playful snapshot of the local fashion scene, and perhaps not what you’d expect from the ACM, but that’s precisely point of #SGFASHIONNOW: Runway Singapore. 

This exhibition is the third and final edition of the #SGFASHIONNOW series, which was first launched in collaboration with Lasalle College of the Arts’ School of Fashion in 2021. Now back home after its run in Busan and Seoul last year, this instalment is the series' largest in scope. It features 28 works by established and emerging Singaporean designers, and will end its current run on September 1.

The ACM had previously worked with the Singapore Fashion Council to launch the Singapore Stories initiative (now in its 7th edition this year) to support the local fashion industry, but it soon became clear that the museum needed to support fashion education as well. 

“So the idea was to let the winning pitch from the School of Fashion’s graduating class co-curate this exhibition,” explains Jackie Yoong, senior curator of fashion and textiles at the ACM and Peranakan Museum. “We work with them on themes for the show, what objects to feature, and exhibition design ideas. We’re teaching them the reality of curating for a space.”

The format of the series follows one object for one designer. “We wanted to focus not just on the object, but also the biography of the person behind it. We want to give designers a voice because, particularly for Asians, that voice is often subsumed.” 

A different perspective

Yoong began her curatorial journey with the Peranakan Museum 15 years ago, and the first show she assisted in curating shone the spotlight on the sarong kebaya. “I was understudy to [collector and curator] Peter Lee, who taught me to really look at fashion and fabrics as stories to uncover about the designer, the people who wear them, and society itself.” 

After five years at the Peranakan Museum, Yoong was offered a scholarship at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SAOS) in London. “While I was there I went to see the Alexander McQueen exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), and I was struck by its immersive storytelling, the respect and reverence for the exhibition, and the sense of British pride. That really inspired me to push myself as a curator. I was excited. There are so many stories we can tell about Asian and Singapore designers.” 

So is there such a thing as “Singaporean fashion”? “Yes, definitely,” she declares. “As with any other country, our fashion changes and adapts to the times. So rather than ask what Singapore fashion is, I want people to ask what it is now because it keeps changing. But I will say it is experimental and cross-cultural, with a very strong sense of Southeast Asia.” 

Interest in local designers has clearly extended beyond our borders. The Korean ambassador to Singapore was so impressed by last year’s #SGFASHIONNOW that the Korea Foundation decided to bring this year’s edition — which includes rising cult label Youths in Balaclava — to their shores.

Previously, the work of Singaporean fashion trailblazer Andrew Gn was first collected by the Chicago History Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum, while self-taught designer Goh Lai Chan's cheongsams were acquired by the China National Silk Museum. Both designers are also featured in #SGFASHIONNOW: Runway Singapore.

Asian persuasion

Rather than use the term “Asian fashion”, the ACM prefers to think of it as “Asia in fashion”. Yoong explains that the former is too limiting. “We are also interested in Asia’s global impact on fashion; how Asia has inspired non-Asian designers. Yves Saint Laurent, for example, had the Les Chinoises and India collections. And African prints were inspired by Indonesian batiks sold to them by the Dutch.”

After graduating from SAOS and returning to the ACM with a renewed mission in promoting Asian designers, Yoong suggested an exhibition celebrating the works of Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei, who had many pieces inspired by Peranakan culture. After two years, Guo Pei: Chinese Art & Couture opened in 2019, and the ACM enjoyed one of its highest visitor counts, with 200,000 visitors on the last weekend alone.

“It was our first contemporary fashion exhibition at the ACM, and there were snaking queues,” she recalls. “But reactions were mixed. Some people loved it, while others felt that an Asian art museum should stick to more established and traditional material mediums like ceramics, paintings, tapestries, and so on.” 

Yoong attributes this attitude to the traditional academic bias against fashion itself. “Which is why Valerie Steele is one of my heroes. As the director and chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, she established fashion theory and emphasised that fashion is an important part of culture, and can be studied in the same way that you would art.” 

Still, Yoong remains optimistic that mindsets will continue to change. “Museums around the world are putting fashion in its rightful place, and showing that it’s a discipline and category worthy of study. It’s just a matter of time for Asia. And I feel that in the near future, people won’t be asking why fashion is in ours, but what will be in our next show.”