The Rise of Singapore’s Fashion Model

Jul 10

By Angelene Wong

The fashion model was integral to establishing Singapore’s global fashion presence from 1950 to 1999. This article explores the role the fashion model played in Singaporean society, the professionalisation of the career, and the system of modelling agencies, schools, and the wider fashion industry that facilitated the establishment of the Singaporean supermodel.

Introduction

Amidst the global discourse of the supermodel in the late 20th century, Singapore saw its own version of fashion models play a key role in shaping Singapore’s fashion landscape. Models, who made frequent appearances in Singapore’s newspaper broadsheets from 1950 to 1999, were aspirational figures embodying ideals for the everyday Singaporean to admire and emulate. Early interest in fashion models appeared as reportage of the ongoings of their lives, such as marriage and travel. Institutional efforts including the Economic Development Board’s deployment of fashion to boost tourism and trade saw the maturation of Singapore’s fashion industry. This process facilitated the professionalisation of the Singaporean fashion model such that fashion modelling increasingly became a lucrative and valourised career for local women.

This article traces the rise of the Singaporean fashion model as a profession. First, it establishes modelling agencies and schools as the arbiter of education and professional opportunities. Next, it looks at the intersection between fashion modelling and travelling. This leads into the third section on the Singaporean supermodel whose career success was largely defined by working in Europe and the US. Finally, we see how the ‘supermodel’ status wanes in light of other forms of fashion-related work and celebrity.

Charm Schools, Modelling Agencies, and Professional Mannequins

Since 1949, fashion shows, then called mannequin parades, were mostly organised in hotel ballrooms for charitable causes, catering to the wealthy elite. With the development of Singapore’s tourism industries and trade, there was increased transnational exchange in terms of more fashions being imported into Singapore, Singapore-manufactured fashion being sold to mainly European clients, and greater visibility of Singapore through the circulation of advertising images. By the 1970s and 1980s, Singapore’s Economic Development Board was institutionalising certain fashion practices such as design, manufacturing, and the production of fashion shows, to use fashion to put Singapore on the global map. Throughout this period, fashion shows thus expanded beyond exclusive spaces. With annual fashion shows such as Singapore Apparel organised as a concerted national effort to showcase the fashionable prowess of the Singapore fashion industry, there was an increasing demand for Singaporean models locally and abroad. Modelling, which appeared in mainstream media discourse as something women of leisure did, soon became formalised through modelling schools and agencies that facilitated the provision of models to meet the demands of the industry. Modelling schools opened up the career opportunity of modelling to the wider Singaporean public, but only a minority of the modelling graduates would proceed to become professionals, much less become renowned as international supermodels.

From the 1950s, the fashion model was the basis of charm schools. Fashion models were seen to embody the fashionable ideal, evident in how part-time models like Modesta Mordant, June Stewart, and Leonie Koenitz were admired for their style in 1960. Charm schools catering to a largely female audience provided courses in deportment, dressing, social etiquette, and fitness, culminating in diploma certificates and professional modelling opportunities for some students. The curriculum nurtured qualities derived from the feminine ideals that fashion models represented such as “grace and beauty,” combined with those promoted by Hollywood.

Figure 1. Photo of Joan Booty and Ruth Warner, 12 August 1956 (Taken from: *The Straits Times*)

One of the most notable charm schools in Malaya was Mannequin Training and Charm School opened in 1956 by London-trained professional models, Joan Booty and Ruth Warner.[1] Thereafter, many modelling schools were set up including Michelle Beauty and Modelling Academy, Elsa Model Centre, The Originals Fashion Studio, and Elegance Modelling Academy to cater to the growing demand for modelling classes later on. Mannequin advertised two-month courses in the evenings at Raffles Hotel that taught “general deportment, exercise, make-up and skin care, dress sense and personality development,” to produce “‘graduates’ with poise, confidence and the smart, trim appearance that every girl should have.” On the other hand, charm schools for men, the first of which opened in 1963, aimed to increase self-confidence through courses that taught “fencing, deportment, dieting, figure control, hygiene, grooming, speech-training, social etiquette, general knowledge and ‘32 good reasons for smiling’.” Newspapers published recruitment calls for new students and free courses were sometimes awarded as prizes for competitions such as the Free Press Walk in 1960. Students would graduate with diplomas through a ‘graduation parade’ or ‘passing out parade.’ Charm schools also doubled as modelling agencies and students would become paid models, then called ‘professional mannequins.’ Charm thus translated to both social and economic capital, where increased charm training could not only “improve their looks and personality” but was the basis of promoting consumer culture. Booty, well aware of the latter, said, “pretty faces and figures help to sell anything from soft drinks to cigarettes.” Thus, modelling schools and agencies facilitated not only the cultivation and monetisation of physical (and their implied moral) ideals on the institutional level but enabled such ideals to trickle down into the everyday lives of men and women through modelling classes.

Photographic modelling became an option as a part-time job in 1957, particularly for undergraduate students. Professional opportunities however remained limited because prominent clothing manufacturers did not have a base in Singapore and thus did not demand Singaporean models. But by 1959, these models were reportedly meeting the increasing demands of advertising and commercials. The greater attraction of models’ salaries and higher demand for modelling classes prompted Singapore Model Academy to increase its class offerings from twice a week to five times a week with two sessions per day to cater to working women in 1960. With these options in place, modelling was not only seen as a form of self-development for students on holiday, but modelling as a prospective career or part-time job became commonplace by 1968.

Figure 2. Photo of models from 1959. From left to right, Vicky Dutton, Marion Willis, Chrystl d’Cruz, Marjorie Jones, Zoe Malcolmson, Incke van der Graaf, Kisane Davis, Leela Mahtani, Ray Gloss, Margaret Low, 10 April 1959 (Taken from: *The Singapore Free Press*)

Yet, the conditions of modelling professionally remained precarious. One modelling agency reported having to convince potential clients of the necessity of using models while also pushing back against the demand for models to work for free. Models incurred costs with their training (about SGD120-150 for a charm and modelling course) and aesthetic preparations for shows. Thus agencies supported models to earn an income until they broke even on these costs, before claiming an agency fee.

Low rates compounded with modelling having a reputation for not being a prestigious job and lacking longevity led to a shortage of ‘good’ models. There was, furthermore, some bias against Singaporean models who were deemed less receptive to new fashions compared to their European and Japanese counterparts, according to fashion designer Roland Chow. In contrast, Booty claimed that there were more models than jobs to circulate. Amidst these negotiations on the state of modelling in Singapore, The Straits Times journalist Judith Yong observed,

The modelling scene in Singapore seems unique: It is not the highly paid profession that it is in the West, or the prestigious part-time job almost exclusively reserved for high-society daughters and wives as in Bangkok and Manila. In Singapore the order is quite simple: Versatility in looks to stay fresh in the public eye; poise and confidence to carry off any clothes or to sell any product; and enough professionalism to keep appointments.

High-earning models including Carrie Wong, who worked in Hong Kong before arriving in Singapore in 1972, could demand SGD1,500 per month in 1973. Wong’s work was wide-ranging – house modelling, runway shows, photographic modelling, and appearances in newspapers, calendars, and on television. Still, she was aware of the risk of overexposure. On this note, Warner advised aspiring models to equip themselves with other skills for professional lives beyond modelling.

Modelling and Travel

Modelling and travel as industries and aspirations had become intertwined through several means – mainstream media coverage on the global whereabouts of models, the role of hotels in hosting modelling courses and fashion shows, Singapore Airlines’ sponsorship of fashion shows and other shows connected with travel, and Malayan women travelling with the hopes of launching their international modelling careers. The Flying Mannequins embodied this ideal of modelling and global mobility – in 1959, the group encompassed six models including Joan Booty, Ong Gaik Kim, and Marjorie Jones, who went to Borneo to model for a fashion show with mainstream media coverage of their trip. In 1968, an airborne fashion show featuring Singapore-made garments were shown on models Chan See Foon, Fatimah Ibrahim, Jacquie Wallis, and Sandy Hamilton, on a flight between Singapore and Auckland. Singaporean models were reported to have flown to neighbouring Southeast Asian countries, Australia, the United Kingdom, parts of Europe, Japan, and the US for work. International exposure became the condition for success in the modelling industry, especially if a model had worked in Paris. An early example had been Ong Gaik Kim, who was featured on the front pages of British newspapers and set off to model in London, Bournemouth, and Paris in 1962, sponsored by Joan Booty School of Charm and Modelling. In Paris, she modelled for Christian Dior’s Salon.

Figure 3. Ong Gaik Kim, 9 June 1962 (Taken from: *The Straits Times*)

Figure 4. Doreen Bligh from The Flying Mannequins, 3 November 1959 (Taken from: *The Straits Times*)

Modelling was also closely associated with beauty pageants. Many beauty pageant winners worked as models and travelling models were elevated to the role of representing one’s country. Fatimah Ibrahim, who, with her three sisters modelled and were then dubbed as ‘fashion icons’ of Singapore (De Souza, Ong and Rao 2016), was a finalist in the Miss Singapore Universe pageant in 1966. Modelling competitions, such as ASEAN Model Search, were held to scout for new models and contracts were awarded as prizes – Carrie Wong had won a contract to be a house model for Emilio Pucci in Florence in 1974 and Hanis Saini won a contract to model with Yves Saint Laurent in Paris. Nora Arifin won herself a trip to the US as the prize for Best Model of the Year and Best Photogenic Model in 1985. By 1978, modelling and being a flight attendant were valourised careers for women leaving school.

Figure 5. Carrie Wong, 21 March 1974 (Taken from: *The Straits Times*)

Figure 6. Nora Arifin of Carrie Models, winner of Best Model of the Year and Best Photogenic Model 1985, 3 August 1985 (Taken from: *The Straits Times*)

The European Ideal and the Singaporean Supermodel

The ideal charming Malayan ‘girl’ as constructed through newspapers and charm school education appeared to take cues from figures of glamour from Europe. Apart from charm schools being led by British-trained models and their families (Booty’s father and mother), women – often caucasian – were featured in newspapers as examples of aspirational femininity. For example, in 1960, Norwegian model Astrid Johansen was in Singapore for a holiday when her advice on successful modelling made the news. Her opinion on Asian women was also published, as she commended them for their “natural grace and beauty” and their good dress sense, while also advising them not to copy European and Hollywood fashions.

The way the Singaporean models performed on the catwalk also took after their European counterparts. That same year, the mannequins of Singapore Model Academy were celebrated for their debut of the “French walk” in a fashion show held at Singapore’s Adelphi Hotel. This lent itself to a larger discourse around Europe and fashion, with European fashion models featuring in the Singapore mainstream media, such as in articles featuring the marriages of caucasian models and the news of French models arriving in Singapore as part of a tour. Yet this exchange was bilateral, as European women acknowledged certain fashionable behaviours to be uniquely Malayan. In 1963, former London fashion model Wynne Moss expressed how she would never be able to achieve the ideal “figure and charm” to carry a sarong kebaya. In her interview with The Straits Times, she described how Malayan women had “a way of walking that was hard to imitate” where “one must really ‘walk tall’ and “take small steps.” Such observations exemplify how the image of the Malayan woman was reflected back to herself through the eyes of the European woman.

Besides the aesthetic influences from Europe, there was the incentive for better economic opportunities there. Thus, local models aspired to work in Paris, Milan, and London. Marjorie Jones, who won several titles in beauty pageants and modelled since her arrival in Singapore in 1958, was reported to be leaving Singapore with her husband in 1960 in hopes of establishing a full-time modelling career in Paris. This aspiration would continue well into the 1980s when Singaporean models were celebrated for their success in establishing their careers overseas. Hanis Saini, “made Singapore modelling history” for her work with Paris-based fashion designers including Yves Saint Laurent. Similarly, Pat Kraal was a house model for Hubert de Givenchy and Jean-Louis Scherrer, Ethel Fong would model in New York fronting an Armani campaign, and Brandon Barker would model in London.

Figure 7. Ethel Fong, 5 January 1986 (Taken from: *The Straits Times*)

Figure 8. Hanis Saini and Pat Kraal, 5 January 1986 (Taken from: *The Straits Times*)

Figure 9. Brandon Barker, 21 April 1981 (Taken from: *The Straits Times*)

The better economic opportunities in Europe and the US, together with a growing global interest in Asia and an increased demand for an ‘Asian look,’ produced the figure of the Singaporean supermodel. To be successful as an Asian model in the Westernised fashion market, Singaporean models had to meet their physical and professional requirements according to Asiaweek:

The standard calls for a well-proportioned build, long legs, long neck, broad shoulders, small head, healthy hair, good skin and teeth and virtually no hips [...] Eyes should be appropriately wide-set and any colour, except for exceedingly dark. The classic high cheekbones are still nice but no longer de rigueur. Most importantly, those in the business say, there is no longer one preferred look for a face. A model must also have a good personality and for the catwalk, a sense of rhythm and good memory.

Not only did Asian models need to conform to the requirements of height and specific bodily proportions, but their features also tended to appease the West’s taste for the exotic. For example, Fong, who in 1986 was 22 and signed to Ford Models, had a “pronounced Oriental look.” She was reportedly the first non-American and the second Chinese to join the agency’s roster of 125 women. Linda Teo identified Fong to embody the “total look – tall, slim girls with an exotic face.”

However, in 1988, it appeared that the ‘exotic Asian look’ was more marketable in Paris and Tokyo instead of in the US. Fong and Ariffin whose work consisted mostly of photographic modelling found themselves up against an American market that preferred “the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, clean-scrubbed look” instead of an “ethnic face.” Meanwhile, in Paris, Kraal and Saini thrived – they stood out among Singaporean models because of their height, and according to Kraal, among the French models because of their deportment training.

Thus the status of the ‘supermodel’ in Singapore had been established. While the term, ‘supermodel’ was borrowed from vernacular that was common in the mainstream media to describe models from the European and American fashion industries, it had been adapted to the Asian model’s experience: The Singaporean supermodel assimilated into the global fashion landscape of modelling through their bodily proportions yet they stood out with faces that appeased exotic tastes. Their professional training in Singaporean agencies led them to work for internationally renowned agencies or designers and they earned a comparably high income compared to models who stayed local.

Beyond Modelling

Several models ventured into other careers in fashion or entertainment. Julia Nickson, who was the face of Singapore Tourism Board posters in the 1970s, became most known for her acting role opposite Sylvester Stallone in Rambo: First Blood Part II. Kraal and Saini, like their predecessors, went on to open modelling agencies. Brandon Barker, a prominent male model with Carrie’s, also worked as a stylist and fashion show producer, roles he was thrust into since the 1970s. Modelling as a career in Singapore, while stabilising in parallel with the rise of the international supermodel, was also short-lived and had been perceived as a stepping stone toward other careers. By 2001, there was a nostalgia for the supermodel with television stars such as Fann Wong, Zoey Tay, and Lum May Yee filling the role of celebrity once occupied by Kraal, Saini, Ariffin, and Fong.