Resources
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Asian Civilisations Museum
The Fashion and Textiles gallery at the Asian Civilisations Museum presents a diverse range of fashion and textiles through periodically-rotating displays, outlining how identities and cross-cultural exchanges are revealed through dress.
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Fashion & Market
Fashion & Market (FAM) is a multimedia platform that presents specialist content on Southeast Asian fashion, featuring its community’s interdisciplinary practices.
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Fashion and Race Database
The Fashion and Race Database is an online platform filled with tools that expand the narrative of fashion history and challenge mis-representation within the fashion system.
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Fashion Revolution Singapore
Through social media campaigns and events, the Fashion Revolution Singapore team engages island-wide, calling for greater transparency, sustainability and ethics in the fashion industry.
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Indian Heritage Centre
The Indian Heritage Centre, under the management of the National Heritage Board and with support from the Indian community, traces the history of the Indian and South Asian communities in the Southeast Asian region.
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In The Vitrine
In The Vitrine is a vodcast about the business, culture & pleasures of fashion in Singapore, Asia and beyond by Daniela Monasterios-Tan and Dr Nadya Wang.
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International Journal of Fashion Studies
The International Journal of Fashion Studies is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal that fosters the worldwide diffusion of fashion studies.
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Malay Heritage Centre
Situated amidst the Istana Kampong Gelam, Gedung Kuning and the surrounding Kampong Gelam precinct, the Malay Heritage Centre acts as a vital heritage institution for the Malay community in Singapore. Through its exhibits, programmes and activities, the Centre hopes to honour the past while providing a means for present-day expression.
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NewspaperSG
NewspaperSG is an online resource of current and historic Singapore and Malaya newspapers.
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Peranakan Museum
The Peranakan Museum is a museum and gallery in the Museum district of Singapore that specialises in the country's Peranakan culture.
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Roots
Roots houses our national collection, heritage trails, national monuments, historic sites, Intangible Cultural Heritage, and other multimedia assets under one roof, allowing us to transcend the limits of geography and create a space where Singaporeans can easily sample and share the fruits of our history.
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Singapore Fashion Council
Singapore Fashion Council (SFC) – formerly known as Textile and Fashion Federation (Singapore) – is the official association for the textile and fashion industry in Singapore.
Webinar
Fashion Media, Models, & Methodologies: Archiving the Written Histories of Fashion in Singapore
11 July 2023
Fashion media and fashion shows are the primary sites of cultural consumption, production, and distribution that highlight the shifting roles that fashion occupies in our society. What were fashion shows like in Singapore? Who were some of the key figures who have shaped our fashion industry? How has fashion been written about in our national newspapers? What role has fashion played in shaping the life of modern Singapore? What is the role of the archive in fashion research? This webinar marked the launch of Singapore Fashion Histories, a new website and open-access resource that documents the written and oral histories of fashion in Singapore from 1950 to 1999. Through presentations by members of the research team, we shared our findings on fashion in Singapore, and our insights and experiences with fashion archival research.
Singapore Fashion Histories: Establishing a Framework for Approaching Fashion Archival Research in Singapore [00:00 - 30:22]
Dr Jinna Tay, Weiqi Yap
This research project was conceptualised just before the COVID-19 pandemic and presented specific challenges externally, but also within the scope of the project. Mainly, how do we approach decades of fashion discourse and narratives in a systematic way that does not elide over specificity? How can research into historical archives be open to cross-collaborative ideas and purposes? This segment of the webinar will explain the methodology and rationale behind the framework of this project. It will also showcase the deliverables and discuss the limitations faced. This includes the launch of Singapore Fashion Histories, a new website and open-access resource that documents the written and oral histories of fashion in Singapore through the lens of our everyday broadsheets and national press.
Process Reflection: The Methods of Approaching the Archives of Fashion Media [30:22 - 49:02]
Angelene Wong
As an editor and writer for Singapore Fashion Histories, my entrance into the project midway through its development was a litmus test for the database of information on fashion in Singaporean newspapers from 1950 to 1999 that was consolidated by the team. My experience deciphering the database, discovering its strengths and weaknesses, and using the database for research, resulted in the creation of a new topic-based database that enabled me to write articles on the fashion modelling industry, the fashion brand Byblos, and the transnational relationship between Paris and Singapore. This process was then conveyed to and repeated by external contributors.
Fashion Through the Eyes of Fashion Journalists: Esme Baptista and Judith Yong [49:02 - 59:50]
Eldrick Cheong
The stakeholders involved in Singapore’s fashion history typically include fashion designers, brands, and models. However, this leaves out the figures who bring fashion closer to the everyday consumer. Fashion reportage in our national newspapers is largely mediated by journalists, who are instrumental in shaping the public perception of fashion in Singapore. This presentation will uncover the work of two journalists, Esme Baptista and Judith Yong, who were active in reporting on fashion in the 1960s. I will compare their respective editorial work, and subsequently share insights on fashion journalism in Singapore during this time.
Women in the Media: The Ideal Singapore Woman in the 1960s [59:50 - 1:18:06]
Jacelyn Teng
As a research assistant who joined this project from the start, I experienced how the project went from an empty Excel sheet to a fully functional website filled with historical insights. Through hours of browsing newspaper archives, I observed various themes and ideas on the intersections between homemaking, national identity, and the Singapore woman. In 1960s Singapore, female homemakers were idealised and promoted through instructional articles and advice columns of our national newspapers. Specifically, fashion played a key role in the visualisation of the idealised Singapore woman. This presentation will highlight the relationship between the media, the state, and the social control of women in the 1960s.