Transcript

“It was in the ‘90s, probably late ‘90s. During that time there was Tangs Studio, CK Tang had another younger brand called Tangs Studio. So one of the things that we had to do was we had to do the Singapore Designer Show and it was held on the Civic Plaza grounds, that means in front of Ngee Ann City. So it was a show showcasing Singaporean brands, especially brands that will retail inside the Tangs Designer Studio. And it was really celebrating the best of Singaporean designers. We wanted to show a certain Asianness through our presentation, and it was for the public, it was open-air, you know? So we want to do something really different. So one of the things that we did was we built this huge 48-feet wide stage. It was inspired by a Chinese wayang stage. Imagine that it was a Chinese wayang, but multiplied that it became very, very big, 21-feet high. And that was just the inside shell, the open space. But of course, externally it was even bigger, because they had all the designs inspired by the Chinese wayang opera. And our catwalk was inspired by the kelong. So it wasn't a straight walk, it was a zigzag catwalk, it was meandering going up and down like a kelong. Everything was made of white, painted off-white, so it gave a bit of a stylised look. And our stage had backdrops that could change, but everything was intended to look a bit old school like the way how wayangs… the scenes changing in the background. Everything was inspired by street theatre, for example, I mean, but done in a very, very huge scale. So that was very dramatic. And then we tried to present their brands in many, many unusual ways. The finale brand, I remember, was the designer Daniel Yam. Daniel Yam was quite well-known by the time and he was considered fairly avant-garde, but he was doing these things that were very body-hugging, but they were kind of elongated, extra long silhouettes, and they had a lot of drapery and ruching, but we wanted to do something different. And after discussing with the designers, the best way to do this finale before the models come on, we would soak them and drench them completely in water so that the clothes were all cling on – because they were very thin, like muslin, and they would cling on – to the model. Literally the model would soak their head in a tub of water and be completely drenched and walking down so that the runway will be dripping wet and so on. It came up very visual, you know. And then for example, we also worked with Bobby Chng– Bobby Chng was usually the one opening the show and he had a lot of boys. And we wanted to do something dramatic with the boys and show a bit of the street youth culture of that time, so there were many many things. So I mean, that was one show that I thought was quite dramatic that I did during that time.

What was even more dramatic or scary was this show was on a Friday night and then repeated on the next day on Saturday. After our show, everybody had to brief because there was some changes that we needed to make. Somehow or other at 10.30pm, after the briefing, our stage went on fire. Our curtains, I don't know how fast it went, the curtains just burned and almost everything caught fire, but luckily the boys who were working there were so fast they managed to get all the extinguishers. My whole entire– can you imagine if you have 48 feet of curtain, your curtain is actually 96 feet, because curtain has to be doubled to create the pleats and at such a length, it was gone. By the time we killed the fire it was 11.30 at night. Factories, everything, was closed. I mean, I don't know how my partner then and another colleague, he managed to find the fabrics from suppliers in the middle of the night. I don't know how I managed to do it, I convinced my mother to help me sew the curtains, and at 7.30 in the morning, I don't know how she managed, but she sewed everything back and brought it to the tent. So and then at 9.30 in the morning, some press came, 'Oh we heard there was a fire,' but then they came, everything was intact, so it was quite good.”