Audi Fashion Festival Day 2: Order your clothes straight off the runway

Guest blogger Amanda Mok of Fashionide has one foot in the swirly, glitzy universe that is fashion, the other firmly planted in reality. She has been nicknamed the barefoot fashionista because while she always has an eye out for that perfect pair of killer stilettos, she would much rather pad around barefoot.

Would you wear ‘indie’ clothes straight off the fashion runway and out on the streets of sunny Singapore? That is what designers from the first show of second day of the Audi Fashion Festival want you, the consumer, to do.

‘Indie’ was the name of the game for catwalk show, as it featured up-and-coming brands like Esther Perbrandt, Timo Weiland and Yeojin Bae.

Presented by Future Fashion Now – an innovative digital fashion portal launched just this festival – the event allowed guests to pre-order the latest runway designs as streamed live, in order to have them custom-made and delivered before their arrival at stores.

Esther Perbrandt runway show (photo credit: Milton Tan of miltontan.com)
And don’t expect the shows to start right on time. I am pretty sure the term ‘fashionably late’ was derived from haute couture scene, because it was typical for the shows to start an hour late!

American haircare brand Redken gave the most bang for buck for their show tickets because the show lasted a good and long 25 minutes. The brand even presented its latest tricks in haircolour, funky cuts and crazy hairpieces to local band Sixx, which got the audience to their feet.

Gravity-defying hairstyles at the Redken show (photo credit: Milton Tan of miltontan.com)
But the one show that had everyone waiting with bated breath is homegrown label Raoul. Started in 2002, it has evolved from designing men’s shirts to complete ready-to-wear collections for both men and women. Celebrities like Elle Macpherson, Rebecca Romijn and Zhang Ziyi have been photographed wearing Raoul.

Indie-style fashion from Esther Perbrandt (photo credit: Milton Tan of miltontan.com)

The breakdown:

Esther Perbrandt
The Berlin-born Perbrandt cites Moscow as the city that shaped her design vision. With a sombre colour palette and some deconstruction, the collection fits right in with the underground club crowd in London. There was a fitted sleeveless top with thin panels of wood veneers and dangling gold zippers, and a black, backless tank top paired with a gold studded collar.

Raoul
With the jet-set crowd of the ‘60s as inspiration, Raoul’s Fall/Winter 2012 collection was – for lack of a better word –  solid. Shift dresses, billowing gowns and feminine pantsuits came in solid hues of emerald green, mint green, cream, black and lilac. These shades were then chopped up, built into colour-blocked pieces, and interspersed with leather panels in black and metallic silver. Outerwear was also equally important this time round, with a short, cropped leather jacket in eye-catching metallic silver.

Redken
Who knew that colour-blocking could extend to hair as well? The brand managed to achieved it with a long, bob hairstyle with a blonde-pink body and a black fringe. There was also the bird-nest frizz – a messier, updated version of the beehive.

Spotted:
• Celebrated photographer/blogger Rei Shito of Style from Tokyo.
• Local stylist Karen Ng in white cotton shorts trimmed with cute frills, and killer high heels.
• Asymmetrical hems aplenty on skirts and dresses. (Maybe you ought to think of reaching for that pair of scissors too…)