Three to tango
3thelabel is a collaborative label of three renowned designers
ALL good things come in three, so is 3thelabel. The brainchild of three fashion designers Syomir Izwa Gupta – mastery of colours and prints, Justin Yap – proficiently sharp and sexy and Nurita Harith – supremacy of drapes and feminity, each with a Malaysian Official Designers’ Association (MODA) award under their belts. Together they present Malaysia’s first collaborative label which features creativity and modernity of three designers. Ultimately, 3thelabel represents a lifestyle, an attitude and an adaptation of their alter egos.
The local brand is an offbeat detour from their individual labels, who make no secret of their admiration for silhouettes that accentuates body forms and their iconic trademark in terms of design. In fact, the public is looking for clothes without excess artifice, clothes that are simple and assured, clean and straightforward, to which Nurita responded, “3thelabel is a brand for the people.”
When creating 3thelabel’s debut Ready-to-Wear Autumn/Winter 17/18 collection, the label had a certain persona in mind. Four muses that are distinctively confident and unashamedly individualistic for a re-energised brand: Kirsten Steward, Lewis Hamilton, Anja Rubik and Zayn Malik.
“The muses actually guide the whole collection so we can have a stronger vision that we can relate to,” said Yap.
The archetypal collection completes itself with strong sophisticated colours in black, grey, white, navy and military green. Pieces of luxurious fabrics like viscose gabardine and Tencel blends are carefully selected to compose basic wear that can be interchangeable.
“They are evergreen pieces that won’t go out of fashion and style,” said Yap.
Fast forward to the second collection, this time directed by Syomir. He imagines “A metropolitan woman who live the metropolitan lifestyle,” instantly giving us the Sex and The City vibe when Carrie Bradshaw roams the streets of New York’s Upper East Side.
“The collection looks into the warmer part of the city, from having coffee at a cafe to grocery shopping. It’s about being being well-balanced and successful in life,” Syomir said.
When asked how do they translate these diverse yet strong accents from their own namesake labels into a single vision, Nurita explained: “In each collection, we do have ‘masterpieces’ which are main pieces that have a bit of our individual elements in it.” Ideally it’s a reflection yet also a departure from the three designers’ signatures that make up 3thelabel’s aesthetic.
As they mature in the industry, riffling through fashion’s back catalogues, they became more comfortable with one another.
“We don’t see a lot of designers who have our dynamics of friendships and understanding, though it’s a learning curve for everyone,” said Yap. They have learned to be more patient and tolerant, overlooking conflicts which enables them to be closer than ever before.
The burgeoning obsession towards collaborations are derived from great interest; many of fashion and fine artists’ collaborations have evolved past visual salience into cultural adaptation, seeking for a new context in a time of postmodernism.
“We see these manifestations of Salvador Dali with Elsa Schiaparelli, Piet Mondrian with Yves Saint Laurent, Sterling Ruby with Raf Simons throughout his tenure at Dior and Calvin Klein.
“I think it’s a great idea. To us, we call it cross-marketing. Maybe in that era they wouldn’t call it that way but it’s more like making art wearable in that sense,” explained Yap.