A FASHION DISCOURSE

We invite four rising designers to interview a veteran designer of their choice in the local fashion industry and provide them with a rare opportunity to participate in an intellectual discussion on the elusive business of fashion. Compiled by julie yim

Picking the minds of four local designers by four rising

designers

DATO’ SRI BERNARD CHANDRAN ( bc) & BRIAN KHOO ( bk)

BC During my time, we only had one program called video fashion. That was the only medium that offered us a glimpse into what other designers are doing around the world. At the same time, magazines were also another medium which covered fashion but it was video fashion that pushed me to go to Paris. During the spring summer season we only received one page of fashion couture or a few looks of what each designer sent down the runway. When it came to resources wise such as fabrics and embellishments we had to work with what we had which was very limited. Today’s designers are lucky. If the show is on at 1pm, by 2pm all the 36 looks are already uploaded on the website. I remember as a fashion student in Paris I could not attend all the shows but I stayed outside to listen to the songs Thierry Mugler would play during his runway show. That gave me so much excitement and I was hungry for resources.

BK Now that we have social media, do you think it’s helpful for us as designers?

BC I always say it is God’s gift to mankind but at the same time I slow myself down to enjoy watching it online. Social media can also distract young designers as there is so much consumption and stories in the collection but you don’t even go to the core sometimes for your own inspiration or research. Social media may be a good thing but it can be a bad thing at the same time. You have to have a much stronger personality to know yourself. That’s why there is a saying that in art and fashion, you have to be true to yourself. If you want to lie and achieve it, it’s fine as there is no right or wrong, it is your choice. But if you are staying true to yourself and nobody likes your creation, it’s fine as you are the inventor and you know yourself inside.

BK What is the biggest challenge you have faced and how did you overcome it while expanding your brand internationally?

BC First, you have to be good and be the best in your own country. Understand your own culture and tradition. London doesn’t need another foreign designer, the western world already has plenty of good designers. If you want to be international, you have to bring our culture but in a contemporary way that showcases new stories from your part of the world that will capture their attention. You’re from Malaysia which is a multi-racial country with many royal families. That is amazing inspiration and all these elements will be present in my collection but at the same time the finishing, the cut and fabrics I use are very global. I think that is the biggest challenge, to find out who you are and you don’t have to be scared or shy. It’s about your team that you have to recruit and work with. Be decisive and listen to your inner voice.

BK What mistakes have you made in the past that have changed how you manage your business currently?

BC At the end of the day, you must always know your strength. Before I hired an accountant, I was all over the place. Now that I have an accountant in place, I know where I stand financially and that gave me the strength and confidence as I know what I can spend. No money, no talk. The bottom line is don’t be lazy.

BK How can a luxury brand in a niche market transition smoothly into the mass market to ensure economic growth?

BC When you are busy in the luxury business, I don’t know why anyone would want to go high street or ready-to-wear. The most important is what I am good at. I’m very good at creating beautiful luxury pieces. Even though we do ready-to-wear it will be luxury ready-to-wear because that’s what we’re good at.

We don’t dilute the brand. It is also a first generation company so I have to be really careful. If that scenario really happens, I will have to have a whole new team who understands the different aspects of ready-towear from production to pricing. I know where you’re coming from, there are so many designers doing ready-to-wear and you want to try different things. For example, people come into my store and ask me why are your clothes so expensive. I make it very clear when I tell them that I sell diamonds, I don’t sell gold. But I can show you the nearest gold shop. I don’t force the customer who loves gold to buy diamonds as they have to be ready. There will be so many voices trying to tell you to do things but they ain’t you.

BC If you want to buy a solitaire one carat diamond do you buy online or visit the store to see the shape and colour? If you want to truly understand a designer’s collection I think it is important to have a store. Customers want to see how you present your clothes in a store, the music you play and even the store furnishing. When you do a fashion show, your clothes look different especially when it’s being hung on a rack and being worn by a model. That is why I like doing fashion presentations. If you see it on the runway it will look different from a video. The way the model moves, curves and turns in person is much more exciting.

BC You must do shows if you want to be international. I do three shows every year – Spring Summer, Autumn Winter and Petang Raya.

BK How does your brand inspire loyalty from your clients?

BC You have to constantly create new collections for your clients that are out of their comfort zone. When they see it, they will get a heart attack but you tell them that it is possible. You’re not supposed to like it but in five years’ time you will want to own it and wear it. That is our job as designers.

“IF YOU WA NT

TO BE I NTERNATIONA L, YOU HAV E TO BRING OUR CULTURE BUT

IN A CONTEMPORA RY WAY TH AT SHOWCASES NEW STORIES FROM YOUR PA RT OF THE WORLD TH AT W ILL CA PTU RE TH EI R ATTENTION”

Dato’ Sri Bernard Chandran

designing. She was also a junior in my uni back in Melbourne so we were acquaintances. When she joined us that was considered her first fashion experience. It was quite a gamble because her previous job as an assistant designer was also more focused on sourcing and compiling not so much designing but Juliani is very passionate and she improved so much on her own as everything was self-taught. I might not have taught them in terms of how to sketch but they found their own way. After Juliani there was Arene. I knew of Arene through her sister and she was already an assistant designer to another renowned designer at that time so I tried to bring her into the company. I told her I wanted two designers for my new brand. She decided to join us to make a name for herself and that was when she met Juliani. Both of them have very different personalities. They complement each other, they’re yin and yang as they are different but when they’re together they bring some sort of distinctiveness. I give them some sort of direction but I always allow them the freedom of creativity and they get to do whatever they want but I will have a quick look and curate their designs because it needs to sell. We usually go with a theme base and if they are not into the suggestion we will find a good balance.

EA What about when the whole team is designing together, do you think about whether this piece will sell or do you base the designs upon what you like and according to the brand aesthetic?

II I guess by now they also know what are the key pieces we are able to sell. However, during the first few years it was more on me picking what I foresee is marketable. I don’t normally interfere in their one-to-one work with their customers. By now, our customers trust the designers and they don’t even look for me.

EA I believe your business also grew organically over the years. What were the challenges you faced back then? Is it the same challenges we face as upcoming designers today?

II To be honest, I feel that I was lucky I started back then, whether it was six years ago for Innai Red or 14 years ago for Innai. If I were to start two years ago I would be facing trouble too. It’s very competitive now and I can imagine upcoming designers like yourself would be facing daily struggles too.

EA Definitely. For us, there’s so much competition these days that even if we want to find the right

“I’ VE SEEN OTHER ESTABLISHED DESIGNERS WHO ENTERED INTO PARTNERSHIPS AND IT FAILS. THAT’ S VERY SAD. I WOULDN’ T ALWAYS BLAME THE DESIGNER BUT SOMETIMES I FEEL THE PERSON WHO IS INVESTING HAS TO BE RESPONSIBLE AS WELL. MAYBE PLAY A ROLE IN MANAGING THE TEA M” Izrin ismail

people to work together, most of them are already our friends so we tend to find someone outside the fashion industry but we don’t have the right synergy somehow.

II I’ve seen other established designers who entered into partnerships and it fails. That’s very sad. I wouldn’t always blame the designer but sometimes I feel the person who is investing has to be responsible as well. Maybe play a role in managing the team. Me and my husband work together as he handles the operations of the business and I’ve always been dealing with the suppliers. Arene and Juliani’s work is to manage their own clients and provide creativity input. We have been very transparent in our business and we hold an annual meeting with our staff to share how the company has been doing and what our sales have been like. I’ve had very low turnover of staff since, the production team has been with me for 10 years and the designers have been with me for 6 and 7 years.

EA Listening to your experience, I guess for fashion it needs to be the right timing and a little bit of luck when it comes to finding the right people. Going back to KL Fashion Week 2018, do you think fashion week in Malaysia is still relevant and does it contribute to your sales?

II I will be lying if I say it doesn’t contribute to any sales because I tend to sell my collection anyway. With Innai Red, we don’t do ready-to-wear and capsule collections but we always design a special collection for KLFW. That’s the only way people can get a piece of Innai Red without paying a premium.

EA Do you think it’s alright to come out with a ready-to-wear collection under Innai Red because sometimes for me I get confused if I want to come up with exclusive and more expensive pieces but still under the same brand name.

II Me and my husband have always said that we are not going down that route as we do not want to dilute the brand name. It’s too messy and honestly it’s so hard to do ready-towear. You have to produce so fast and how many collections can you do in a year? I’ve had people who asked me to come up with a décor line or even a jewellery range. Our team currently consists of 21 persons but if I were to do more I would have to expand.

EA Do you have any plans to expand internationally?

II Retail times have not been so good so I can’t say for the next few years. We’re already so busy localising and that’s what keeps us going. We have to be realistic and focus on that.