Partygram!: Ong Shunmugam S/S 2013 reflections

The Spring Summer 2013 campaign

Survivor Finale.  New York City.  Ong Shunmugam.

What do these three have in common?  On the surface, nothing.

Survivor is a television show that is running into its 26th season.  New York City is, well, New York City; the center of everything.  Ong Shunmugam is a Singaporean fashion label that has just turned two years old.

I attended the anniversary party at the label's 'atelier'.  I have been to ateliers in Paris and met the families of some of the biggest names in fashion.  An 'atelier' to start with, does not belong in a basement level shop in a building in the Central Business District. Perhaps I am being a puritan, but names and titles that do not reflect content, be it of character or profession, is just a meaningless use of language.

Lovely floral display at the atelier

A nice mix of local and western desserts reflecting
the label's philosophy

Mini cupcakes for the fashion elite that
can't handle calories

But names and titles matter in fashion, it would seem.

At the anniversary party, I was lucky.  I bumped into a few interesting people who could hold a conversation beyond Ong Shunmugam's ethnic inspired designs.

One of the things we discussed was about the rise and impact of the blogger. Everyone is a blogger these days.  PR companies love to court them as a very real media outlet. Really.

Granted that I have one, this one you are reading, and another travel related one that you can visit by clicking the link on the right.

Like many other bloggers, I love the industries I write about.  Unlike other bloggers, whose ages may be in their early to mid teens, I am not a newbie and my intentions for writing are different.  I have experienced fashion from the inside, from being a sales associate to designer.  On the fringe,  I have incorporated it into everything I have done, from entertainment to architectural design.  I have traveled the world, met and got acquainted with industry leaders.  My interest is to use this platform to really get into the business of fashion, and not just to splash pictures of runway shows and campaigns.

I am not begrudging these young writers.  They are the next generation of fashion journos, one hopes.  Early exposure and opportunity can only lead to growth.  I am grateful that others have shown me great kindness, when I first started out.

These days though, it has gone beyond validating effort and moulding young minds. Teenagers are being treated as fashion media elite and to some degree, accorded with a slightly false sense of power.  It is reasonable to wonder if this is a smart strategy.

Firstly, their reach depends largely on 6 degrees of separation.  And this usually means that their demographics are within the age ranges of the bloggers themselves.  One wonders what makes PR companies and luxury labels think that 15 year olds or their peers have the spending power to buy that couture outfit.  Yes it is pretty to look at, but isn't the point of media coverage to encourage a call to action, that is, to buy the clothes? The demographics also means the writing style will appeal specifically to that group.  So we aren't talking about Suze Menkes and Tim Blanks level of reporting.  We are talking light hearted banter.  And there is nothing wrong with that, except that labels seeking to do business need their creations to be taken seriously by the buyer and the media and ultimately that sways what happens on the shop floor.

That brings me to New York City.  I was just saying recently that my time in New York was a blur because there was so much living to do.  Any writer will tell you that one can only write authentic stories if one LIVES LIFE.  I would venture a guess that regardless of how matured some teenagers are, their life experience is yet to flourish.

But in fashion, PR companies and labels choose their alliances. They make choices. Just like the contestants on the Survivor Finale that just ended last night.

The expected thing was that the last four strategized and blind sighted each other with the sole purpose to get ahead.  Sometimes it paid off, sometimes not.  And you are off the island.

We talked about strategies at the anniversary party. Through the conversation, I learned that, after being away for so long, fashion is still territorial and it's all about your alliances. Who do you support, who do you hate, who do you gossip about, whose back do you scratch, who do you do business with.  Choosing one side may mean having your access to another blocked.

The designer wondering who the hell
was taking her picture.

It all came to a head when a friend said he would introduce me to the designer.  I had previously tried to contact this designer for this blog, primarily because I wanted to support her Asian centric design aesthetics.  I saw her mixed heritage, her publicity campaign, her products to have a unique story that needed to be told.  I received no reply from the label or the designer.

When I was introduced to her, she was gracious.  When I told her my intentions, she asked me to write to the generic email address, something I told her I had done before twice.  Busted.  She blushed and said she remembered my emails.  But, call it honesty or PR suicide, she said she put them down the priority list (until they disappeared from memory) because, well, she was getting inundated with emails from other media.  And to add salt to injury, she said, if my friend who apparently is somebody was to write her, she would immediately reply.

Nice.

Still, she offered to write me over the weekend to touch base with me.  I have not heard from her since. And this was even though I had sent her a congratulatory note on Saturday.

Truth is, I am not bitter about it.

Even though she had not seen me before, I've been around too long to be bitter.  If you really want to be a media person, and if blogs are true bona fide media outlets now, then you have to suck it up and accept that you win some, and you lose some.  And this is regardless of whether you are established or not.

Of course I want a local label like Ong Shunmugam to make it.  Sure, it has received accolades from Elle Singapore and had a showing in Paris.  But these are early days yet. And the proof is in the pudding, not in the grandiose terms used in its marketing to try and elevate the status of the label before it is even 'there' yet.  Fashion is a journey.  It is who lasts that matters, and you are only as good as your last show, alliance or no alliance.

Yes I know, the designer will be totally upset with this report. And her supporters would be appalled by what seems to be first impressions (although apparently she also dissed yet another person days after at a media event).  Fact is, while I understand the concept of PR suicide, my intentions are never to destroy dreams. If the opinions featured here are not popular, and not taken for what it is, to try and shed light on a different point of view, then so be it. I have not broken any promises to anyone.  My integrity is intact.

Whatever her reasons are for not reverting back, or for dissing people that appear to be 'not important', I am certain they are intended to benefit her business. And I respect that. All too often though, the fashion industry throws its air kisses and make flighty promises they never intend to keep, and all too often, this becomes an expected habit. It is karmic and it doesn't yield any good outcomes. The good news, as in all choices, you can choose to be different.

So, if you scratch beyond the surface, those three things mentioned at the top of the page are somewhat connected.  Ultimately, being a Survivor in the business of fashion, requires a little more wisdom from living life like you would in New York City, isn't that right Ong Shunmugam?

All the best to the label and designer, and I do mean that.

A lovely songstress from Denmark I had the pleasure
of meeting at the event