Louis Vuitton Series 3 Exhibition

Sometime December last year, I've upgraded my entire blog layout and promised a more frequent update. 

It didn't happen. 

I lied. 

I'm sorry. 

No, not really.

#sorrynotsorry

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

So here's to fulfil the quota for the year. 

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I've visited Singapore a couple of days back. 

The main purpose of my trip was to watch Cirque du Soleil. 

It was a circus performance consisting of mostly acrobatics acts.

I think my expectations were too high due to the good reviews I've heard prior to the show so it was just OK for me. 

But nevermind, today, our focus is not on that. 

It's about this :

Christine (or Ah Pon, we call her), my buddy/hostess for my entire trip suggested that we visit this exhibition cuz her husband refused to go with her.

I'm not an LV fan to be honest but why not.

Plus, it's free admission anyway!

Upon entry, we were greeted with a really cute guy in a pair of nice black suit with white shirt and black tie who helped to take this pic for us. 

^ From the left : Pei Anne, me, and Ah Pon. 

This is not a really good pic but I just wanted to tell you about that cute guy. 

No, I don't have his pic, unfortunately. LOL

So he walked us until the counter and went back to his initial position.

I remember one of the girls whispered, "So you're not gonna bring us around?".

BAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA

Girls will be girls.

We opted for a guided tour with a bunch of other people. 

She started off by bringing us through the previous series 

(Series 1 : Past, Series 2 : Present, Series 3 : Future) 

and the past locations of this exhibition 

(London > Singapore).

This exhibition was centered around the creative process of Nicolas Ghesquière, LV's current creative director, for the Autumn-Winter 2015/2016 collection for LV and how the entire collection was executed.

Say hello to LV's latest logo x 6.

It's not new, it was digged out from the archive by Ghesquière and he decided to revive it. 

Master Mind

A giant opened trunk was placed in the center of this room.

In the middle of the trunk were hologram projections of his designs and inspirations. 

Pretty cool, really.

^ Cool, right, right, right?

Full video here.

The trunk is surrounded by screens of more of Ghesquière's designs and inspirations.

^ The OCD in me absolutely loved how seamless this is. LOL

Full video here.

The exhibition was spread across 2 floors. 

At the lift lobby, we were greeted by model Marte Mei Van Haaster's sculpture, Ghesquière's muse for this entire exhibition.

^ The details in this sculpture was amazing - From the hair, zippers, folds and to the shoes.

I love how her butt was sunken into the box and her legs protruding out. 

So weird, so cool. 

Artists' Hands

Screens were placed on the tables, facing upwards.

Videos of how bags were made at the scale of 1:1 were played in an endless loop, as though we're the ones making the bags.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics in this room because I thought I would have time to come back again to watch the entire video (it was supposed to be about 30 mins).

So, you get a picture from the brochure instead. LOL

Infinite Show

This room was like a mock fashion show, with multiple screens showing models walking the runway at the scale of 1:1.

The tour guide said that this room was built because invitations were limited to watch the actual show and basically mere mortals like us usually won't get the chance but heyyy, you can watch it here instead.

^ On and on and on and on and on

Full video here.

Accessories Gallery

This was my favourite room. 

Mostly because it was filled with more of the amazing sculptures of Marte Mei Van Haaster adorned with LV accessories.

^ Full video here

Walk in Wardrobe

I think the name is pretty self-explanatory. LOL

^This set was worn by the sculpture near the lift earlier.

A Tale of Craftsmanship

This room was where they flew in staffs from France to demonstrate how LV bags were made.

 

^ Full video here

The tragic part of this was that they will destroy all the bags that they have produced during this exhibition.
*urgh*
Can you feel the pain?

Before we leave, we were given 2 alphabet stickers (of our choice) + 2 handbags stickers (of our choice) + 1 poster. 

Yayers!

And that's the end of the tour!

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This exhibition wasn't in my initial itinerary but it was really the highlight of my entire trip.

And I didn't even have to fork out a single cent.

Ah, the irony.
But I guess the best things in life are the ones money can't buy.

ps, I tried to update the comment widget to allow Facebook account comment but I gave up after awhile since I'm just gonna post once a year right? 

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Perhaps til' next year,

xx

Day 3 : Mercedes-Benz STYLO Asia Fashion Week 2014 (Backstage)

Hi all!

This is the final post of my backstage experience in the Mercedes-Benz STYLO Asia Fashion Week 2014!

If you have missed out the entries of the previous days, here are the links :

Day 1

Day 2

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Day 3 – Fashion Show + Awards Night (22 Oct 2014)

Today was the last day of the fashion week. The show ran the whole day but my duty only started 4PM onwards. This time, I also got to be in a proper backstage rather than like Day 1 with a super small room, limited designs, and models. There were also a lot more volunteers today and some of them were from Raffles as well.

Before the next show at 6PM, Jimmy brought his 2 assistants and I to tour around some of the booths in the exhibition hall. Basically, the designers who showcased their collections on the runway also rented booths so that potential customers who watched the shows can make purchase. There were other booths selling random things such as soaps and uniforms as well.
(Errrr... Okayyyy....)

^ Designers' booth in the exhibition hall

(I think it looks really sad. Not sure if this is the common standard though.)

^ Min Khant's booth in the exhibition hall (the designer is the guy on the left)

(ps, I met him during the fitting and he's a really nice person!)

There were 2 runways, located side-by-side so that the shows can run continuously.

For the closing ceremony, the partition was removed and the runways were combined, forming a "U" shaped runway.

(Can you picture it? Don't worry, I drew a diagram below.)

^ Runway 1 (left)

(I think this was a sadder-looking one. LOL)

 

^ Runway 2 (right)

(The fancier one, complete with elevated stage and chandeliers.)

^ The runway arrangement for the closing ceremony. 

(ps, it was SOMETHING like that, I drew this from memory)

(pss, please take note of the purple 'X', I'll explain what's that later)

Similar to Day 1, my duty for the day was to ensure the models walk the runway on time by helping them to dress up etc.

^ Backstage

(Yup, quite sempit punya, but it was quite long, like 3 times longer than shown in this picture)

^ Backstage with Melinda Looi

These are some of my favourite designs of the night : 

Pleatations (Singapore)

^ This is Lais, the one who strutted topless during the fitting (Day 2) with the same skirt. LOL

^ Her tattoo definitely completed the outfit!

^ Designs by Pleatations

(Sorry about the bras in the background. LOL)

Avel Macudio (Phillipines)

(He was the winner of Asia's Most Influential Designer in 2013)

^ Designs by Avel Macudio 

(Sorry about the hand. LOL)

^ Designs by Avel Macudio

(Photo from Demotix.com)

Avant-garde

An interesting show for the night was the avant-garde collection. Avant-garde collection are experimental or innovative works. The pieces were made with unconventional materials such as egg container, soft paper-like material as well as soft polystyrene-like material (I'm sorry, I really don't know what were the materials exactly, I'm not that experienced yet you see. LOL). To create an ombre effect, black spray paints were used.

^ Some of the avant-garde pieces

^ Qianghui in one of the avant-garde pieces

^ Alina having fun with another model inside the avant-garde piece. 

Can you spot the eyes? LOL

  The designers used clogs as shoes. Usually clogs come with red handles so they sprayed the front half black. However, clogs are free-size and the models were not able to walk properly in them so we used cable ties to make additional handles. This is avant-garde, afterall! 

^ Clogs

^ Our improvised version

Lais' avant-garde outfit was a giant umbrella with black top and leggings. She was too tired from holding onto it while waiting for the show to start so she asked me to help share the weight by carrying it with her. While we were under the umbrella, she shared stories of her modelling career which has just started a year ago. She enjoyed being a model because it enabled her to travel around the world. Before Malaysia, she was in Beijing, China and one of her biggest challenge there was the language as people there barely spoke any English and she admits she's talkative. She was pleasantly surprised that almost all Malaysians can speak English. I could see the sparkles in her eyes and how passionate she was while telling her modelling stories. 

Now you know why she was my favourite (Not just because she strutted topless OK. LOL)

^ Lais with her avant-garde umbrella

As shared previously, backstage helpers do not get the chance to watch the show at the front at all. However, I got to see Dato’ Jimmy Choo giving out some awards that night because I was waiting for the models who wore the avant-garde collection to walk the runway. 

^ Spot Dato' Jimmy Choo

As some of the avant-garde pieces were too huge and the models were unable to see properly while climbing up and down the stairs, a few people and I were sent out to help them with that. Yes, I was basically at the side of the runway holding the models' hands in the middle of the show (I was standing at the purple 'X' in the diagram earlier). Sedikit malu but we wouldn't want the models to fall down the stairs, that would be worse.

^ As you can see, some of them really can't view the bottom of their legs
(Photo from Demotix.com)

The fashion week ended with the announcement and final walk on the runway with the winning designs. The winners of the Mercedes-Benz Stylo Asia Fashion Week 2014 were :

• Albert Andrada (Phillipines) : Asia's Most Connected Designer (He's my favourite! I've mentioned it in Day 2)
• Joe Chia (Malaysia) : Asia's Most Influential Designer
• Chun Ting Liu (Taiwan) : Asia's Most Promising Designer

^ The winners of the night
(Photo from Demotix.com)

We packed up and found many clothing left behind by designers and models. As much as we wished we can keep them (the designers’ pieces I mean), they are to be stored at Stylo’s office until the rightful owner comes forward. 

But I get to keep the remaining of the avant-garde fabric!

^ I'm sure I will find some use for this eventually. LOL

We finally left the place at about 11:30PM. It was raining and my car was at the open carpark. I don't usually do this but somehow I brought my foldable umbrella (it was usually in my 'school bag'). On my walk back, I can't help but to feel how incredibly blessed I am with everything. :')

^ No naked models for you but got naked mannequins. LOL

XOXO,
Elaine New