Comfort plus style for Kelly Poon and James Lee

SINGAPORE — As the new ambassadors for casual clothing brand dENiZEN, local singer Kelly Poon and Korean-American musician James Lee light up at the prospect of being licensed to wear everyone’s favourite material: Denim.

“Denim is always comfortable and you can wear it everywhere you go, depending on what you match it with,” Poon said. “I like to explore different kinds of styles ... (and) now that I’ve taken on this role as an ambassador of dENiZEN, it’s even more fun and challenging because I get to play with denim.”

For Lee, the bassist in the three-man rock band Royal Pirates, it is more about comfort. Even though he started out as a model, fashion isn’t his number one interest. “Comfort is probably the most important thing, just because I’m a dude,” he said with a laugh.

The Los Angeles-born and bred 27-year-old was a water polo player, so fashion was pretty much non-existent in his younger days. It is hard to believe, but Lee claimed his entire high school career was a fashion disaster. “I wore whatever my 19-year-old sister decided I would wear. She was really into hip-hop, urban outfits. I wore triple-XL (clothes) when I was 16 years old ... It wasn’t until college that I realised that wasn’t for me.”

Actually, the denim experience didn’t start out smoothly for Poon, either. “I bought my first pair of jeans when I was in Primary Four,” she recalled. “I went with my bestie to a shop and we just wanted to get jeans because that was the in-thing and everyone had them. I didn’t even try them on. I ended up not wearing them at all because they looked really ugly.

“My second pair of jeans was much better … I think the salesgirl was mad at me because I tried on all the different cuts and I only bought one pair!”

These days, Poon prefers something more casual yet chic. “I’m not really a dresses kind of girl. I’m usually in pants or skinny jeans — a T-shirt, skinny jeans and a pair of stilettos, and I’m out of the house.”

She also loves the fact that flared jeans are back in fashion. “It’s flamboyant yet sharp.”

Lee, on the other hand, has reservations about skinny jeans. “I wore those when I was in my first band when I was 16 ... I was in a metal band and your leg stance has to be really wide. Those pants could have ripped at any moment.”

So how did he go from excessively baggy jeans to skinny jeans? “It was peer pressure completely,” he confessed. “It wasn’t until college that I realised that, yeah, you kind of have to care. Style is important because it’s good manners — you don’t want to go out looking like a slob.”

He might even change his mind about skinny jeans, now that there are “a lot of different materials in dENiZEN’s new line” he said.

“The material is softer and stretchable so you feel like you’re wearing comfortable leggings,” Poon agreed.

“Sometimes, because of (what I wear), I might (be in the) news but people tend to forget about what I’ve performed,” she added.

Perhaps a ballgown in denim, then? “I’ve actually visualised a patchwork dress,” she said, her eyes lighting up. “With a lot of different kinds of denim, and maybe some ruffles; maybe a tube dress that’s short in front, with a long train. Yeah, I’ve thought about this!”

“Maybe you could make a line for dENiZEN,” Lee suggested.

“Why not?” said Poon. “That would be fun!”