Lasalle fresh grad making waves in luxury fashion circles

SINGAPORE – By most accounts, Jerome Lim could be described as a stereotypical good Singapore student who cruised through the science stream in school, then entered the National University of Singapore (NUS). That is, until he dropped out of NUS just one month after enrolling.

Needless to say, it took his parents by surprise. Then 21, Lim felt he was “a fish in a wrong pond” in NUS’ undergraduate programme in industrial design.

Fiercely passionate about fashion, Lim then signed up to pursue a degree in fashion media and industries at the Lasalle College of the Arts.

Now, four years later, Lim, 25, has graduated with honours and moves in the high fashion circles, working with brand names like Prada and Dior, just to name a few.

Lim was also the first valedictorian from Lasalle’s School of Fashion at the graduation ceremony held on Sep 18.

After the decision to drop out of “a comfortable place”, Lim worked to “quickly align his passions”.

While waiting to enrol in Lasalle, he did a three-month internship with Harper’s Bazaar in 2013 where he did “a lot of things that are menial and laborious”.

But, he also earned opportunities to assist on styling top models like Naomi Campbell and Victoria Secret’s Karolina Kurkova during the fashion magazine’s cover shoots.

His big break, however, came when he next took on a nine-month public relations and advertising internship with Prada that allowed him to work “in the heart of business”.

The experience — interacting with top fashion editors across the region and hosting local media previews — launched his career even before he embarked on his degree at Lasalle.

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Even while in school, he was selected to participate in a 2016 programme hosted by LVMH Asia Pacific Talent Development Centre, in which he worked on rebranding its businesses with creative briefs from their brand managers.

Lim also continued to get gigs working for international brands like Swarovski, Valentino and Fendi.

“I like (the) art form (as it) is wearable and transformative… In a very simple sense, fashion can be something that makes people feel better about themselves. I also wanted to prove that fashion is not the most frivolous art form… The value of it is not just mere clothing,” said Lim.

Last Monday, Lim graduated with 851 other Lasalle students and was awarded the McNally Award for Excellence in the Arts for being the top student of this year’s graduating cohort.

“I think the gap year was very formative… and integral to what I have right now. I wouldn’t had known it would have mattered so much,” said Lim.

His parents have also come round to fully support him. “He has proven himself by doing plenty of internships and getting scholarships,” said his father, Lim Chye Heng, who works as a transport coordinator for old-age homes. “He’s passionate and driven, and we are now fully in support of his aspirations.”

Currently, Lim works as a contract marketing coordinator for Italian jewelry and luxury goods brand Bulgari and helped launch the brand’s SerpentiForm exhibition at the ArtScience Museum. Come November, Lim, who aspires to be a fashion thought leader, will be taking up a full-time marketing and communications role with an international luxury brand in its regional office in Singapore.

“I think it is important to have an idea of what you are passionate about, but at the same time you got to… ‘test-drive’ your passions,” said Lim.