New York is next stop for fashion label Ong Shunmugam

SINGAPORE — We arrived at the premises of fashion label Ong Shunmugam on a Thursday afternoon to find founder and namesake Priscilla Shunmugam in full work mode.

With her eyebrows lightly furrowed and a measuring tape hanging loosely around her neck, she asked us to take a seat on a couch at the back of her shop while she went about checking her pieces — staring intently at a label on one of her creations, grabbing a dress from one rack and hanging another in her fitting room — before pulling up a chair to join us.

It’s no wonder that the Malaysia-born designer seemed just a tiny bit stressed out.

After taking part in last month’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity as a jury member of the Product Design category — the first fashion figure from Singapore to take part in the illustrious awards in France — she’s heading to the Big Apple this weekend to present her signature Asian-inspired pieces to members of the New York fashion industry, thanks to the inaugural Fashion Futures programme.

Conceived and established by Singapore Fashion Week and the Council Of Fashion Designers Of America (CFDA) — which is led by Diane von Furstenberg and has propelled the likes of Alexander Wang, Prabal Gurung and Thom Browne to fashion superstardom — Fashion Futures aims to help local designer brands make the transition from local to global.

“I think if you are going with the CFDA as your tour guide, your itinerary is going to be very, very different,” said Shunmugam, whose Singapore-based womenswear label will turn five in December. “I believe the people running the programme with us at CFDA really want to see us succeed. I believe they are putting in 100 per cent to actualise a lot of the good intentions they have. It comes down to how well our collections are received. That is something beyond our control, so I look forward to discovering that.”

This year, Shunmugam will be making the trip with two other participants: Elohim by Sabrina Goh and Dzojchen. During the first phase of the programme, the three labels were given the opportunity to present their collections at the Singapore Fashion Week last May. They also received one-on-one mentoring sessions with fashion greats Von Furstenberg, Thakoon and Victoria Beckham. In addition, their items were purchased by three international and regional fashion buyers, who were each given S$50,000 as part of the programme.

For the next phase of Fashion Futures, Shunmugam, Goh and Dzojchen will showcase their collections to influential fashion buyers in the New York fashion industry, as well as other leading designers and industry representatives.

As the 34-year-old designer gears up for what may become a defining trip in her career, she said she is pleased about how the brand has stayed true to its objectives.

“A couple of brands have started out with one kind of mandate and then tweaking it, and you can see the tweaks are done to try to fit what they think the market is responding to. I think we have been quite fortunate that we have been quite consistent with what we have been wanting to do,” said Shanmugam, who added that the label will soon have its own production facility.

“The only thing we are not so good at is controlling the pace. It has been very relentless and very, very challenging. It’s nice to be where we are right now because you can see your efforts coming to fruition but, at the same time, it sets you in a good frame of mind to work harder, to keep pushing and to know that people are actually paying attention to what you are doing. And with that solid foundation, you can begin to dig deeper into your brand and business, and really, really grow.”

And even if the journey to New York comes to naught, it would still be worth it.

“I think it will be nice to see and experience (New York), but it is not the be all and end all,” she mused. “I think, as a designer, if you are trying to explore new markets, then that process of discovery is, in itself, exciting. You can put aside the results, so it doesn’t really matter what actually happens. And showing your work to a new market — that is what I still enjoy today.” Hon Jing Yi