by order
Koto Bolofo for Margaret Howell
Last month, I visited Fevrier 28, a showroom that houses Edwin Neo, the man behind ed et al, a line of bespoke and RTW shoes that's been getting a fair bit of buzz in Singapore, and Kevin Seah, a well-known bespoke tailor in Singapore. (It's run by photographer Dominic Khoo, and houses his gallery and a small café where I saw Kinfolk magazine for the first ever in person.)
It was one of those rare occasions where looking at clothes and shoes didn't at all involve “fashion” as I know it. It was refreshing to look at clothes and shoes without the lens of trends and marketing. Even shopping at my favourite labels in the past have never been free of this feeling – I was always conscious of being sold and marketed something. But looking at those shoes and listening to Edwin to talk about his passion for what he does – it was a world away from my usual shoe-buying experience, to put it mildly.
Say "bespoke" and I think "expensive" and "elite". But there's a rather sensible element to this. The bespoke services I mentioned are by appointment only. That didn't sound very welcoming at first, but later I realised it made good sense – you don't go in unless you actually want or need something. It was a world far away from mindless shopping and impulse purchases.
And then there's the quality of what I was looking at. I don't see myself exclusively buying $2,000 shoes from now on, but seeing really, really beautifully done things has a way of casting most fast fashion in less flattering light.
No one needs a hand-tailored jacket. Or hand-welted shoes. But I would love to buy my clothes like this: have a long chat about style, fabric, fit, finishings, where the materials are coming from, be measured to an inch of my life, and know that someone will spend the next three months or so putting my item together. Compare this to how I have been, in the past, willing to spend four figures on a handbag made by someone I will likely never meet.
Picture from Margaret Howell
Comments
Hila: Exactly. It's so much more inspiring to by from someone whose vision and inspiration you know something about. I don't expect that of all my clothes, but I've decided the clothes I buy in future should be more meaningful that way. It's not a difficult goal since my clothing needs have been met anyway and I'm not really looking to buy more things.
Ammu: I would love to see these trousers myself someday, after all the times you've raved about them. My mother used to have her clothes made for her because she was considered tall for her generation and dept stores simply didn't carry things that fit well - I think that made new clothes such a careful, thoughtful and pleasurable occasion for her, compared to now. She's far prouder of those older items than her newer things.
Interesting point raised by ACrispWhiteShirt - to be honest I wonder if a lot of this has to do with a desire to show off a brand rather than appreciate the inherent qualities of one's purchases. There were times when I used to be drawn to something and would wonder if I would be as interested if it were unbranded. It happens less and less now, partly because India has a wealth of beautiful, inexpensive handmade objects with no brand whatsoever. The bonus is that you occasionally get to meet the person who actually made your shoes or trousers.
Then some junior reporter out to make a name for themselves wouldn't be able to smear me by looking up what I had on and announcing the price to everyone.
But bespoke is also sometimes a status symbol among the very rich, eg, the likes of John Lobb. So I guess there's a kind of reverse snobbery among some, the appeal of something that's only recognisable to those in the know. So we can't get away from brands and name-dropping, hahaha.
Ammu: I will! You'll be first to know when I finally make a trip to India.
I agree, and I am still influenced by a "name", though less so now. It's an easy heuristic, a way of cutting through the market but it turns out we can't really trust brands...
RoseAG: Good point, haha. Although they probably should stay away from Savile Row and $6000 bespoke suits...
And the contrast to how/what we normally consume is such an extreme. The way in which we consume things is really a perversion of any healthy acquisition.
In the long run, I am inclined to believe that this more involved, more personal approach would be less costly - to us, to the planet.