Have you Scene This?

To connect with someone, make them laugh. As I want to connect with you, the reader, hence we now know the reason for the corny title. But do we understand it? The etymology of the word scene. From the latin word scena, it referred to theatre and the stage. In this dissertation we will cover the famous lines:

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players

To put this into context, I shall cut to the crap with some blabbing. Unbeknown to myself until recently there is an alternative to The Sartorialist, called Face Hunter (no relations shall be drawn to Basshunter), and he, Yvan Rodic, a Swiss photographer based in London, visited the South Orient late last year to sift out some serious style. The nanoscopic Singapore! See here.

Girl at Devonshire Road, Singapore

Here's a nice little vid or interview of him where he picks out 3 looks from Comme des Garcons and talks about what style means to him:

Yvan Rodic //Facehunter from commonpeople on Vimeo.

Cute accent and honesty: "I'm not really fashion conscious... I'm not really conscious of brands. Style is something you have inside...Clean and clownish. I look boring but I'm a clown."

Having lived in Singapore for a fifth of a decade, I am very used to seeing Singapore style. I would describe it as... light to medium layering (compromise no comfort), it is a mish mash between a greenery, rainforesty, sandy complementing kind of look, how to look hot or cool without burning up or looking out of place. I wonder how a foreigner would describe Singapore style? Because admittedly I can't describe it fairly myself... Let's see... History: Fishing Village.


Modern day interpretation: for day, Sarong reminiscent checks, white, neutral kampong palette/prints. For night, loose fitting/tight for partying, bars, having fun, chilling out, a bit more daring, but no further than the lightness for the weather we've been acclimatized to. Like London, but muted for the shopping district's flora and fauna and the crowds and the bars and the late night supper at the coffee shop. Trends come here to incubate...

For a fleeting respite from my sweatshoppish work, I wish to begin some major gawking.

(Clicks on 'Face Hunting Around the World')

(Some time later...)

Yvan has an eye for the quirky, adventurous youthful and A la mode. He has gallivanted around the globe to frisk out these treasures. The styles are generally very up to date, they are very lively, and alive because these are real people. They depict life in the city. They show what they're wearing to work, to school and to play. What's interesting is that in every country you can spot a distinctive look, which is very cool because it is like a real time webcam on another hemisphere. Tasty eye candy indeed. I have concluded that it is a universal fact among men and women, that we LOVE brogues. Did you see the number of them? Comfort, edge and class. It's fun to have the nuances between styles of one city and the next jump out at you. You could probably describe each city's style in a few words, they just give off a vibe about them! For example, Mexico has a siesta, frisky vibe. Jakarta: tertiary colours, ruching, ethnic influences. Berlin: Clean cut, geometric... wait is that model Iekeliene Stange? He must love to take her picture! Spotted her 3 or 4 times, thereabouts.


As for the fashion capitals of the world, my adjectives are,

London: vintage, new wave, punk
New York: urban, boho, underground
Milan: dramatic, theatrical, gamine
Paris: sleek, classic, polished (Susie Bubble!)

Ah... Yes... It is like receiving eyedrops. I shall be corny and say, brevity is the soul of wit! Mr. Rodic, I hope to see posts of Japan and China in the future too! Hong Kong too. This is the fresheastfashion yeah! You may also check out his myspace, http://www.myspace.com/yvanleterrible. This is a pretty 60's look, cute dog:


Designers have to take to the streets and voyeur around for that ingredients to that perfectly (perhaps perfectly imperfect) look. Otherwise, how do they sell their stuff or get inspiration? They have to snitch it from somewhere.

As Picasso once said, "Good artists copy. Great artists steal."

Except I'm afraid I don't have the guts to ask, 'Can I take your picture?', so I just take a mental note of it. In Singapore you would probably get stared at like there's no tomorrow, not by the picture takee, but everyone else. (LOL.) Like in Ratatouille, where Remy explains to his brother what is a match made in heaven when all the flavours come together. We hunger for that little spark of creative intent. For that moment we can vicariously meld into another person's shoes. Yes we are somewhat like curious little children. Okay, let's face it, we are busybodies. What's wrong with fulfilling the 'clowny' part void in our structured lives? Variety is the spice of life! That is why we have youtube, for us to revel in frivolity. As with reading a novel or watching a play, we like relating to characters, reenacting what they do or think... The things they think of that we couldn't, or could, we are all the same in that we are different and we want to be different or we want to be the same.

Rather than boggle your mind (or my mind) further with paradoxes, let me leave you with a video by the duo YACHT that echoes many themes today. First, it rips off a movie called Tapeheads. The acting, lines, concept, everything. There is a lot of pretending to be someone else in this video. Secondly, it is a spec video. Naturally, those fashionable street peeps from Face Hunter could easily slide into a lovely impromptu ambush music video. Thirdly, it is funny! I hope I made you laugh somehow. Either at me or with me, preferably with me.

Watch the parody first!

Then watch the original!

-Miss C.